UK Customs Charges *tears hair out*

[Sarah-Bee]

I am absolutely SICK of receiving customs charges on stuff I'm buying from abroad!!

Between starting collecting in 2003 and summer last year I'd had a whole 3 customs charges - whatever, I can cope with that.
 
This year I've paid about £100 in customs charges!! Every other package I receive has a charge and they don't just charge the 20% VAT, they stick an £8 handling charge on every one as well!!!
 
Personally I think it's disgusting, especially when you consider these are mostly second hand ponies! If I bought these in the UK they wouldn't receive VAT on them so why should I pay it on second hand stuff from abroad?!
 
I'm going to have to give serious consideration to buying just from the UK which limits what's available to me
 
To top it all off my husband is now having to sit on the phone to UPS while I'm at work because some stroppy cow just came to deliver some ponies from the US with a customs charge on and because he didn't have any cash on him she said she's sending them back to the US! What about arranging re-delivery?!
 
I'm so fed up of this. Has anyone else noticed an increase in these charges or have I just been really unlucky?
 
Sarah xx

[ponylady]

  Sarah what a bummer!
 
They get you coming and going anymore. 
 
And what the heck is the handling charge for?  Just for them having to do there job and deliver it to your door?
 
 

[Sarah-Bee]

Exactly! I'm paying them to charge me essentially!! And there's no point trying to speak to anyone about the whys and wherefores of VAT on second hand stuff, anything run by HRH or the Government here is just gonna do it anyways, whether it's right or wrong, no matter what I have to say about it! GRRR Makes me so mad!

Post Merge: April 04, 2012, 07:46:16 AM

Just been reading this which details a lot about customs charges http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&propertyType=document&id=HMCE_CL_000014

[RockinPrettyBeats]

Sarah-Bee - Are you saying that if a package is worth $4 then you will get charged 8 pounds in customs?!?!

[hathorcat]

Sarah-Bee - Are you saying that if a package is worth $4 then you will get charged 8 pounds in customs?!?!

No in the UK we get hit with customs charges when the parcel is valued over a certain amount - but the limit is set incredibly low...£15ish for most items and even £40 if its marked as a gift [yes in the UK you pay tax on a gift!] and Customs are currently on a drive to catch every one

Since starting collecting, I have over the years been hit with some very very painful customs charges...and they are something I continue to rant about as I find them grossly unfair

I understand that if I purchase an item from outside the UK that I could have purchased from inside the UK then Her Majesty and her Tax Man still want the VAT they are entitled too...fair enough I get that. However, if I purchase a vintage plastic pony which may not even have been for sale back in 1985 in the UK - a pony which is "used" and which  I couldnt purchase any other way for my "collection" being billed that extra is ludicrous...oh and the "admin/handling" fee that either Royal Mail or the courier stick on top is nonsense it doesnt cost them £8 per package to send out a letter/leaflet or to process the fee back to the government.

Unfortunately its a monopoly and a system they are using for a tidy bit of extra income...

Trust me...I completely feel your pain Sarah...its horrible to have to go through it.

[RockinPrettyBeats]

So 15 bp eh? That's 23 USD. So if I send something to the UK and mark that it's worth $20 how much will the buyer have to pay? Is it nothing?

[hathorcat]

Yes, they should pay nothing if the value is marked as $20...

Dont get me wrong they dont catch absolutely everything and some things of higher value sneak through fine...but they are certainly a little more 'hot to the trot' on it than they used to be...and more things are caught than I have ever seen.

[RockinPrettyBeats]

Very very good to know. I will be keeping that in mind when I ship out packages to the UK. Not that I like lying or anything but a few dollar fib won't hurt anyone.

[Vintergatan]

don't even get me started on customs :S Crazy customs here made me wonder if I should drop pony collecting in general. Then I decided to focus on finding ponies locally, but just now I had a horrible situation with a local seller so I´m really bummed

Anyways, I feel your pain

[DaffyDilly]

The £8 isn't customs fees. It's Royal Mail handling fees. 


I had a 50 cent pony shipped from the US to the UK. They misread the .50 as 50 and decided that as it was worth $50, they'd slap fees on it. I had to pay about £12 to get the parcel including £8 handling fees and never got a refund.

[Ringlets]

I feel your pain too! I paid out a heck of a lot of money in customs fees lately as well    and the £8 handling fee that goes with each parcel... UGH!   if fact  they kept one of my parcels at the local depot for over a week before deciding to send me a letter  (which took another 3 or so days to get here)demanding the fees  (and no they didnt attempt to deliver before that) which I certainly dont think deserved the handling fee on top 
The fees apply to anything that isnt marked as  a gift that is valued at £18+, or anything that is a gift valued at £40+ , doesnt matter whether its new or used either *sigh*    Thats why I prefer not to buy anything too valuable from outside of Europe unless its from a friend here who doesnt mark it as a high value . We dont get charged on things from Europe, so I buy more expensive ponies from there where possible     

[hathorcat]

@Ringlets...I believe they have actually lowered the threshold now it used to be £18 [as this was £15 + VAT] but according to my local sorting office its now £15.01 and anything marked at this or higher will be subject to charges if they catch it....grrrrrrr

[Sebby6]

Vintergatan do you know what the limit is in Iceland? I'm about to send a parcel over so I'll make sure I mark it correctly

[Sarah-Bee]

The £8 isn't customs fees. It's Royal Mail handling fees. 


I had a 50 cent pony shipped from the US to the UK. They misread the .50 as 50 and decided that as it was worth $50, they'd slap fees on it. I had to pay about £12 to get the parcel including £8 handling fees and never got a refund.

Yeah in my ranting I don't think I differentiated lol, but yeah the £8 is Royal Mail, yet another of HRH's services (insert sarcastic salute here). There is a form where you can apply for a refund on the attached link Daffydilly, if it wasn't too long ago. That really sucks!

Rockinprettybeats, it's a good idea in my opinion to ask the buyer what they want the value marked as, as it's the importers responsiblity, ie, the buyer not the seller, so nothing can come back on the seller if incorrect information is provided. And I can't see anything ever coming back on the buyer either, how are customs going to know what our ponies are worth?   So asking the buyer if they want it marking at $20 is a good idea and something I shall consider in future. However, it may have implications on the value the item is insured for if you need to claim for it going missing so may be a case of weighing up pros and cons...

[Izrabeth]

I completely understand you Sarah! I am in Italy and that's exactly the same, while in past some packages were hit by the pesky fees lately every single damn package that arrives from US or Australia or whatever is out of the Euro zone....tax!
Even with gift as you said! The worst is that the limit to not pay should be 22 euro but they tax also lower amounts as those thieves take the amount of the goods and also the shipping costs...so we pay a tax on second hand things and on shipping costs !?!?!?
I had also cases where the amount was kindly put down by the seller/friend to try avoid me the fees but no...they taxed calculating on a "decided by them" amount they thought was right....

I just gave up with this and know I have to pay those fees if I want something out of Europe...sad but true