Customs charges on imports.

[English Paul]

My Romulan finally arrived a couple of days ago. The pleasure of him arriving was taken away slightly by a £31 ($60) customs duty charge. Do any other countries have a similar problem on high value items.

The customs/insurance form had the value that I won it at which was $222. I have had to pay an £8 handling charge and £23 VAT. It's only the 3rd time it's happened as usually items from the US make it through customs without any problems.

I looked into it and new and secondhand goods are still subject to charges.
The limit is £18 on goods or £36 on gifts. Unfortunately because of the insurance they weren't in a position to falsify the customs label.

Does the US have a similar system or is the British goverment just using it as another reason to tax us?

(By the way The Romulan is my new favourite Mego figure )

[cjefferys]

Canada has a similar problem with duty/taxes on imports. Of course it's completely random, as Canada Customs does not have the time or manpower to inspect every package. So some get through free and clear, while others get nailed on charges (I once had a huge box of toys worth a couple hundred dollars shipped from Japan and paid nothing to Customs, while another time I had a small box containing only 2 DVDs, and had to pay about $15 in taxes/duties. You never know, it's unpredictable).

The US is much more lenient. Shipments both commercial and personal that are under $200 can be imported duty free. And while in Canada, you have to pay taxes as well as duty, in the US, large value shipments are just subject to duty (and many items are already duty free) and a MPF fee, which is only $2.00 on informal entries (under $2000). There are exceptions, a few tariff numbers are subject to additional fees (visa quota, anti-dumping, etc). Customs broker fees can also apply, and vary widely.

This is why I have a US mail box, instead of getting international shipments sent to me in Canada, I usually have them sent there and bring them over the border myself. Works out much cheaper for me in the long run.

[toys2cool]

I know in the US i've never had to pay anything,and I've bought some pretty expensive items

[mitchedwards]

got 2 Megos from the UK and had no duty charges on it.

[English Paul]

Of course it's completely random, as Canada Customs does not have the time or manpower to inspect every package.

I think the same probably applies here as well. On the 3 occasions that I have been subject to a charge the items have been send in those nice `look at me, I stand out like a sore thumb` Global Priority shipping boxes.

In reality the 3 items that have been caught are a very small percentage when put against everything else that I have recieved from the US.

In the end I still got a minty loose Romulan for $280, but the $220 bid price would have been much nicer. I was still extremely exited as I opened the package and the customs charge was soon forgotten about.

[Bo8a_Fett]

I know what you guys are saying , ordered the "Bladerunner" collectors dvd from the U.S. and had to pay an extra £15 when it was delivered.It was actually £14.29 which seemed an odd figure but all looked correct on the statement.It's very annoying to have to pay anything from a third to half of what the price of the goods were originally priced at.

.......it's so unfair.......

[ctc]

>Of course it's completely random, as Canada Customs does not have the time or manpower to inspect every package.

Most places are like this.... Canada has some weird regulations too. I've ordered tons of stuff from Japan and never have to pay duty. (I suspect it's 'cos the final assaying is done here in Windsor, where nobody reads enough Japanese to figure out the customs forms....) I've never had real substantial charges for stuff from Britiain, France or Australia either. (I used to order a lot of gaming minis...)

It depends a lot on how something's shipped as well. Ordering from the US I prefer standard USPS service. Send things by UPS or some other courier and you usually end up with HUGE brokerage fees. (IE: The company charges you an extra $50 for signing a paper...)

Don C.

[Meule]

Usually I have to pay taxes on anything over 50 euros. But there doesn't seem to be a system to it, it's like they don't always have time to check the value on the package (or they just don't feel like it). Usually I ask people not to put the real value on the customs form

[Mikey]

Everytime I ship eBay auctions to non US countries, I always list everything as "gift" on the USPS custom's forum.

That alleviates those extra duties, right ?

I was told that, anyway.

[English Paul]

Coming into the UK `gift` covers us up to £36 ($70). I usually do as Thomas does and ask for a lesser value to be put on the label.

It is a very hit and miss system. There is loads that clearly goes under the radar. From my experience it's the higher value insured packages that seem to get picked up on.

[cjefferys]

(I suspect it's 'cos the final assaying is done here in Windsor, where nobody reads enough Japanese to figure out the customs forms....)

Good point. The one time I did pay duty on an item from Japan, the customs form was in English.

Send things by UPS or some other courier and you usually end up with HUGE brokerage fees. (IE: The company charges you an extra $50 for signing a paper...)

Yes, many couriers have their own brokerage departments (my old company was bought out by UPS several years ago) and can and do charge fees. But, as someone who works at a Customs Brokerage, I can assure you that we do much more than just "sign papers". I wish that was all there was to it!

[ctc]

>as someone who works at a Customs Brokerage, I can assure you that we do much more than just "sign papers".

Well.... I used to do my own for a while. It wasn't a lot of work; but involved me standing in line for LONG periods of time; and saying "I don't drive for anybody. I'm picking it up for myself..." I imagine for orders bigger than a personal one there's more to it; but for a couple of books, or toys, or whatever I prefer USPS. A few places seem to insist on UPS, and they charge $50 to $70 for the service... which is a HUGE bummer for stuff that costs $35 or so.

Don C.

[cjefferys]

Well yeah, just taking care of a small personal shipment isn't too bad (and definitely not worth paying someone 50 bucks to do it for you!). I deal with large commercial shipments and believe me, those can be a pain in the arse.

"I don't drive for anybody". Yeah, those Customs officers are just used to dealing with truck drivers all day, so people like you throw them off.

[Surfsup]

I always ask the seller to mark the value down and send it as a gift, it's a risk in case it goes missing but one I'm willing to take.

I remember being hit for £600 once as the seller marked the value down at the full 5k even though I asked him not to. I nearly fainted when seeing that.

I've noticed that a lot of US sellers lately won't mark the value down or ship to the UK at all which is a shame.

[dumbldor]

Bill and I send 'gifts' to each other a lot.