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Shaggy39

Another import duty moan

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£35.03 paid on an m06 kit from banzai. Handling is now £13 with Parcelforce, how do they do it and make a profit.

Someone definitely has tagged my address!

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I have an M05 kit on the way from them - will look forward to the charge... :(

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Is it possible to stipulate the carrier they use?

Most sellers use their local postage service (or Parcel Force equivalent) because it's cheap and reliable - You may find FedEx or UPS charge less to clear parcels, but they probably cost more for shipping.

For clearing fees, Royal Mail charge slightly less (£8 last time I paid it) but choosing faster shipping (like EMS) means it ends up being handled by Parcel Force at this end - Parcel Force have charged £13 for as long as I can remember

With eBay now offering 'duty paid' sales from the US (whereby the duty is paid up front and clearing fees are avoided) Parcel Force are freed up to inspect more imports from the East.

The best way to avoid upset is assume you'll get charged and factor it in to the equation - if you don't get charged you're onto a winner

This'll help

http://www.dutycalculator.com/

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My 8Kg (?) mountain rider kit from Stella, valued at $24 !, escaped HMRC (Air Parcel)

I've been hit twice this month on kits from Banzai, one EMS, one Air Parcel - total fees £65 (so another £26 to Parcel Force)

In theory, perhaps a bit unlucky (since they supposedly only stop ca 1 in 10 parcels) , and certainly not as good as escaping HMRC, but I'm still quids in on each item..

Kyosho Scorpion ex Banzai - £20 saving over cheapest UK seller after fees

Tamiya CR-01 Land Cruiser FJ40 ex Banzai - £80 saving against cheapest UK seller after fees

Tamiya Mountain Rider ex Stella - £110 saving over cheapest UK seller

As Twinset says, factor in getting caught at the full item value + shipping cost, weigh up whether its worth it (savings, delivery time if new release etc) and then decide where to place the order.

Smaller 'packet' type items are less likely to be intercepted, so for parts its often worth buying from overseas (Banzai SAL slow shipping option is typically 10 days to UK, and is cheaper than internal UK mail !).

My CR-01 hop-up dampers came from another HK retailer - delivered in 6 days for £38 total , sorry Hobby Company but its a no brainer versus £115 in the UK.

@Shaggy - I think you've been unlucky with the fees too - assuming the kit was $81 and shipping $41 then I think you've been overcharged for import duty / VAT, which should have been more like £18 duties and £13 handling ?

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...since they supposedly only stop ca 1 in 10 parcels...

I'm not sure if that's an urban myth or an old wives tale - I get hit on all imports which are liable for charges.

It's obviously in the carrier's interest to charge, as they then get to charge their fees too.

The only ones that slip through is where the seller 'made an error' on the value declaration.

Duty and VAT will be refunded if the carrier made an error in their fee charges, but you will have to prove how much you paid in order to receive a refund - that's assuming the seller put the correct value on the paperwork.

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Can anyone help me work out how they arrived at my charges?

Total cost (including shipping) from banzai for two kyosho scorpions that I actually paid was £285.52. (Actually 47,248 yen which is less than that from anyone else but that's what paypal charged ;)

I got charged total import charges of £98.63 which consist of customs duty [£15.60] + vat [69.53] + parcelforce fee [13.50]

The value put by banzai on the paperwork was 10,200 yen which equates to £59. Even if they took that to be for each model it would only give total of £118. Or perhaps on the invoice (which was taken from the outer packaging and not replaced, so I can't know what it said) banzai had printed the actual amount I paid. So as I see it there are three prices they could've possibly used to calculate my charges:

  • £285
  • £59
  • £118
Import Duty appears to be 0% for radio control cars / helicopters etc according to this site and also when looking directly on https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff

from what I can make out. And VAT is 20%. Plus parcelforce fixed charge of £13.50.

On each case I therefore make the possible charges thus:

  • (285*0.2)+13.50=£70.50
  • (59*0.2)+13.50=£25.30
  • (118*0.2)+13.50=£37.10
ie all less than the £99 I was charged. My questions are a) am I right about the zero percent import duty? B ) what recourse do I have because I have no problem being charged but why should they arbitrarily be able to make up a figure with no supporting facts / information? If they classified the toy as <whatever> why don't they say what it is?

Even if duty is 4.7% as mentioned by Twinset in this thread: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=59375 it still doesn't add up - the max it can get to is £86.54

thoughts?

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You pay VAT on the import duty too (yep,tax on tax).Item Inc shipping plus import duty.Then 20% VAT on that whole amount,plus whatever charge the courier takes.

Then when parcelfarce do eventually get around to telling you your parts have been cleared and require payment,you have the cost of phoning to pay,ref number not existing and then having to get a morning off work to goto the depot and pick them up to make sure they don't return to sender as the 14 days are up!! (And breathe,some personal experiences there)

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If you think the charge is too high you can appeal - there should be something on the customs charge label.

I had to pay customs duty once and the sender had significantly overstated the value on the customs declaration - I got a part refund by appealing & sending in a copy of the ebay listing showing the purchase price.

Think I got about £30 back.

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If it looks like you've overpaid, HMRC will refund the difference as the monies PF take from you goes straight to HMRC.

To get a refund, they need the original value declaration label from the package and proof of the amount you sent to the seller - a Paypal transaction summary printoff is ok.

You could also ask Banzai for a copy of the invoice they sent, but that is more to show what PF were basing their charges on.

You can also ring HMRC weekdays, they're actually very helpful on the phone.

Refunds do take a few weeks, but they do sort it eventually.

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twinset do you know for sure what the duty is for radio control cars? It would seem to come under chapter 95 but I can't find radio control cars precisely. Radio control helicopters, and things like scale electric trains etc are all 0%.

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A miracle occurred over this way, my delivery fella dropped my Mountaineer Re Release - no duties collected !

Nice once in a while to get a "freebie".

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twinset do you know for sure what the duty is for radio control cars? It would seem to come under chapter 95 but I can't find radio control cars precisely. Radio control helicopters, and things like scale electric trains etc are all 0%.

In 2010, when the post linked to was written, it was (but VAT was 17.5%!) - check the summary at the bottom here;

clodimport.jpg

No idea what it is now, sorry

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