talkmagic.co.uk

Hi,
Bought two items from miraclefactory (love them) and in the past, things have sailed through customs, today I got a £22 charge to pay - it's not too bad, because miraclefactory had a sale on when I bought them, so I still saved money, but just wondering for future reference...

Does anyone know if there is a rationale to the customs people plonking a customs charge on it? eg over a certain price, weight, noticed you've imported lots of things, less likely for educational materials, books, etc?
Thanks.

I don't know about excess charges, but a few years ago when I was buying occasionally from the US I had a largish parcel take almost 8 weeks to clear customs. I blush to remember how furious my exchanges with the online store in question became. When it finally arrived the postmark showed that it had indeed been mailed the day after I ordered it. I sent them profuse grovelling apologies and have never bought from the US since... partly from the bad experience and partly because I became a little neurotic about any subsequent shipment getting a walloping big surcharge applied.

Ive had this problem a few times, and its a right pain in the @rse. If the purchase is over a certain amount (its about £15) customs seize it, add tax and a charge for their ''services''.

jim

I haven't placed any overseas orders in a while, but last time I did I think the threshold was £18 before customs can decide to slap a bit extra on top. I did tend to find that it was a bit inconsistent; sometimes they will hit you but sometimes stuff gets through, even if it cost you more than £18. I think it depends, to an extent, on your local depot as well.

I am not 100% certain but I was told to make sure they were marked "Gift" or "Educational" material.

Recently I was told this again but they were clamping down on items marked "Gift" I now try and find the item in this country to order it.

Nic

Yes, if its marked as a gift it apperently gets through ok, but there are limits and restrictions on this aswell. To be honest i dont think many places would mark it as a gift for us, it would be handy if they did though

jim

As you might expect, this topic has been aired many times before. Some are at

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic35600.php
http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic24566.php
http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic13123.php
http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic7750.php

and there are several others, check the Search Function.

Best course of action is to check with Revenue & Customs via their website.

Could be worse! I ordered something and the guy forgot half of it so he sent it later in a seperate package. The labels on both had the TOTAL cost for both so I had to pay the full customs charges TWICE!!

When ordering a DVD and Download package, you might want to ask the supplier to write something on the package such as "hard copy back up" and give it a cost value.

As you might expect, this topic has been aired many times before.

Sorry! - I'm normally good at checking the search first

No pobs! It's an on going issue and I have no doubt that Reveue & Customs will be clamping down even harder as more and more items are sourced overseas. It's not so much the import duty and/or VAT it's the rip off fees charged by Royal Mail to 'process' these charges - I complained to my local MP about this three years ago and he said he'd look into it. I'm still waiting...

Quite often we hear the suggestion that the supplier should make some kind of false declaration on the paperwork 'book' or 'gift' but this would be against the laws of this country and, probably, the laws of the country supplying. If R&C check and find the contents to be not as decalred they could be seized and destroyed so you might not want to risk that idea.