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  #1  
Old 15-06-10, 04:15 PM
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Default Postal Charges (International)

Hi All

Just had a nasty experience with postal charges buying badges.

Its common practice that small items from the USA or Canada are marked "gift" and sent via hand written address on the parcel with a small custom form. We (in the UK) dont pay VAT on "gift" until the value exceeds £40.

I purchased two badges "for a good price" that have incurred a cost into the UK of more or less what I paid for them in the first place because they were sent "officially".

The consequence of this means that I have had to pay VAT.......PLUS! A Royal Mail International handling charge for the "privilage" of receiving it!

I have paid nearly same value again for the badges....I.E. 80% of the initial value in charges!!!!

Not a happy bunny at the moment!
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Last edited by GriffMJ; 15-06-10 at 04:24 PM.
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  #2  
Old 15-06-10, 04:41 PM
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They started cracking down on incoming packages about a year ago. This is a direct result of the financial crisis and the desperation to raise tax revenue in my opinion. 'Gift' wouldn't have helped anyway as it's still liable for vat plus the royal mail 'rip off' charge.

The final one they got me for was £256 last year. They will never, ever, get me again as I wont buy from overseas.
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  #3  
Old 15-06-10, 04:48 PM
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But of course the government needs the money, to pay for things like this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...on-payout.html


being called “lipstick” and “whoopsy” = £600k .. nice


(I'm bitter and twisted and want my £256 back )


think I'm turning into Victor Meldrew
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  #4  
Old 15-06-10, 04:59 PM
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There are probably more members here who would qualify to be on the " Grumpy Old Men" programme on T.V. than you might at first think.

P.B.
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  #5  
Old 15-06-10, 05:57 PM
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Mike, you can always challenge what the Customs & Excise are charging you because the guy who is doing the pricing does not work to the set rules. If you were charge £200 + the item you received must be worth over £3000. The Customs are only allowed to charge you VAT at 17.1/2% & on the price that is put on the back of the Customs slip; or, if there is a bill inside, they will charge you on that.
My tip if you buy from the US or Canada, ask them never put a bill inside - get them to email it to you &, on the Customs slip never put more than $50 US or Canadian dollars. As for the 'gift', this is like a red-rag to a bull; the customs love to see the word gift on the back & are more likely to check the package.

and yes the royal mail is a 'rip off' charge.


Peter
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  #6  
Old 15-06-10, 06:57 PM
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About 5 years ago a similar thing happened to me, and then I think if an item had a declared value of over £18 it was subject to Tax. Anyone know the 'safe' value in pounds now? Regards, Paul.
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  #7  
Old 15-06-10, 06:59 PM
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I haven't been 'dinged' yet, fingers crossed.........but I was always lead to believe that if the antique can be proven to be over 100 years of age, one should not have to pay the full amount of VAT on the item?
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Old 15-06-10, 07:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by peter616 View Post
Mike, you can always challenge what the Customs & Excise are charging you because the guy who is doing the pricing does not work to the set rules. If you were charge £200 + the item you received must be worth over £3000. The Customs are only allowed to charge you VAT at 17.1/2% & on the price that is put on the back of the Customs slip; or, if there is a bill inside, they will charge you on that.
My tip if you buy from the US or Canada, ask them never put a bill inside - get them to email it to you &, on the Customs slip never put more than $50 US or Canadian dollars. As for the 'gift', this is like a red-rag to a bull; the customs love to see the word gift on the back & are more likely to check the package.

and yes the royal mail is a 'rip off' charge.


Peter
Asking the sender to put an incorrect value on the customs form is Fraud and I would be very careful of using that method. As mentioned by Jibba Jabba, collectables are charged at a different rate. On each occasion that I have been "Stung" by buying from overseas, I have claimed back some of the charges (60-80%)... It takes forever as they are very slow at making a response, but a cheque does turn up in the end! If buying from overseas ask the sender to tick the "Other" box and mark the description as "Collectable items"... you may be tempting a would be theif, but it won't be the Robbers from the Royal Mail...

