Customs Charges!!!!

Post away...
User avatar

Topic author
seamus
Team Owner
Team Owner
Posts: 858
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:23 am
Your Name: Sean
Favorite F1 Team or Driver: McLaren
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:
Status: Offline
Great Britain

Customs Charges!!!!

Post by seamus »

Guys!

This morning I received a letter from UK Parcelforce asking for a further £177 to be paid before 3 kits I recently bought on eBay are released from Customs and delivered to me. These have been sent from New Zealand.

Total combined cost of the kits was £420 plus postage for the three kits. I cannot help but feel this is absolutely disgusting & hoping an error has been made.

The last time I bought was last year from our very own Lezdep and it came with a customs charge of £12 for two kits costing just under £200. Before I call them up and shout and scream I just wanted to see if anyone has had recent experience of this?

Thanks in advance
User avatar

Scheivlak
F2 Champion
F2 Champion
Posts: 160
Joined: Thu May 27, 2004 9:00 am
Your Name: Ronald
Favorite F1 Team or Driver: Lotus
Location: Netherlands
Status: Offline
Netherlands

Re: Customs Charges!!!!

Post by Scheivlak »

Main reason why I stopped buying outside the EU.....

Ronald
User avatar

bestbalsakits
Constructors Champion
Constructors Champion
Posts: 1253
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:16 am
Location: belgium
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Customs Charges!!!!

Post by bestbalsakits »

paying VAT is standard when importing goods, your bill seems expensive though...

In belgium, we pay 21%VAT on combined price of goods + shipping. For an approx GBP500 delivery, this would be approx GBP 100.
On top of this there are admin fees to be paid. If belgian post declares the goods, admin fees is GBP28. If DHL declares, admin fees are GBP14.

Wim
Visit www.bestbalsakits.com for more hours of enjoyment.
Now also on Facebook ...
Image

Malcolm
F2 Champion
F2 Champion
Posts: 178
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:58 am
Your Name: Malcolm
Favorite F1 Team or Driver: McLaren
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Great Britain

Re: Customs Charges!!!!

Post by Malcolm »

If I remember correctly, the last time I got charged for importing from (Japan I think) I got charged around 30% - I checked it out at the time and reluctantly came to the conclusion that the charge was correct and so paid up.

I don't hold myself out as an expert, but this link gives an example of the way the charges work:

https://parcelbroker.co.uk/articles/how ... an-import/

In the troubled/disrupted times that we are living in, I think I would be pleased to see anything making it to the UK. That said, I got a delivery from Michael at Indycals yesterday - I placed the order on 16 March and was resigned to not receiving it for ages - awesome service - thank you Michael (and the postal services).

Best wishes
Malcolm
User avatar

fade_to_black
Best of the Rest
Best of the Rest
Posts: 570
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 11:32 am
Location: Lisbon
Status: Offline

Re: Customs Charges!!!!

Post by fade_to_black »

Customs are the main reason I stopped buying from Japan. The minimum value tax free just got down from 35€ to 25€ and includes shipping costs. So, I can only buy stuff outside EU with a cost of circa 15€, to account around 10€ of shipping charge.
Otherwise, add 23% VAT to that value and other customs taxes and a 25€ kit can get near 50€... So I only buy hard to get stuff from HLJ and close my eyes when the bill arrives

In the meanwhile, stay safe and build kits!
BR
Finishing: Sauber C30; Lotus 107C
Next: Porsche 917k; Ford Focus WRC 2010
User avatar

Topic author
seamus
Team Owner
Team Owner
Posts: 858
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:23 am
Your Name: Sean
Favorite F1 Team or Driver: McLaren
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:
Status: Offline
Great Britain

Re: Customs Charges!!!!

Post by seamus »

Thanks guys... it seems I have no absolutely no choice other than have them returned to the sender which I'm obviously not going to do. I have actually just come off the phone to UK customs.

To be fair to her she was very understanding and she stated their costs are predominantly based on the stated value of the products and receipts of any transaction enclosed in the parcel. I put it to her that should a parcel have a stated value and no description of costs enclosed inside what would the scenario be to which she said that they go by the value declared by the seller on the package and unless it appears overtly disproportionate that is how the fees are calculated.

