Importing lights to the UK: Royal Mail £8 "fee"/scam and how to avoid it?

[jk037]

Greeting all,

Around 2 weeks ago I placed an order for a Quark Mini AA. Arrived home to find a note from Royal Mail demanding £12 "Customs Charge"!

Now given that light plus shipping cost me all of £24, twelve effin' quid in charges seemed a bit steep to say the least! So, once the steam issuing forth from my earholes had subsided and I'd managed to stop cursing, a little light Googling revealed that our wonderful national postal monopoly levies a charge of £8 for the privelige of acting as the middleman between my dumb self and Customs!

... yep, eight bleedin' sheets. That was not a typo. Un-be-blinkin'-lievable.
So the actual tax from Customs was a mere £4 - not unreasonable on a £24 item.

Anyway, it seems that this only applies where Customs fees haven't been paid in advance. Which got me thinking: how the hell DO you pay customs charges in advance?

I've never, ever seen a retailer offer this as an option. Ever. Is it even possible? Has anyone ever done it, or tried to do it? It seems to me that this "fee" is in fact legalised theft as there's not exactly a wealth of information on how to pay the taxes up front and thus avoid all this hassle and expense.

(Plus, the lousy, stinking, rotten Post Office was shut by the time I got home, so all I have is a demand for money and no actual light to play with! :shakehead )

 

[TooManyGizmos]

Re: Importing lights to the UK: Royal Mail £8 "fee"/scam and how to avoid it?

Protest to your Government



and have a tea party in the bay



that's what we did

 

[65535]

Re: Importing lights to the UK: Royal Mail £8 "fee"/scam and how to avoid it?

In my book 17% tax is unreasonable, and the other charges even more so. Move to America, or just another country that doesn't have such outrageous useless taxes.

 

[vasp1]

Re: Importing lights to the UK: Royal Mail £8 "fee"/scam and how to avoid it?

The specifics of importing into the UK can be found in sections 2.2 and 2.3 and 3.1, 3.4 and 3.5 of the link below

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...HMCE_CL_000014&propertyType=document#P26_2855

It seems you can't avoid the Royal Mail "handling charge".

If the item is marked as "Gift" then the value of the goods can be up to £40 before VAT is paid.

In the words of our American friends, I feel you man.

 

[the.Mtn.Man]

Re: Importing lights to the UK: Royal Mail £8 "fee"/scam and how to avoid it?

Move to America, or just another country that doesn't have such outrageous useless taxes.

Ummm... I'm not so sure that America doesn't fall under the "outrageous useless taxes" category.

 

[march.brown]

Re: Importing lights to the UK: Royal Mail £8 "fee"/scam and how to avoid it?

Greeting all,

Around 2 weeks ago I placed an order for a Quark Mini AA. Arrived home to find a note from Royal Mail demanding £12 "Customs Charge"!

Now given that light plus shipping cost me all of £24, twelve effin' quid in charges seemed a bit steep to say the least! So, once the steam issuing forth from my earholes had subsided and I'd managed to stop cursing, a little light Googling revealed that our wonderful national postal monopoly levies a charge of £8 for the privelige of acting as the middleman between my dumb self and Customs!

... yep, eight bleedin' sheets. That was not a typo. Un-be-blinkin'-lievable.
So the actual tax from Customs was a mere £4 - not unreasonable on a £24 item.

Anyway, it seems that this only applies where Customs fees haven't been paid in advance. Which got me thinking: how the hell DO you pay customs charges in advance?

I've never, ever seen a retailer offer this as an option. Ever. Is it even possible? Has anyone ever done it, or tried to do it? It seems to me that this "fee" is in fact legalised theft as there's not exactly a wealth of information on how to pay the taxes up front and thus avoid all this hassle and expense.

(Plus, the lousy, stinking, rotten Post Office was shut by the time I got home, so all I have is a demand for money and no actual light to play with! :shakehead )

I've been caught twice now for similar small amounts plus the ridiculous collection fee ... You can however let the Post Office return the item to the seller ... You can then ask for a refund due to non-delivery as you might not have actually found the note from the Post Office.

However , a lot of sellers will put a lower price on the customs declaration form or even declare that it is a gift ... A gift can be under £36 whereas you are only allowed to buy up to £18 yourself ... These limits have been the same for a long time and in this day and age there should be a more realistic import level.

Lots of non-UK sellers will do this if you ask ... If someone won't , then buy from someone who will ... Some very well known sellers on CPF and Ebay do this as a matter of course ... I have never had a package opened by the customs , but I suppose most officers only open the suspicious packages ... A torch or batteries isn't really (in their eyes) an expensive item.

Naturally , I don't for one minute suggest cheating the hard-up British Government or the British Post Office out of this income ... I'm only saying that some people have found a way round the problem !

Once bitten (as they say) demands deception.
.

 

[darkpeak]

Re: Importing lights to the UK: Royal Mail £8 "fee"/scam and how to avoid it?

I agree with you completely, don't mind paying the customs charges but the Royal Mail handling fee has me spitting feathers:thumbsdow.
Looking on HM Revenues and customs website it appears that the dealer's country needs to be signed up to an agreement to collect or declare the tax.
As vasp1 says have a look at 3.4 Prepayment of import VAT on goods purchased over the Internet.

 

[LV426]

Re: Importing lights to the UK: Royal Mail £8 "fee"/scam and how to avoid it?

I've payed about €22 to the Danish Post in customs handling fees on a €20 package from DX, an NO custom... Beat that!

 

[bretti_kivi]

Re: Importing lights to the UK: Royal Mail £8 "fee"/scam and how to avoid it?

... prepay at the seller end. B&H and Adorama both offer this now, it's only a matter of time before the flashlight retailers should, too.

Bret

 

[wyager]

Re: Importing lights to the UK: Royal Mail £8 "fee"/scam and how to avoid it?

Oh wow... shipping here in the USA is CHEAP.... I've never been charged a cent for customs stuff. I hear that UPS will charge you a $25 fee on items over $200 but we also have FedEx, USPS, and others. Come on over to the US of A for a while! :twothumbs

 

[Size15's]

Re: Importing lights to the UK: Royal Mail £8 "fee"/scam and how to avoid it?

MarketPlace thread. This isn't the forum for this topic... once a staffer works out where to put it...