Andy
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  #9  
Old 15-06-10, 07:43 PM
marway_Jaime marway_Jaime is offline
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Here in Canada we are allowed to import a commercial good upto the value of $20 Cdn (13 GBP), over that amount we can be charged a duty fee, the value of the declared goods for GST, as well as a handling fee by Canada Post($5). So as a buyer I feel your pain when buying and bringing in items.

As a seller, I can not mark a commercial package as "gift" as it is fraud and if caught & charged, well there goes my business!

One way I have found to skirt VAT charges for my UK buyers & European buyers to to send the item via registered mail. It has to be under 2 cm think (including envelope), and under 100 grams, and it costs about $20. I have found this a reliable way, yet expensive way to buy. It might be better to try your luck by bringing it in regular post.....
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  #10  
Old 15-06-10, 08:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jibba Jabba View Post
I haven't been 'dinged' yet, fingers crossed.........but I was always lead to believe that if the antique can be proven to be over 100 years of age, one should not have to pay the full amount of VAT on the item?
Hi, I'm afraid VAT is paid on everything except children's clothes & books (at the moment). If a person is registered for VAT he has to charge VAT on anything he sells that is vatable but the benefit is for the seller in that he only pays the Vatman on the profit he makes on the item not its full price. This is done by means of a special scheme. I have been VAT registered for over 25 yrs & there are good & bad points with this scheme. As for collectables, I'm afraid they still charge 17.5% & if the Customs are that way out, they can add other duties so there are no set rules on how much they charge.
Peter
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  #11  
Old 15-06-10, 09:03 PM
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Griff, was there an info. label on the package regards the charges? I'd be interested to see what it says if you still have it. Regards, Paul.
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  #12  
Old 15-06-10, 09:19 PM
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The Royal Mail 'handling' charge for anything from overseas that atracts VAT is £8.00. Easy money for some eh!
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  #13  
Old 15-06-10, 10:16 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wardog View Post
Griff, was there an info. label on the package regards the charges? I'd be interested to see what it says if you still have it. Regards, Paul.
Hi Paul

Yes.... been through the system.... they have me by the NADS becuase the seller did not say "Gift"..... he ticked "samples"..... and therefore the grasping VATman and the robbing RMI did me..... the vampires!

As you can tell.... I am still not a happy bunny. What gets me most is that its not hard to just say "gift"..... I will think twice before buying from the seller again, whats the point of buying at a good price to be stiffed at the end of it I hate just giving it away..... especially to "the man"... to coin a phrase.
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  #14  
Old 16-06-10, 12:10 AM
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Hi Guys,

There is a far more important issue here that is constantly forgotten about by the buying and selling public in the transaction of mail order sales.

The issue is that the seller is responsible for the delivery of the item purchased or if it is lost a full refund including the postage amount.

While umpteen sellers try and weasel out of this the fact remains. As such, a seller needs to take out insurance to cover themselves if the consignment is actually lost. Insurance is for the sellers benefit not the purchaser and is there to compensate the seller. The seller of course should then refund the original transaction via a transaction reversal. Hence seller is compensated for the loss of his package and buyer is compensated by a refund of his purchase amount.

This cost of insurance is course will be borne by the purchaser as part of the postage amount. If the full postage amount including insurance is deemed to much for the buyer then the seller will quite correctly not sell the item.

What's this got to do with declared amount on the customs declaration form?

Well, this declared amount is also the insured amount and if not declared then no insurance. If declared below transaction price and lost then the seller is out of pocket hence the reluctance of a seller to declare anything other than the actual purchase price which needs to be proved not only by the customs declaration but by the original payment transaction such as PayPal if the item is lost.

With the issue of VAT - any seller who is registered for VAT and sells overseas out of the EU should be deducting the 17.5% VAT amount from the purchase price as items exported from EU are VAT exempt. Some VAT sellers of course refute this taking a nice little extra mark up when the times comes to filling in the VAT form declaring all the overseas badge sales as zero rated thereby keeping the 17.5% 'VAT' paid by the buyer.

Regards

Chris

Last edited by hagwalther; 16-06-10 at 12:58 AM.
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  #15  
Old 17-06-10, 01:36 PM
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The Revenue and Customs just took my import virginity

Got billed £11.48 for a £17.00 badge from Canada.

I feel sorry for our Canadian friends who are dealers on the forum. I`ll think twice before buying
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