more customs and excise trouble...

[netsmithUK]

Just bought an item from the US for $30.00, which if stopped by customs would have cost me another $8.00 on tax. Unfortunately the seller put the value at $100.00 on the customs declaration form so the tax people have charged me an extra $26.00!![!]

Which leaves me in one of those feedback dilemmas again.

Goods are great and well packaged, but because of the way he filled in the form its cost me $18.00 more than it need have done, on a $30.00 purchase. (although in his defense he hasn't seen any of this extra money - that all went to our government - so he wasn't trying to rip me off or make any extra cash)

Good, Neutral or Negative comment?

[Bibbo]

I had a similar situation recently.

I got some decals from US and the value on the packet said $25. The correct amount, but then customs wanted $18.50 when it got here!!!!

My case was a bit different because the value stated was correct.

Anyway, I guess theres a few things to think about. Was this an experienced seller? i.e. should they have known about the customs deal.

Was it insured? maybe thats why he/she bumped the value up, just in case it was damaged/lost you would have been well covered.

Unless you can say he/she it on purpose just to "get" you then I think it has to be a mail to him/her explaining what happened then give a good feedback unless you get a nasty reply to your mail.

Maybe they just don't know about the customs deal and thought they were helping you.

[coffo]

chris

i had a similar thing last year, if you print the email with the cost on it from ebay and send it to the tax man, with the form what was on the box you should get it back. you are allowed $28 of stuff befor getting taxed i got charged for $500 because it was a standed insuarnce price but as i could prove the item only cost $150 i got a refund for the rest

kev

[ShenUK]

i got Charged £29.47 [!] in Customs Charges for my Sand Scorcher it was sent as a gift and insured for $150

heres part of what it says on the label

Please Note that all goods entering the European Union with a value exceeding £18 or £36 in the case of gifts are generally subject to customs charges normally charges are calculated upon the declared value plus postage

further information can be obtained by accessing the customs website

www.hmce.gov.uk

i'm trying to get the charge refunded [!]

[Bibbo]

Why would you try to get it refunded when the value ( including shipping ) is way over the limit for a gift of £36, as mentioned by your piece from the customs web site.

[bholio]

Most individuals (me included) in the US do not directly import/export things from/to other countries. We have no experience with stuff like import taxes/customs duties etc. I only know this is an issue for the UK (or is it all EU?) guys because I hang out on this forum and read about it. I've never had any of my international purchases (only a few, low $$) taxed or held up at customs. Not sure if they do this in in the US at all. If so, it's probably at a higher $$ amount than I've been paying.

The guy probably just gave it a high value in case it got lost that everything would be covered. Probably decalred it as $100 because that was the insurance he paid for (or got for free) on the package. I would certainly not give him negative over this. *Maybe* a neutral, or positive with description of what happened. And *** him out in a private email.

I would treat this as a lesson learned an carefully instruct future sellers to leave the exact value on the declarations statement. Rip their feedback if they do not follow your instructions.

[snollan]

I can see why Chris is *******ed at the extra money but if that value is correctly stated then that's what it should be. If I sold something and then got a negative feeback for insuring a package then I would be one of those US guys who would stop shipping oustide the US.

[netsmithUK]

I've got no problem with paying the extra tax - its one of those things you have to live with. Its just in this case the tax was three time more than it needed to be due to the amount entered by the seller on the customs slip.

Might try getting it back as coffo suggested.

Chris

[synchrocnc]

I had the same thing happen , bought a lancia rally body for $51 from japan but he put $150 on the form so it cost £36 (I think) in charges , I bought a lotus 79 body from the same guy for $60 a couple of weeks ago and asked him to mark it as $60 and it flew throgh customs without a charge , The world makes sense again []

I'd give good because he didn't really do anything wrong , I have chosen to give no feedback to people who have done much much worse .

Alan

[J3cubfan]

quote:Originally posted by netsmithUK

I've got no problem with paying the extra tax - its one of those things you have to live with. Its just in this case the tax was three time more than it needed to be due to the amount entered by the seller on the customs slip.

Might try getting it back as coffo suggested.

Chris

---

id="quote">id="quote">

What is the best way to deal with this problem? No cash value and declare it as a gift?

[snollan]

Maybe some of the UK guys can write a FAQ on this subject.

[Shodog]

I like to save the UK guys money so many times I will put a lower declared value than what the guy paid for it. I remember last year I sold an almost complete Rough Rider chassis to a fellow in England. He wanted me to insure it for $250 even though he only paid $160. for it. I said okay fine by me as he was paying for the shipping and insurance anyway. you can't declare the value for less than your insuring it for. I bet he got hit with a sizable customs duty on it.

Jim

[DJTheo]

quote:What is the best way to deal with this problem? No cash value and declare it as a gift?

id="quote">id="quote">

If you want to have no insurance in case it gets lost or damaged [][:0] Like most things in the world, its a compromise, between gain and risk, should state it depending how important the item is for you...

[mickeyos]

I think the first thing to do for anyone buying from a US seller is to discuss the matter BEFORE the seller ships the product. Tell them you want them to declare it as a gift and a low value. Bug them about it, just so they don't mess up.

The extra customs on your package may have actually been a favor of the shipper.

The problem is (at least everytime me or my wife went to ship internationally) that the US postal service will not insure a package for a different value than it is declared for at the customs form.

Even though many buyers didn't care about insurance, I always got it anyway because it gives you more paperwork, which in return makes it easier to track in case the package never arrives.

So since some people asked for a low customs declaration we insured it for a low value. This way at least you get the advantage of being able to track the package a little better (but if it does get lost you are screwed anyways).

It's possible that the seller wanted to be nice and decided to insure the package well and ended up having to declare for this value not realizing the consequences.

You could, before leaving feedback, ask the person why they did that. [8D]

[gingerboy98]

Heres a question then,

when you get something from the States say from Tower Hobbies for arguments sake, and it costs over the £28 untaxed amount, is there likely to be a delay whilst it goes through all the red tape and that little note saying I have to go to the local sorting office gets sent?

Basically I order some stuff before Christmas and it still hasn't arrived and I am getting somewhat concerned.

[TWINSET]

Gingerboy

I'd chase tower for shipping details - nothing I ever ordered took more than 2 weeks

[Manuspain]

I had to pay 24$ more for a set of SS tires. The problem was because i asked for insured packing so the value was the set + shipping.

Now i usually ask the seller to indicate a very low value on package for custom services.

Here in Spain, i think under 30$ you don t have custom extra costs.

Manuspain.

[gingerboy98]

So I have just spoken to Tower Hobbies and they have said that they have to wait 90 days before they consider an order lost. 90 Days, in this day and age? I mean I ask you, am I being unreasonable?

I wouldnt mind so much if the parts I ordered a day before hadnt already arrived three weeks ago.

[TWINSET]

The other fun aspect of getting stuff to the UK is that DHL and UPS invoice you for customs charges after the delivery.

There I was thinking I'd got away with it when I receive two nice brown envelopes!

[richtea78]

Gingerboy - Ive had things from Tower before that have taken up to 6 weeks to turn up, I think they send it by boat so it has to be packed shipped accross, unpacked and delivered.

Tower have always been good in the end though - once there was some bits missing from my order and they didnt even kick up a fuss, just airmailed me some more