UPS Import Charges?

[funk]

Anyone had much experience of UPS and imports of late. Steaming mad with them at the moment.

69 euro product, paid 20 euro shipping for tracking.

Customs / tax etc. shouldn't even kick in until £39 or £135 depending on whether the seller has labelled it gift or commercial.

I've had a request for payment on delivery (not phishing!) for £82.40, made up of £70.20 "gov charges" and £12.40 brokerage.

Tried to call them at 6pm tonight, because they're open until 8pm apparently - lines closed 😐

Fumin'

 

[Phils Arcade]

That does look to be considerably more than it should be. You sure they have the right value on the package?

 

[funk]

That does look to be considerably more than it should be. You sure they have the right value on the package?

It's the only thing I could think of it being tbh, annoyingly, I don't get to see it until I pay the charge 🤦🏻‍♂️ Stuck between rock and hard place.

I believe if you prepay before they arrive too ups have a tendancy to remove the paperwork with declarations etc too so you never find out.

Thinking I'm just going to have to pay it when they turn up and try and claim it back from the gov 🤷‍♂️

 

[Phils Arcade]

I've got an Atari Hall Effect joystick from the U.S., $250 plus $38 shipping. Arrived via UPS, no charge. A number of wiring looms, again from the U.S., via UPS, no charge, then a SEGA audio board, again from the U.S., via Royal Mail, £35 on import tax and £8 handling fee.

Every time I get something that ends up going through Royal Mail I pay.

Also just got notification on an Atari Missile Command Trackball that arrived via Dublin yesterday, and the Irish Post have asked to pay import taxes, even though I'm in Northern Ireland, so it's the U.K.. It's just a pile of horse shit. Not sure how I'm going to proceed with that one.

 

[funk]

Eventually got through to someone this morning, in a nutshell... you have to pay the £82.40 if you want the item.

After that "if an amendment is required with HMRC, the approval timeline is 42 days and an extra 10 days for the refund to be issued."

What's the most frustrating thing is they can't even tell me where they've plucked the figure from!

My minds blown as to how you can reach £80+ in charges for an item of 69euro plus 20euro shipping.

 

[jerryspaghetti]

Sucks. I'd recommend using a service like MyUS shipping if buying from the States and there's probably similar European services.

 

[Chihiro]

I've heard with FedEx they send you the invoice after you get the goods so you think you have got away with it.
I got done on £25 worth of goods from Hobbyking H/K about 5 year ago £4 import duty but £12 RM handling fee or something like that.
I think they just put down a random figure.

 

[funk]

The seller apparently put 20 euro and hobby kit, down on the declaration so where they've got the figure from lord knows.
His theory is that they didn't believe it and have put what they want, hoping that the paypal transaction will be enough for them to issue a refund if I do end up having to pay it before it arrives. Time in life's already short without burning it on stuff like this, drives me insane!

 

[TheDaddy]

Slightly different but I just purchased something from Japan and had to pay the VAT after purchase (Ali Express). So does this mean I would not have to pay any import tax now I have pay the vat , Or is that extra as well ?? That was £8.00 & £8.16 for shipping + VAT !

We are getting ripped off left right and centre !!!!! Its ok though we can afford it now everyone's wages have gone up 8% cant we ?

Dave.

 

[Georgian2]

As far as I know, there is VAT, Customs TAX (import duty), Handling fees. All this together add up.

 

[neo-geo-mvs]

Slightly different but I just purchased something from Japan and had to pay the VAT after purchase (Ali Express). So does this mean I would not have to pay any import tax now I have pay the vat , Or is that extra as well ?? That was £8.00 & £8.16 for shipping + VAT !

We are getting ripped off left right and centre !!!!! Its ok though we can afford it now everyone's wages have gone up 8% cant we ?

Dave.

Anything under £135 and you pay the 20% VAT directly to the seller and so you should not get charged...

However, I've been charged before despite paying VAT to the seller, to be charged once again by Parcelforce as the seller included the shipping cost as the total on the customs form which made it over £135 by £2 or something. The seller refunded me this charge.

