Just received a record from the states, $30 on the ticket but I had to pay a charge of £16.80 when I collected it.

This sounds very disproportionate and seeing as the postage was $28.45 it`s a fkn joke!

Anyone had similar?

Always get a handling charge extra on top of unpaid customs.

 

its normal.

 

the handling charge is usually about 16 quid.

I have paid £8 to the P.O. on top of any import duties on any record I have bought

the trick is to stay below 19 US dollars (£15)

 

Handling charge?....what a con!

As if there`s a difference between normal post handling. It was for a Cooperettes which I picked up for $30 so quite a bargain anyway but annoying having to collect and pay the extra.

Edited November 17, 20177 yr by Guest

7 minutes ago, Steve Lane said:

Handling charge?....what a con!

As if there`s a difference between normal post handling. It was for a Cooperettes which I picked up for $30 so quite a bargain anyway but annoying having to collect and pay the extra.

Its a bit of a lottery and it is annoying.  The handling charge can be more than the customs itself.

 

getting item marked up as a low value gift on packaging should prevent it.

Happend to me 2 months ago paid in total around £35 postage from the states, asked the seller to take of global shipping he would`nt, got the record for a bargain but was still annoyed.

Bought one 2 weeks ago same thing asked the seller to take off global shipping and put the item as a gift and a value of $10, he did, total cost to ship $15

you have to ask them, some will do it others wont, so i always ask now.

That ebay global shipping is also another pain.

 

things used to be so much easier.

7 minutes ago, dylan said:

That ebay global shipping is also another pain.

 

things used to be so much easier.

One great big rip off that only benefits Ebay.

I copped it big time a few weeks ago when the American seller I had bought an issue copy of the Trends - Thanks for a little lovin put down the actual price I had payed him on the package $520 I started getting worried when I checked the tracking and the record was at Parcelforce in Coventry, I then had a letter telling me there was a fee of £106 to pay and the package could be picked up from my local branch after payment!  

German customs include postage when calculating import duties. Meaning, it's not just the cost of the record you pay duty for but also for the postage.

Best to have records sent to a convenient point in the States and have a mate post them in batches.

If the import duty is ridiculously high, just don't pay it; leave the packet at the sorting office and it will be sent back to the States. The seller will then come to an arrangement of sorts...

Always possible to liaise with US sellers re ‘best practice’ so transactions are mutually satisfactory. Most dealers are very accommodating and will help out.

14 minutes ago, Benji said:

German customs include postage when calculating import duties. Meaning, it's not just the cost of the record you pay duty for but also for the postage.

This is the case here in the UK too, so it's all too easy to slip over the threshold & incure a VAT charge, which then triggers the £8 "handling fee" levied by Royal Mail.

Charging for less handling than actual posting is laughable!

My aunt peels off un-franked stamps from letters and parcels she gets where she works, she often sends me a load of peeled off stamps.

I got a customs charge of £15 a few months back so I glued on the amount in used stamps onto the request card, they accepted it so I got my own back . Karma! 

Happened to me as well this week,£6.07 VAT & £8 handling charge for a £20 single. Postman mate says your just unlucky they only pick up odd packages(staff shortages). Still makes you think it's just a money making exercise.

It is most definetly a Post Office

rip off,i had to pay £13 on a record

from the States,£8 was the 

handling charge,so the duty was

only really £5.

As I have said before on other

posts,sometimes it is still worth

it when you pick up a bargain or

land a rare record that you simply

cannot get in the UK or Europe.

I buy from most Countries and

just açcept the costs,i have done

the maths before i buy,so i know

what to expect.

I don't always get charged,so it

could be a random pot luck

scenario and i have some really

nice records from across the pond.

8 hours ago, Mustang said:

It is most definetly a Post Office

rip off,i had to pay £13 on a record

from the States,£8 was the 

handling charge,so the duty was

only really £5.

As I have said before on other

posts,sometimes it is still worth

it when you pick up a bargain or

land a rare record that you simply

cannot get in the UK or Europe.

I buy from most Countries and

just açcept the costs,i have done

the maths before i buy,so i know

what to expect.

I don't always get charged,so it

could be a random pot luck

scenario and i have some really

nice records from across the pond.

It is random 'pot luck'. My postie told me they just pick out a random parcel of $15 value or more. 

It is an EU import tax that is the equivalent to UK VAT at 20%.

But it only seems to be the UK that is implementing it.

I live in Guernsey (Not in the EU). All record sales that I post from here to the UK are scrutinised by customs and if the import tax has not been paid, it is impounded in the UK. £8.00 handling charge plus 20% on its value AND the postage a packing. There is no minimum value, it's on every item.

I can post the same item to France, Germany, in fact the whole world and not have to pay an import tax.

We are given the option at Guernsey post to pay the tax upfront to stop UK customs impounding it.

Stops you getting the £8.00 fine, but pisses me off that I have to pay 20% VAT on a Guernsey stamp.

There must be a process in place that the import tax can be pre paid in the USA, even if you declare that the record is only worth £10.00, will sail through customs with all correct stickers on the package.

No, it is being implemented in Finland also, unfortunately, on anything valued over 22 USD. It's also being done on a pot luck basis, which means it sometimes slips through the net, and at others it's intercepted and a notification is sent via post instructing the receiver to contact customs and determine the charge to be paid, based on the value of the contents.

