Plaza Japan query - UK buyers

[alvinlwh 5894]

2 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

it said it qualified for free delivery both on the item page and in the checkout but they still wanted £6 lol.

https://www.asiatees.com/free-shipping-over-100

USD 100 required but I had tried a basket that is over that amount and still it don't work. It could be at this time (?), Airmail Saver is not available for UK? 

Anyway, here is an old order I made, a bit under the limit, similar to your order. 

Came through regular mail, no tax problem, which is why I prefer this method. 

Pte Brexit, I get hit 100% on EMS, DHL and Fedex shipping and 50% on regular airmail. Post Brexit, I got 0% (other than that RCMart screw up) on regular air and surface mail and 0% on <£135 commercial package on DHL/Fedex and 100% on <£18 non commercial (real personal items) on these services. 

[svenb 3768]

It's always a bonus when items from abroad come through without duty but there IS import duty for items coming into the UK! We can't complain when we get caught!

Same time as @alvinlwh rightly says if foreign sellers charge tax and don't pay it on behalf of us then they should be avoided.

obviously it's not right to be charged duty if below the threshold 

Edited July 20, 2022 by svenb

[alvinlwh 5894]

1 hour ago, svenb said:

It's always a bonus when items from abroad come through without duty but there IS import duty for items coming into the UK! We can't complain when we get caught!

Same time as @alvinlwh rightly says if foreign sellers charge tax and don't pay it on behalf of us then they should be avoided.

obviously it's not right to be charged duty if below the threshold 

No one likes paying tax, be it for fuel, booze or fags. HOWEVER, I also know that paying it is part and parcel of living in this country. What I cannot stomach is paying for the privilege of paying tax, the fee, or what I call a "fine". Given the relatively low value of tax I had once have to pay £18 (express, EMS IIRC) to pay a tax of £15. On top of that, paying extra for "express", my parcel is delayed for days while the "fine" is being paid. 

You will find that not only here but on many other forums, the complaint is the same, the "fine". Thus leading to finding the best way to avoid paying any tax on entry at all. One favourite method (no longer works) is to mark the package as gift which pushed the limit to £38. This may work with casual ebay sellers but never worked with Japan sellers as their paperwork are always professionally produced, a clear indication that it is commercial (not to mention they will refuse participate in this "scam"). 

Another factor is ordinary airmail only has a "fine" of £8, which makes me prefer them as the tax to "fine" ratio is more reasonable. There was a member who say how much he loves Fedex/DHL as it is faster but he is in AU with a import limit of A$1000! Here in the UK, we have to pay the premium for express only for it to be delayed pending "fine" collection. 

Now, in the case of RCMart, they repeatedly made the same mistake making me stay away from them. They may really pay the tax they collected to HMRC, IDK, but marking it incorrectly caused me to be taxed and "fined" on arrival, and the tax is actually on top of the tax (20% of the 20%) I already paid, plus of course the goods and postage value!

I believe, if the fee/"fine" is removed, more people will be willing to pay the import tax. 

[svenb 3768]

Yes absolutely the handling fees are way out .

But we know they are there.

I too have been stung by RM for a amount that just didn't add up ,can't remember the figure now , certainly cheesed me off at the time.

Anyway if it sneaks in under the radar 👍 if not 9 times out of 10 it's cheaper than paying full whack from UK sellers.

No criticism intended just a point of view from a very happy(not) tax payer😅

[alvinlwh 5894]

45 minutes ago, svenb said:

if not 9 times out of 10 it's cheaper than paying full whack from UK sellers.

Yes, I did my maths and very recently bought a kit from a UK seller (granted it was ebay but still UK based). Buying from HK, plus postage is only around £10 cheaper than most UK stores. Plus the risk factor of getting hit by tax/"fines". Then I came across one that was on offer/sales and it worked out to be £10 cheaper than trying to import! 

That is why I only buy from HK/JP items that are not available in the UK, like MST, 3R or Mini 4WD stuff, or stuff that are wildly overpriced in the UK, like many hop up bits. 

On a side note, the very weak £ now actually makes it less worthwhile to buy overseas, even in person. I am flying out east later on this year and am putting a shopping list together, RC and non-RC. One example is the Comical Frog, it costs £150 from FH, before removing ESC and the 10% TC discount, while the shop price out east is £172 (price thanks to a local TC member)! Things used to be at least 1/3 to 1/2 cheaper out East but sadly this was before Gordon Brown printed more money. 

[alvinlwh 5894]

@svenbjust remembered, that shipment that I got so annoyed about, PF actually sent me a letter/invoice, which takes at least a day to get to me, and then me paying online, before they will release. So took at least 2 days but IIRC it was 4 days extra to get to me. So much for paying extra for express AND costing more (£18 instead of £8) to pay for the privilege of paying tax! 