I'm not sure if the £135 maximum includes shipping costs as well, or is just the maximum value in goods? So to be on the safe side, I only buy up to £135 for goods and shipping in total and pay VAT directly to the seller (i.e play-asia, aliexpress etc)

 

[Phils Arcade]

If you regularly import goods from the U.S., from tax rated companies as apposed to individuals, you can apply for a W8-BEN V.A.T. exemption form. It's an IRS form that basically states you don't pay tax on the goods purchased in the U.S. but do when imported into your own country, so you're not paying twice.

 

[Chihiro]

I wonder if your address can be "marked" if previously stung.

 

[jimmerd]

I tend to ask the seller to use the relevant custom code and list each item in the package individually with a friendly name.

eg Hobby Kit = "Widget co - build your own radio science kit" or whatever.

Maybe hobby kit matches with something else in a text search? like some expensive part of a yacht or something.

 

[funk]

So basically they destroyed the package according to the tracking

So much for enhanced £25 shipping eh!

The irony, they're still requesting fees paid!

They'll be clawing that money out of my dead hands, or at the very least court if it escalates! Absolute joke!

 

[Lurch666]

Is this because of brexit or was it always like this?

 

[Fantazia2]

Is this because of brexit or was it always like this?

Not so much Brexit no, this was new EU rules that were being brought in and the UK adopted them into our own laws as part of Brexit and actually actioned them before the EU even got round to. I believe the EU have now implemented their version of it.

I think there is discussion thread on here about from a couple of years ago when the new rules started.

Basically anyone outside of the UK wanting to sell anything to someone in the UK, if the value of the goods is below £135 they need to be registered with HMRC and collect the VAT directly from the customer at the point of sale and then pay this to HMRC. Anything over £135 is handled in the same way as it used to be with the shipping company paying the import VAT/Duties and passing the bill with their charges on top to the customer.

They also took it as an opportunity to scrap the £16/£17 lower limit that we used to have before charging import tax/duties.

I remember there was a lot of companies that stopped selling to the UK as it wasnt worth the hassle to them having to register with HMRC and do all the paperwork to pay the VAT collected to them, big Market places like eBay and Aliexpress do all this for their sellers so they dont have to do it themselves.

No idea how its supposed to work with items below £135 with how they couriers know the VAT has been collected and paid, either just supposed to ignore anything under that value or if the seller needs to put something on the envelope to say the tax has been paid, pretty sure I have seen that second one on a few imported packages Ive had recently, but dont know if its mandatory.

There was a guy over on the pinballinfo forum recently having moan about a European company trying to charge vat on a small value order so he used another one and asked them not to include the VAT but he said they did, so will be interesting to see if he gets stung with import charges and a courier fee on top.

Also no idea how it works for private sellers with goods under £135 as they wont be collecting VAT on HMRCs behalf.

 

[jimmerd]

The following contains some information on the changes.

https://www.parcelmonkey.co.uk/how-will-brexit-affect-parcel-deliveries-to-the-eu

What was actually in the package?, possibly you are getting a charge for some 'default' amount due to a missing HS or EORI code.

The seller should not have stated 20 euro a 69 euro product? maybe if the seller is a company they have been flagged up as doing this.

I would have thought that the parcel company 'should' have to give you more information about the exact reason, since you are being asked to pay them a fee to handle the customs for you.

 

[neo-geo-mvs]

I previously rang parcelforce up regarding an incorrect VAT charge and they advised me to pay the charge and then complete a BOR286 form

Report incorrect Customs Duty or VAT on items imported by post (BOR286)

Use form BOR286 if you believe the Customs Duty or import VAT was wrongly calculated on an item you imported by post using Royal Mail or Parcelforce.

www.gov.uk

I raised my concern with the seller and advised I had paid VAT directly to them already and had to paid this VAT fee again. Fortunately they refunded me directly and so I didn't actually complete the BOR286 form.

I'm sure UPS must have something similar