Customs duties on tee shirt from USA
Discussion
shake n bake said:
12 quid. Just pay it Johnny tight ass.
UnhelpfulI have bought a few bits and pieces from outside the EU over the years
You need to pay VAT and import tax plus a handling fee for the above from the carrier for collecting these taxes
Some are reasonable in what they charge and some are less so
Your fee is more than Id have been happy with and Ive added them to the list of companies I will avoid for shipping when buying from abroad
Cheers
I've been stung a few times by carrier charges for paying VAT - they are excessive and completely disproportionate.
Anything over £15, including the cost of postage, will incur VAT and, because of the carrier charge, the price immediately almost doubles.
The charges used to be more reasonable, but they've gone up hugely in the past few years. The fees are doubly galling because they're set by the seller's choice of carrier, but then paid by the recipient, meaning there's no incentive to compete on the charge.
I now only purchase abroad from VAT registered companies, e.g. Rockauto, unless I can keep the cost under £15 delivered.
Anything over £15, including the cost of postage, will incur VAT and, because of the carrier charge, the price immediately almost doubles.
The charges used to be more reasonable, but they've gone up hugely in the past few years. The fees are doubly galling because they're set by the seller's choice of carrier, but then paid by the recipient, meaning there's no incentive to compete on the charge.
I now only purchase abroad from VAT registered companies, e.g. Rockauto, unless I can keep the cost under £15 delivered.
jfdi said:
Is there any way to pay the Vat upfront before the post office add their £8?
I got stung recently on bushes for my bike. Cost was about 40p above the £15 limit.
Yes. There are some schemes with the US via eBay that allows customs and duties to be collected when you pay for the items and then paid to UK gov by eBay. Your parcel then comes straight to you, as it is already stamped as duty/VAT paid. I got stung recently on bushes for my bike. Cost was about 40p above the £15 limit.
If your seller isn't in one of those schemes then you might be able to convince them to list an item on eBay for you.
To be fair, in years of buying stuff from all over the world I have only had a single item which got held for payment of VAT/duty. Most of them get marked by the sender as a low value commercial sample and they never appear to get checked.
I ordered an £18 t shirt from the USA and it ended up costing £40 odd after postage and bulls
t handling charges added. Annoying thing is I had ordered the same t shirt a few months before, from the same seller at the same price but wasn't stopped at customs. I wish it all was stopped or not at all, rather than this lottery. Same with watches from Japan.
t handling charges added. Annoying thing is I had ordered the same t shirt a few months before, from the same seller at the same price but wasn't stopped at customs. I wish it all was stopped or not at all, rather than this lottery. Same with watches from Japan. I used to be one of the moderators for a PC motherboard manufacturer's English language forum, which was run by their US subsidiary. Occasionally, they would send the moderators something foc as a "thank you" & on at least one occasion by the time that I had paid VAT/duty & handling charges I actually could have bought the item (it was an mATX mobo) cheaper in the UK ...
NDNDNDND said:
Anything over £15, including the cost of postage, will incur VAT and, because of the carrier charge, the price immediately almost doubles.
At the moment that is the case but after Brexit the government is planning on removing the £15 limit and taxing everything that is imported, no matter how low the value.Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff