customs help needed please..

[malcky]

Hi folks, have at long last just received my 10m lioness cable (component & s-video together) from doug/lex and the postage agreed was $35 us dollars, now the problem is that parcel force (courier company) demanded £65.31 (which is about $110 us dollars) for customs & excise, which is exactly 1/3 of the price i paid for the cable.

So i had to write a cheque made payable to the courier company which i did, but thought was a bit strange as thought it would need to be made payable to: HM Customs & Excise, so have the following questions:

1) Are parcel force trying to con me by saying its a customs charge, or are payments payable to the delivery company.

2) I thought you only had to pay customs charges if the product was available within UK and are trying to save money by buying from overseas.

3) If i were to put a stop to the cheque, who would demand money from me-customs or parcel force.

4) Anyone know of a good way to dispute the fee.

cheers
malcky

[Lex]

1. I believe they are saying they "charge" to get parcels by customs. A percentage of that fee could be actual customs charges, I don't know.

2. Not sure on that.

3. Interesting question. I expect that would be turned over to the courier's collection agent. What is their policy in your country? I have no idea.

4. Not sure, it's exhorborant, but what can you do. I don't know.

One thing I would do, is call UPS and see how much they would charge for the same pacakge to bring it into the country. At a minimum, if it was a lot less, I would contact your Government about this high fee.

It's a real shame that something like this can take away the joy of ownership of a great new cable.

Oh yeah, I was going to add my own story from recent.

I bought a used steering wheel for my Mustang from Canada. Well, after I received it, UPS sends me a bill for 21.00. They explain it as basically it's a fee they charge for bringing product across the border. So, it's a customs fee right, I said? She said, no, not exactly. Now mine was 21.00 on 400.00, not totally unreasonable, but still a pain. I didn't pay it at first, well, then it results in a second billing. yada yada...

Keep in mind, this was a used product originally manufactured in USA! So, why would I have to pay customs to bring it back home? HMMMMM.

Your bill though is unreasonable, totally.

Doug

[hazard]

1) Are parcel force trying to con me by saying its a customs charge, or are payments payable to the delivery company.

In my experience, the courier company clears the goods through customs on your behalf, and pays the duty/VAT. They then claim that amount from you. So in effect you are just re-imbursing them for amounts they already paid.

Some will add a "fee" but that should be only a few quid.

[Shockabuku]

malcky, did you opt for insured delivery from Doug...hence the customs charges? Just wondering because I have a cable coming uninsured & am hoping not to get stung.

[Pez]

I believe that if you buy something from another country and have it "imported" there is a tax/customs charge/duty or whatever you want to call it beyond the standard shipping costs. I sold an Energy S8.2 sub to a guy in Canada and he had to pay an additional $16 since it crossed borders. I think I sold the sub for $160.

[aud19]

I just bought DVE from Deep Discount DVD, it was $16US I had to pay $8CA "handling fee" and taxes on a (roughly) $22CA Item!! :evil:

BTW from what I've overheard from the guy in our company that deals with transporting goods, courrier/transport etc companies do charge you a pretty penny for handling the customs for you. Likely somewhere around half what you paid :M Unfortunately I don't think there's much you can do after the fact.

Jason

[Gordon Moore]

After the fact no. When UPS calls here and asks if you want them to do the custom paper work and you say yes...not only do you get stung for the actual duties (which tend to be small) but they nail you for their paper work fee which sometimes works out to more than the item (not unusal).

It pays to do the custom work yourself and the customs people will generally walk you through the process.

Those are crazy fees though :E

[Paul H]

I've bought a few items and had them shipped from US to Canada - use the US Postal Service if possible. They have a reciprocal agreement with Canada Post, with the customs clearing charge set at a $5Can flat rate for parcels delivered to Canada through normal mail ("normal parcels" - a train or an elephant would be more ). The only other thing I've paid as a 'clearing charge' for these deliveries is sales tax on the declared value of goods, which Canada Post collects from you along with thier $5 on delivery.

Paul

[aud19]

That would be my $8 Paul... I suppose that's a very reasonable rate for stuff worth a few hundred bucks but paying more than 1/3 the value of the DVD for a "handling fee" on such a small, light and inexpensive object sucks @$$ :lol:

Malcky's $110US REALLY sucks @$$

Jason

[malcky]

hi mate, i chose to have it insured due to the value and peace of mind that i would get the cable.

One thing i have noticed about the customs charge is they have worked out the fees based on declared values on the box, which was 350.00 (nothing stated whether its value is in dollars or sterling) however i have been charged based on a sterling value of 350 which is wrong. So i might be able to dispute the amount and get it down to about £20-£25 which wouldnt be too but but still annoying.

malcky

[malcky]

hi mate, i chose to have it insured due to the value and peace of mind that i would get the cable.

One thing i have noticed about the customs charge is they have worked out the fees based on declared values on the box, which was 350.00 (nothing stated whether its value is in dollars or sterling) however i have been charged based on a sterling value of 350 which is wrong. So i might be able to dispute the amount and get it down to about £20-£25 which wouldnt be too bad but still annoying.

malcky

[aarsoe]

Please remember that customs and VAT is applicable for the total stated value PLUS shipping.
So if the value is 100 and the shipping is 30 you will be taxed and VAT'ed on 130!

Not that familiar with UK customs values, but should be somewhere in the area of 3-4% plus 17.5% VAT (as I recall).

So 130+3% tax=133.9 plus 17.5% VAT =157.33 plus handling..

Dont you just love the free world :W

[Lex]

Yes, 350 was the US value including shipping Malky, so if they charged you based on that, it is wrong. You might tell them also the shipping was insured, and you can't actually pick that up can you! So, the actualy insured amount is really 315.00

Doug

[Michael Garrott]

I'm not familiar with customs, but I do recall reading somewhere (in Australia at least) that "Insurance" IS added to the actual parcel value when determining the Customs Duty to be paid.

Cheers.
Michael.

[Kemp]

I received my cable today and all I had to pay was the standard 14% VAT that is charged here. Not too bad.

Marius

[aud19]

I've bought a few items and had them shipped from US to Canada - use the US Postal Service if possible. They have a reciprocal agreement with Canada Post, with the customs clearing charge set at a $5Can flat rate for parcels delivered to Canada through normal mail ("normal parcels" - a train or an elephant would be more ). The only other thing I've paid as a 'clearing charge' for these deliveries is sales tax on the declared value of goods, which Canada Post collects from you along with thier $5 on delivery.

Paul

Hey Paul, I'm thinking of buying something worth more than a few hundred US $ in a couple months. Are you telling me I'll just have to pay the taxes and $5 fee on top of the declared value?

Jason

[Paul H]

Jason,

I've read and been told that, but more importantly that's what I've been charged on a couple of my shipments.

Example: 6 each M8N's were $292 + $63 shipping (both US$) from Parts Express. They were shipped on my specific request by US Post International air mail. When I picked up the box from the local Canada Post outlet I paid $65Can for customs and taxes, which equates to $5 customs + $60 for provincial sales tax (15% here) on the $292US declared value (not on shipping).

The stuff I ordered from Madisound (mostly caps) worked the same way.

As noted previously, the courier companies aren't nearly as 'friendly' with their customs clearing charges.

Paul