UK customers stung for customs on deliveries

Alec · Sep 25, 2008

Been a bit disappointed to find that a couple of friends, who I'd recommended to FenixStore have been hit by UK customs charges on their purchases.

While I understand that to a degree it's a fair cop (as the law says that any purchase over GBP 18 is subject to duty/taxes), the real bummer is that the Post Office add a handling fee to this, so that a GBP 3-4 charge goes up to GBP 11-13 - which can be nearly half the value of the product.

FenixStore does state in its delivery section "By law we
are required to declare the value of international packages, so
we will declare them at the invoice price minus the shipping cost.
Customs duty will vary from country to country and is the
responsibility of the customer."

But the label they use is really huge and makes the value of the items really in your face.

I've never had this problem with any other non-UK products, though many are rather more creative about the values they put on their labels. Quite a few simply describe items as "gift" or quote a nominal USD 5 value. I'm sure it's the explicit FenixStore labels that are causing the problem.

Who else has been stung by this, and is there any better compromise that can be reached to make this less of an issue?

NoFair · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

Alec said:
Been a bit disappointed to find that a couple of friends, who I'd recommended to FenixStore have been hit by UK customs charges on their purchases.

While I understand that to a degree it's a fair cop (as the law says that any purchase over GBP 18 is subject to duty/taxes), the real bummer is that the Post Office add a handling fee to this, so that a GBP 3-4 charge goes up to GBP 11-13 - which can be nearly half the value of the product.

FenixStore does state in its delivery section "By law we
are required to declare the value of international packages, so
we will declare them at the invoice price minus the shipping cost.
Customs duty will vary from country to country and is the
responsibility of the customer."

But the label they use is really huge and makes the value of the items really in your face.

I've never had this problem with any other non-UK products, though many are rather more creative about the values they put on their labels. Quite a few simply describe items as "gift" or quote a nominal USD 5 value. I'm sure it's the explicit FenixStore labels that are causing the problem.

Who else has been stung by this, and is there any better compromise that can be reached to make this less of an issue?

There is no real way around this for the FenixStore. They are required by law to do this and trying to get them to break that law on a public forum might not be the best idea....

Any product with a labeled value will be subject to duty/taxes if they are above that country's limit.
Same thing here in Norway, and yes I don't like it

Sverre

Marduke · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

Many dealers on CPF have previously labeled all items as "gift". But thanks to the efforts of one member in particular and his vendetta against 47's specifically, everyone else must suffer.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Later this year the limit for items being shipped in goes up significantly, so most orders will sail with no extra costs.

Starting December 1st 2008 the amount of duty-free from USA to Europe raises from 22€ to 150€.

youreacrab · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

Alec said:
Been a bit disappointed to find that a couple of friends, who I'd recommended to FenixStore have been hit by UK customs charges on their purchases.

While I understand that to a degree it's a fair cop (as the law says that any purchase over GBP 18 is subject to duty/taxes), the real bummer is that the Post Office add a handling fee to this, so that a GBP 3-4 charge goes up to GBP 11-13 - which can be nearly half the value of the product.

FenixStore does state in its delivery section "By law we
are required to declare the value of international packages, so
we will declare them at the invoice price minus the shipping cost.
Customs duty will vary from country to country and is the
responsibility of the customer."

But the label they use is really huge and makes the value of the items really in your face.

I've never had this problem with any other non-UK products, though many are rather more creative about the values they put on their labels. Quite a few simply describe items as "gift" or quote a nominal USD 5 value. I'm sure it's the explicit FenixStore labels that are causing the problem.

Who else has been stung by this, and is there any better compromise that can be reached to make this less of an issue?

Staying Legal == Staying in Business.

Porthos · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

Marduke said:
Many dealers on CPF have previously labeled all items as "gift". But thanks to the efforts of one member in particular and his vendetta against 47's specifically, everyone else must suffer.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Later this year the limit for items being shipped in goes up significantly, so most orders will sail with no extra costs.

Starting December 1st 2008 the amount of duty-free from USA to Europe raises from 22€ to 150€.

Where did you get this info from?
As far as I know almost every country in Europe have different regulations, taxes and custom duties. So it might be misleading...

TITAN1833 · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

I have been stung a few times,it's the nature of the beast I'm afraid.
I tend to include a ball park figure for custom fees,weigh that up to buying the same item in the EU,even with the charges it can still be cheaper buying from the USA.

My VAT's worth.

Wolf359 · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

A £100 pair of sunglasses, with £15 delivery charges would have a total cost of £115. To this you would add 2.9% import duty of £3.34 to give £118.34; add 17.5% VAT to this figure which gives £118.34 + £20.71 = £139.05. Finally, allow up to an £8 charge by the carrier to give a final total of £147.05. Having paid the initial £115 to the supplier, you would then pay £32.05 to the carrier on delivery of the item

tx101 · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

Thats the way it is Im afraid.
Sometimes you get away with it and sometimes you dont.
Another way of looking at it is, if your item goes missing in the post
what happens if you make a claim, do you claim for the real amount or the "declared" amount ?

cabindriver · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

While I empathize, it seems your argument is with your government, not with the dealer. Good luck changing the government's policies though.

Alec · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

youreacrab said:
Staying Legal == Staying in Business.

I quite agree - though there can often be a better grey area!

Marduke said:
Many dealers on CPF have previously labeled all items as "gift". But thanks to the efforts of one member in particular and his vendetta against 47's specifically, everyone else must suffer.

Grrrrrrr!

Marduke said:
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Later this year the limit for items being shipped in goes up significantly, so most orders will sail with no extra costs.

Starting December 1st 2008 the amount of duty-free from USA to Europe raises from 22€ to 150€.

*This* is fantastic news, and I'd not heard this - can you provide a reference? This will make life so much easier for so many purchases and remove the random nature of these charges. If this is the case, then I'm really happy, and nice to know that it's coming soon, rather than years away.

TITAN1833 · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

Porthos said:
Where did you get this info from?
As far as I know almost every country in Europe have different regulations, taxes and custom duties. So it might be misleading...

a lot of forums have been talking about it,it applies to all member states.
[here

unique · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

I never understood this customs tax. Whats the point of it. I guess Australia doesnt have anything like this since I have never had something like this happen to me

Porthos · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

TITAN1833 said:
a lot of forums have been talking about it,it applies to all member states.
[here

As far as I can see this is more like a discussion thread and non-official. I tried to find some official info about this but no success so far.

TITAN1833 · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

unique said:
I never understood this customs tax. Whats the point of it. I guess Australia doesnt have anything like this since I have never had something like this happen to me

The point of it is so the government collects VAT value added tax,from no matter where it is purchased.Remember the UK has ways to "legally" rob it's people and the government are masters at it.:devil:

Porthos · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

unique said:
I never understood this customs tax. Whats the point of it. I guess Australia doesnt have anything like this since I have never had something like this happen to me

Nomen est omen - you are really unique. :duh2:

TITAN1833 · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

Porthos said:
As far as I can see this is more like a discussion thread and non-official. I tried to find some official info about this but no success so far.

Did you read the PDF file at the bottom,although I read it but I could find no real figures you may have better luck.:thumbsup:

Eric242 · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

Marduke said:
Many dealers on CPF have previously labeled all items as "gift". But thanks to the efforts of one member in particular and his vendetta against 47's specifically, everyone else must suffer.

:shakehead Some peolpe..... :xyxgun:

Marduke said:
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Later this year the limit for items being shipped in goes up significantly, so most orders will sail with no extra costs.

Starting December 1st 2008 the amount of duty-free from USA to Europe raises from 22€ to 150€.

Don´t count on "most orders will sail with no extra costs." because a lot of customs people expect the duty-free amount of 150€ to apply to the customs fees only while the tax (VAT or what ever you call it) still will be due. I guess we´ll see from dec. 1st on how it will be handled.

Eric

Porthos · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

TITAN1833 said:
Did you read the PDF file at the bottom,although I read it but I could find no real figures you may have better luck.:thumbsup:

Yes, I read it but this looks like a partial something, we would have to see the whole thing to be able to understand it.

TITAN1833 · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

Porthos said:
Yes, I read it but this looks like a partial something, we would have to see the whole thing to be able to understand it.

Ah well DEC 1st is not that far away,then all maybe revealed :popcorn:

Alec · Sep 25, 2008

Re: UK customers stung for customs on FenixStore deliveries

unique said:
I never understood this customs tax. Whats the point of it. I guess Australia doesnt have anything like this since I have never had something like this happen to me

It varies from country to country, but many countries will levy a tax and/or duty on imported goods. There is often a threshold value below which there will be no charge.

For goods imported to the UK, anything under GBP 18 is free from this. Anything over has VAT charged at 17.5% and duty according to some very complex tables.

While this is frustrating, the real killer is the handling fee that the Post Office charge to collect this. So, for a GBP 20 item, although the VAT may be little more than GBP 3, the handling fee will bump the overall item price up to GBP 30

UK customers stung for customs on deliveries

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