[BuggyGuy 1106]

Just done my first order with PJ for a few bits (about £99 of parts including shipping), ordered on the 13th July, and it's out for delivery with FedEx today.

That's a fantastic turnaround time, and the bits would have cost me at least £200 to get from UK/Europe (and a few of the parts aren't even available here).

A good example is the Tamiya blue servo step screws - cost me £3.92 on this order, last time I saw them in stock in UK they were £11ish I think!

 

 

 

[alvinlwh 5894]

7 minutes ago, BuggyGuy said:

Just done my first order with PJ for a few bits (about £99 of parts including shipping), ordered on the 13th July, and it's out for delivery with FedEx today.

What everyone will be interested will be do you get taxed. Note that with Fedex, you may not get the invoice until a week later, they are a bit better than EMS/PF/RM as they deliver first, invoice later, so still the express service you paid for.

[BuggyGuy 1106]

1 minute ago, alvinlwh said:

What everyone will be interested will be do you get taxed. Note that with Fedex, you may not get the invoice until a week later, they are a bit better than EMS/PF/RM as they deliver first, invoice later, so still the express service you paid for.

I will update the thread if they tax me 

[Kol__ 3377]

10 hours ago, alvinlwh said:

What everyone will be interested will be do you get taxed. Note that with Fedex, you may not get the invoice until a week later, they are a bit better than EMS/PF/RM as they deliver first, invoice later, so still the express service you paid for.

5th FedEx delivery into me from PJ earlier this week, no taxes applied. As mentioned the only one I've had anything added to was an order over £200.

@BuggyGuy, going by my experience so far, I pretty much guarantee you'll not get charged on a £99 order mate.

 

[Tobyone 557]

On 7/20/2022 at 10:22 AM, Tobyone said:

Yesterday, I placed an order with Tamico. I have managed to keep it exactly at 160 euros + postage via Royal Mail.

Lets see how this gets on with custom charges when it hits the UK.

 

Still waiting for Parcelfarce to advise if the parcel has got to the UK yet. It left for the UK on the 21st July, but tracking is showing nothing else  

Was hoping to get it before I go on holiday next week, but seems slim chance of that happening now.

[alvinlwh 5894]

2 hours ago, Tobyone said:

Still waiting for Parcelfarce to advise if the parcel has got to the UK yet. It left for the UK on the 21st July, but tracking is showing nothing else  

Was hoping to get it before I go on holiday next week, but seems slim chance of that happening now.

It looks like it is at UK but not in UK. What this usually means is that it is undergoing customs clearance (from what I gathered from the postie forum). 

Importing from Europe is very slow and troublesome these days (what my wife told me as she does import/export in work) and it is best to just avoid EU suppliers if possible. They didn't want a happy Brexit so we are dishing the same to them. Every package is inspected and taxed carefully by HMRC. Even her company now avoid doing business with Europe, more profits and less trouble elsewhere. 

[BuggyGuy 1106]

1 hour ago, alvinlwh said:

It looks like it is at UK but not in UK. What this usually means is that it is undergoing customs clearance (from what I gathered from the postie forum). 

Importing from Europe is very slow and troublesome these days (what my wife told me as she does import/export in work) and it is best to just avoid EU suppliers if possible. They didn't want a happy Brexit so we are dishing the same to them. Every package is inspected and taxed carefully by HMRC. Even her company now avoid doing business with Europe, more profits and less trouble elsewhere. 

I find that a bit strange as all the orders I've made at Tamico (DE) have arrived in 5 working days without issue (at least in the last 12 months). Though I could have just been very lucky! At peak Covid a lot of stuff was 2 weeks though.

I've not had any issue with EuroRC either in last 12 monthsm

Before Brexit all orders showed up in 2-3 days though so it's definitely worse for shipping than it was before.

The new minimum order amount on Tamico for UK is a killer though - I wanted a couple of spares that came to about 12 Euros but was "forced!" to bump the order by the price of a TA02 to get them to ship. Just need to plan a lot more these days I suppose.

[BuggyGuy 1106]

On 7/21/2022 at 9:14 AM, BuggyGuy said:

I will update the thread if they tax me 

Still no customs - and my chat with delivery person reassures me there won't be one

[alvinlwh 5894]

31 minutes ago, BuggyGuy said:

was "forced!" to bump the order by the price of a TA02 to get them to ship

I will remember that excuse to tell the wife the next time I buy a new car! 😏

[GeeWings 2830]

I've moved over from RCMart to AisaTees recently. They don't have as large a stock as RCM but they process very quickly and their shipping fees are totally reasonable. I ordered a few motors and ESCs on Friday last week and they were here on Tuesday morning. Very good!