Oh well, lesson learned. I guess the only way forward is to ask sellers to state a reduced value and take responsibility (and the hit) in the unlikely event that they are lost in transit etc. On reflection I wish I'd done that now, hindsight is a wonderful thing! But I will remember that in future. I could have actually bought a fourth kit from an EU seller for the same price as these charges... what an utterly, utterly painful experience!:roll:

A big thanks to Terry on here for getting the kits out to me so quickly either way, absolutely no fault of his all this.
User avatar

sky1911
Major Constructor
Major Constructor
Posts: 1049
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2014 7:28 am
Favorite F1 Team or Driver: Jim Clark, Lotus
Status: Offline
Germany

Re: Customs Charges!!!!

Post by sky1911 »

Basically what Wim wrote.
We pay a VAT of 19% added to that is some import duties or what not which adds up to something. Sometimes MFH declaring the value at a ridiculously low value doesn't help either.
I can only recount the story of me buying the 1/12 P4 spyder a couple years back. I think the declared value was 1/10 or 1/20th of its MSRP, so Mr. customs officer opens zee box,
sees the prancing horse and thinks ok. Given that those 1/12 boxes are rather large and heavy, he thought... after using an currency exchange tool to get the declared value "No
way, Jose" and googles for the price, comes up with I think 600€ at the time, and starts his calculation (all sound) and I got to pay quite some. That was also my last foray into
buying directly from the manufacturer. Apparently buying from a shop that is not the manufacturer is somehow taxed differently (something I learned that day, but then again,
why would I be fluent in our international import taxation trade secrets?

So yea, that and the fact that shipping internationally (US and UK in particular) has gotten exceedingly expensive as well doesn't help buying stuff from overseas direct.

BTW Wim, do you have any 917/30, 917/20 or the 1971 917KH or the '62 GTO in stock? Ach.. Belgium is under lockdown, right? So that's not going to happen anyway. Sigh.
Cheers,
Roman
User avatar

Topic author
seamus
Team Owner
Team Owner
Posts: 858
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:23 am
Your Name: Sean
Favorite F1 Team or Driver: McLaren
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:
Status: Offline
Great Britain

Re: Customs Charges!!!!

Post by seamus »

Actually, I forgot to mention she also stated that buying from an individual rather than a company also makes a big difference to how they consider value as these kits are classed as second hand which completely throws a spanner in the works in terms of value (her words).
I have just been advised on another forum to appeal as £177 is around the 40% mark and 'must' be incorrect... so now I don't know what to do! :roll:

russell
Formula e
Formula e
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2015 8:36 am
Status: Offline

Re: Customs Charges!!!!

Post by russell »

Sean,
The calculation is as Wim mentioned.

To be precise for us in the UK:

Duty (not VAT) is charged on the cost of goods (excluding postage).
20% VAT is then added - calculated on the combined cost of goods, duty & postage.
A handling fee is then added by Royal Mail or whoever.

The duty may be little or nothing, I can’t recall seeing more than 10% for anything & from memory duty hasn’t been added to kits I’ve had from NZ.

The customs sticker on the parcel has an exact breakdown of the charges (I can’t recall if the letter From Parcel Force does).

If the total is more than the above calculation comes to then you should complain.

I’ve received parcels of kits from NZ before at around £300 & only paid the expected 20% VAT plus handling fee.

The fact that VAT is charged on shipping (which in itself can be expensive) can catch the buyer out.

Regards
Russell
User avatar

bestbalsakits
Constructors Champion
Constructors Champion
Posts: 1253
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:16 am
Location: belgium
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Customs Charges!!!!

Post by bestbalsakits »

Declaration of low value doesn't trick customs anymore. If they don't believe it, they ask receipt/invoice, and then go from there.
Of course you can manipulate anything you send them digital format, and it even might work few times. But if they catch you, well, that's fraud then and they'll act accordingly.
sky1911 wrote:BTW Wim, do you have any 917/30, 917/20 or the 1971 917KH or the '62 GTO in stock? Ach.. Belgium is under lockdown, right? So that's not going to happen anyway. Sigh.
oh ok, we're only 'light' lockdown so European transport is still possible. Transport is seen as vital key to our wellbeing, so i think it will continue to be so...
You know i have plenty of the hiro prototype kits you like available - bentley speed 8 just arrived - so why don't you check if there's anything of your interest. If so, we'll PM our way out ;-)
See https://www.bestbalsakits.com/tamiya/tamiya.asp?man=28

wim
Visit www.bestbalsakits.com for more hours of enjoyment.
Now also on Facebook ...
Image
Post Reply