Just got stung for UK customs charges again :(

[tamiyarcguy]

Try having the guy mark the box as warranty parts it should clear. We use it to get new product and parts back and forth from canada without paying import, thats in an effort to dodge like$10000 USD.

guy

[Neil_S2000]

Declaring true values is a false economy. Working on the principle that not every parcel can 'go missing' on the journey over (I'd put the worst case scenario figure at perhaps 1 in 10, more likely much higher for USA-UK transactions). So let's say you buy 10 models at £150 each and declare the value as such. As per Chris's post about he was charged 66% in C&E charges, so let's call it £90 in charges, total £240 each, that's £2400.

One of these goes missing, so you receive your £150 back with no charges to pay, so that's £2250 you have paid for 9 models.

If you had declared a £30 value (this is about the limit for C&E to claim taxes), and marked it as a gift (remember these are toys so this is entirely plausible, not to mention that 'gift' is a fairly loose term), you would have escaped charges and paid £1500, even if you lose a model and it isn't insured you have still paid £750 less.

If it is a rare or very expensive model then maybe it is worth insuring, but for the sake of £150 - no way.

Oh and if you are worried about the legalities, well, buying goods second hand means there is little or no audit trail of the transaction. You can simply say that that was the agreed price, and there is nothing anyone can do to prove otherwise, even if they know that the object in question is worth 10 times the declared value. Just keep your Ebay account to yourself

[buttey]

as i said i checked the sellers feedback and no one has complained about import charges,i know its not got anything to do with the seller but surely someone would say in the feed back ie"great item,fast delivery,but got charged on import fees" just to warn people of the charges??

[TWINSET]

The seller has nothing to do with import duties, they are a 'local' thing - it's down to the buyer to look into such things before deciding whether or not the risk of charges is worth it.

Whilst a seller can misepresent the value of an item, they are not obliged to and I believe it's illegal to do so in some countries.

If HM Customs decide to investigate the cost of a misrepresented item, you will get charged the UK market value of an item, and will have to prove how much you paid in order to get a refund.

This happened to me a while ago when they read HK $ as US ones on shipping charges, and it took 8 weeks to get the charges back from them.

[buttey]

has anyone on here brought goods of e-bayer "RCWORLD" http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws1/eBayISAPI.d...&userid=rcworld ????????????? was you charged import taxes off your order? he send from "hong kong" not the us. cheers mike. am i allowed to put this link on? sorry if im not mike

[TWINSET]

If noone has been charged yet, it's more luck than anything.

I buy a fair bit from Stella, and have bought from JR-RC, Walawala and Dinball.

Most of these parcels get through un-charged, but every now and then I get caught. It's certainly quite rare that I pay any charges from these sellers (and the far east in general) but every now and then........

Have a good search thru for 'duty' and 'excise' there's a post somewhere with links to the HM Customs and Excise conditions on it

[Pellandine-sports]

i'm in the states and US customs has already screwed me once.....never again.....ever since then i ask that the seller send the package by UPS, FedEx, DHL....anything other than the postal service.....

If anybody is thinking of using these carriers when importing from US to the UK then DONT!! They collect all duties and VAT due and pay to the authorities. Fedex used to receive commissions for this!!

I used to work for the Customs & Excise and believe me there are no dodges. acording to my ex-colleagues there is no a clamp down in progress. If anything the exact opposite as they can not cope with the volume of incoming packages to the UK. But for sure anything with a value of over £100 is going to getlooked at and charged. I wouldn't be tempted to try the gift dodge or reducing the value as you do face the prospect of the item being confiscated and destroyed if you're caught.

There is a standard claim form that you can fill in to obtain a partial refund if apprpriate. I used this recently when I had some course notes posted to me from the USA as they were too heavy to put in my luggage. Parcel Force charged me £60 for importing my own written material!!!!!! Of this sum £22 was for clearance fee....That is very cheeky as they dont do anything other than run it through an xray machine.............believe me they do not open and check the contents.