[Tobyone 557]

On 7/26/2022 at 8:16 PM, alvinlwh said:

It looks like it is at UK but not in UK. What this usually means is that it is undergoing customs clearance (from what I gathered from the postie forum). 

Importing from Europe is very slow and troublesome these days (what my wife told me as she does import/export in work) and it is best to just avoid EU suppliers if possible. They didn't want a happy Brexit so we are dishing the same to them. Every package is inspected and taxed carefully by HMRC. Even her company now avoid doing business with Europe, more profits and less trouble elsewhere. 

Well, it looks like its hit the UK and straight to customs for revised charges, no shock there, I was expecting it  . 

Now to wait for the ransom demand through the post. 

[nowinaminute 2815]

Got my Plaza order a few days ago. Playing the waiting game now.

I noticed the value on the attached invoice was in USD rather than £ which could be beneficial...someone "accidentally" typed $ instead of £ perhaps?

[alvinlwh 5894]

23 minutes ago, nowinaminute said:

I noticed the value on the attached invoice was in USD rather than £ which could be beneficial...someone "accidentally" typed $ instead of £ perhaps?

They do not have the £ sign on their keyboard out East. Here is mine bought from there. 

 

[Tobyone 557]

Just got back from holiday to a ransom demand from Parcelforce for my Tamico order (ordered 18th July), Total charges to pay £64.42,

Customs duty £18.29

Import VAT £34.13

Clearance Fee !!! £12

Paid online and hopefully delivery will be on Monday 8th.

Probably be my last Tamico order, unless they have something that I cant get from elsewhere  

[Kol__ 3377]

38 minutes ago, Tobyone said:

Just got back from holiday to a ransom demand from Parcelforce for my Tamico order (ordered 18th July), Total charges to pay £64.42,

Customs duty £18.29

Import VAT £34.13

Clearance Fee !!! £12

Paid online and hopefully delivery will be on Monday 8th.

Probably be my last Tamico order, unless they have something that I cant get from elsewhere  

Jeez that's a bit rubbish mateWhat was the total of your order? Near a couple of hundred I'm guessing.

We've skipped VAT by purchasing outside the UK, so I get that, but what are the customs charges all about?

[alvinlwh 5894]

43 minutes ago, Tobyone said:

Just got back from holiday to a ransom demand from Parcelforce for my Tamico order (ordered 18th July), Total charges to pay £64.42,

Customs duty £18.29

Import VAT £34.13

Clearance Fee !!! £12

Paid online and hopefully delivery will be on Monday 8th.

Probably be my last Tamico order, unless they have something that I cant get from elsewhere  

This is exactly as I expected, HMRC paying extra attention on EU parcels. Which is why I never bought from EU.

What really winds me up with PF is when I paid extra for "express" delivery, it got held for ransom instead. Sometimes, normal delivery is faster that the so called "express" delivery. At least (generally) DHL/Fedex deliver first then ask for fees later. 

[Tobyone 557]

22 hours ago, Kol__ said:

Jeez that's a bit rubbish mateWhat was the total of your order? Near a couple of hundred I'm guessing.

We've skipped VAT by purchasing outside the UK, so I get that, but what are the customs charges all about?

Total order was 170 euros, including the postage.

I am sure my other Tamico order was higher than that but had a lower charge 

Quote from Google - Customs duties are imposed on goods from out of the UK in order to raise revenue and protect the local market and are a percentage of the overall value.

 

[Kol__ 3377]

4 hours ago, Tobyone said:

Total order was 170 euros, including the postage.

I am sure my other Tamico order was higher than that but had a lower charge 

Quote from Google - Customs duties are imposed on goods from out of the UK in order to raise revenue and protect the local market and are a percentage of the overall value.

 

It's bizarre, I didnt get any 'Customs Duty' when I had a Parcel Force delivery from the US, which they charged me VAT and a handling fee ages ago. Perhaps it's just a Euro thing, either way it just sounds like another way to screw money out of us tbh

[alvinlwh 5894]

17 minutes ago, Kol__ said:

It's bizarre, I didnt get any 'Customs Duty' when I had a Parcel Force delivery from the US, which they charged me VAT and a handling fee ages ago. Perhaps it's just a Euro thing, either way it just sounds like another way to screw money out of us tbh

It more got to do with trade deals. EU wanted a bitter divorce so punishing duties. I think there is some free trade deals with US so you did not get hammered. Which is why I advice against dealing with the EU these days. I also think a free trade deal was agreed on since Brexit with Japan so there should be no customs duties for Japan purchase. (not a international tax expert, just guessing here)