What is interesting about this to me at least is that it's a significant ramping UP of the restrictions on free trade. Of course governments are short of cash etc., but my conspiracy theory mind wonders if the big trade deal that was supposed to happen between the EU and USA under Obama has got something to do with it - deliberately throw some sand in the gears of the current setup so that people warm to the idea of even more free trade, even if it means signing up to a whole lot of other dodgy stuff that is the main reason why so many people are against it in the first place. Now with Trump the deal is off the table, but the money still rolls in anyway.

Paying taxes in Guernsey must be quite a new experience 

2 hours ago, Mickey Finn said:

 

Paying taxes in Guernsey must be quite a new experience 

I knew I shouldn't have bothered commenting, before some smart arse has to spout off about what they have seen on TV.

Very apt for a thread where everyone in the UK is moaning about being caught for evasion of UK import dutys.

Not my fault where I live.

On ‎17‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 16:55, Steve Lane said:

Just received a record from the states, $30 on the ticket but I had to pay a charge of £16.80 when I collected it.

This sounds very disproportionate and seeing as the postage was $28.45 it`s a fkn joke!

Anyone had similar?

From Royal Mail....

"If you buy goods online from outside the EU for delivery to the UK, you'll have to pay Customs Duty (if over £120 value) and Import VAT (if over £18) on top of the purchase price (including duties), though Customs Duty is waived if the amount of the calculated duty payable is £7 or less"

And this from the Taxman....

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

I've learned the hard way. If there is something I like and the postage cost is large and having contacted the seller to ask if they would send in accordance with my instructions, I then decide whether to bid or not based on their response.

Recent example was a 'Buy it now' at $75 and he wanted $35 post and refused my requests (despite me explaining the whole scenario) so I didn't bid, even though I wanted the 45.

I think that Royal Mail info might be a little out of date Andy, the VAT amount is now for items valued over £15.

Here's one I received today for an item costing $22 - cost me an extra £13.32, of which the VAT was £5.32, the other £8 of course was 'handling' 

Edited November 21, 20177 yr by John Benson
Added extra detail

5 hours ago, John Benson said:

I think that Royal Mail info might be a little out of date Andy, the VAT amount is now for items valued over £15.

From the Channel Islands to the UK there is no starting limit for goods sold, 20% to be paid on the full value inc the postage and packing.

The only starting limit is for gifts.

6 hours ago, John Benson said:

I think that Royal Mail info might be a little out of date Andy, the VAT amount is now for items valued over £15.

Here's one I received today for an item costing $22 - cost me an extra £13.32, of which the VAT was £5.32, the other £8 of course was 'handling' 

Big red label saying 'Customs Fee To Pay' - the itemised bill says 'Import Duty = 0.00' Excise Duty = 0.00' - you should of just paid those John.....

THe only way around the handling fee is to pay the Import tax that is equivalent to 20% vat upfront when it is posted.

But there are no trade agreements in place with hardly any countries to pay this upfront when it is posted.

It does seem like a cash cow for the Royal mail.

I think it is a disgrace you have to include the postage as well. Won’t be long before there is a tax on everything you buy from abroad. 

IT is definitely a cash cow for the Royal Mail. There is no proper justification for such an expensive handling charge, but when your goodies are being held to ransom, what are you going to do? And remember, as a now privatised corporation the Royal Mail is a Proper Business with greedy shareholders to satisfy, long before any public interest.

Chalky, you won't be far wrong when the looming car crash that is on the horizon plunges the state into serious financial difficulties and it will be a mad scramble for whatever "user" or "handling" charges can be levied just to keep some organisations afloat. And for a country that produces so little of its own, that is extremely serious.

Apologies if this is now regarded as off-topic, but it's all connected and unless something close to a miracle happens it's going to get worse before (if) it gets better.

And Andy, sorry for being a smart arse, obviously not your fault where you live, but the strange status of Guernsey and other offshore havens is going to be even more in play as a result of what's coming.

And if I'm wrong about any or all of the above then thank heavens above for that.

The import tax just about rules out the chance of buying a cheap Lp from the US, the postage alone is almost enough to take you over the limit.

last time it happened to me I asked the bloke at t PO what te £8 was for and what had they done to justify the charge, he couldn’t tell meother than paid the tax which was probably a click of a button affair. 

Edited November 21, 20177 yr by chalky

I have just been tucked up.Again seller refused to remove it.

I have just sent for 3 45's from the States and asked the seller if he could record a smaller amount as I don't want to pay customs as it's a rip off here in the UK.

His reply was "Well, I have complete worldwide customer satisfaction wherever I  post to" .......so I'm reading between the lines that he's gonna come good for me? I'm going to refuse them if I don't get any joy and they can be returned for a refund.

I AIN'T PAYING IT!

I've just copped it again, for some reason the seller put the value of my parcel at $188 Dollars even though I paid just less than $100 for the record, and he charged me $22 Dollars to post it, I had zero communication from him, and so had to pay £39.19 duty once the package was here to collect. What I thought was a mint original cheap copy of one of my old favourites turned out to be expensive, I'm doomed, I am bloody doomed!