Customs charges

[harper30]

Maybe IABU but I've ordered a handmade veil for my wedding online and it cost £180 with about £15 shipping. Fine, it's a beautiful veil, have waited a long time for it to be made and shipped, lovely.
Today I get a post office notice saying they can't deliver because of a customs fee I have to pay of £65??!!!! More than a third of the cost of the item???
Is this standard? Is the import fee from the USA to the UK over 30%? There's no phone number or email address on the notice so I feel like I can't query it?
Anyone with more experience of shipping costs etc, your knowledge will be much appreciated!

It sounds about right.

I bought something last month for DP from America, it was £125 with £10 postage and the customs charge was nearly £50.

You pay an £8 handling charge for royal mail( this might have gone up been 2 years since i ordered from outsdie EU) £15 or more for some couriers, depends who is contracted for the final delivery. You pay this on top of the actual customs charge, which is standard 20% VAT on items £15 + and i believe you also pay duty on items £135 and above.

You wont get the item of you don't pay it, it's your responsibility as the importer to know/research charges before importing.

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

Then there will be handling charges, and faffing about charges. Basically, it's not worth buying anything from the States as the customs fees wipe out any benefit.

Yep. Customs charges are compulsory on such things.

Sorry clicked post too soon.

It’s to do with adding tax and vat, so there is 20% vat as standard and another charge.
It should explain it on the sticker on the parcel or the card they give you.
When I went to the post office (I had to go to a bit sorting office 20 miles away so was very unimpressed) I asked the post woman to explain it to me and that is basically what she told me.

They include the postage in the total cost, which I though was a little bit unreasonable.

Yes it's standard - I have bought a lot of stuff from the USA over the years.

Sounds about right - Royal Mail handling charge is still £8, plus import VAT of 20% plus customs duty for value over £135 from outside the EU, based on the c.£50 I got stung for 2 weeks ago. They don’t check every parcel so it’s sort of bad luck to get hit with it.

I think you can dispute the amount after the fact if you think it’s been charged wrongly, but you won’t get your parcel until you pay.

Some of it will be a handling fee imposed by Royal Mail.

Customs charges over a certain amount are standard for goods imported from outside the EU.

Oh tits. Thanks all, feel daft having never ordered anything of any value from the US before, shows my complete lack of experience 😭😭😭 well it had better look bloody nice on after all this!!!!

It's normal, I only buy from us/japan if I really want the item for this reason.

Well I did really want the item and it's one of a kind as it's handmade so I suppose there is that.
I've just messaged the seller actually to ask what value she put on the package when she sent it and she said she'd put $300 as the value of the item? She said she has to pay fees to the selling site and that she did that because of the insurance??
But she did say that if that's meant I've paid higher charges she'll refund me the difference. How on earth do I work out how much more I've paid due to it being over valued by almost $100?

It's not fair to make her pay your taxes and fees. She's made the product, paid the selling fee to the selling site, paid the shipping, and sent you the product as requested.

It's not her fault that you weren't aware that the UK charges customs fees.

Is it not her fault that she's incorrectly listed the value of the item as almost $100 higher than it's actual value?

I didn't ask her to do that, I just emailed to check what value she'd put on the shipping info so I could query the cost once I've collected it. I've not asked her to do anything, she said that in her reply

No but it is her fault she wrote it was worth $300 and the OP was charged based on that amount

The difference between what you'd have paid on a $218 product and a $300 product is approx $25 in VAT and customs. It'll cost her money to refund you that money, and she's already paid the credit card processor/paypal to take your money in the first place.

I'm going to guess this is a small business? Personally I'd just pay the charges and learn from the experience, but you could insist that she wipes out her profit by refunding you I guess.

It'll cost her money to refund you that money,

I would say that's her lookout. She should have provided accurate information on the customs form.

you could insist that she wipes out her profit by refunding you I guess.

Nice attempt at a guilt trip.

this might not work but as its a handmade item it can be reclassified as art, reason I say this is I bought a furniture item from usa a few years back, too bulky to bring back had to ship it, only time I was charged custom charges btw, which I was asked for in the form of a note from courier company to do clearance, I queried with customs as I didn't know what value was to be applied, I had bought it in a gallery type shop where it was marked down for a sale and was 25% of price, but I thought they were applying full value, I didn't know if this was correct and sent them the receipt expecting at worst case it would stay the same , at best it would be lower, anyway customs reviewed and told me it was considered art as hand made and thefore exempt

The onus is on you to do the research about buying stuff from the US or other countries outside the EU. And once outside the current trade union that too may change. I am buying a container full of equipment from non EU/US manufacturer. It's ridicolously cheap compared to the UK but I know there will be a further £1,800 plus in import charges. That is what I included in my total budget.

I understand that I was very much responsible for knowing there would be customs charges, and I should have figured that into what I paid.
But how can I calculate to include that in purchases from the USA if sellers are going to add however much on to the stated value of the item when they send it? What if she'd put the value as $500? Should I pay that amount of customs charge for something only worth $200 odd?

Thank you @Toooldtocareanymore maybe that might apply here too.
I'm not going to ask her for a refund (I never asked that in the first place, she OFFERED, I did not ask for it) I'll just pay the customs charge and get the package, then I'll query it via the post office/border controls, I think there's a form I can send. I've got proof of purchase showing the true value of the item so maybe I'll get some money back from them. Or maybe it will be like tooold's experience and I can claim its art?? Worth a shot 😂

Your seller shouldn't be adding taxes, selling fees or anything else to the item's cost AFTER she's sold it.

I run a shop on a world wide on line market place and the only thing I can think is that she's put a higher price in in case it gets lost (the insurance you mentioned). If that happened, she'd claim a higher price through the post office in USA than she actually charged you (a bit sneaky, not very ethical and possibly illegal but you've got the item so it doesn't apply to this transaction).

However, basically she's managed to get you an extra few pounds VAT/customs charge so she can make cash if it gets lost!

I would ask for her to refund that portion of the custom charge. She's probably happily doing this on postage insurance all across the USA but it won't make a difference to those customers as it's internal - she'll make cash if something goes missing as she's put a higher insurance price on it.

Her international customers, on the other hand, may get walloped with higher fees from customs as it either pushes them into the customs charge zone (in other countries) or, in the UK, adds 20p for every extra £1 she's added to the cost of the item.

Ignore the issue about she has fees to pay to her on line market place. You're not paying her extra for the item, the UK government won't give her any customs fees so the only reason for the higher cost is a 'sort of' insurance scam if something goes missing.

I have a small on line shop and use a particular on line market place to sell through. My costs of selling (fees etc) are added to my prices, just like everyone else on the site (if they have any sense). The market place I use is a US based one - it's usual, bog standard business to wrap all your 'costs to do business' up in a price. So cost of material, labour, fees, profit etc.

That's the price the customer pays and that's the price that goes on customs forms. You don't bump up the price on the customs forms - just like you don't lower the cost of the item on the customs form (if it goes missing the post office will only base a claim on the costs on the form - that's what she's put the higher cost on the form for). Very naughty and I'd ask her to refund the difference between what you should have paid for customs and what you were charged. She needs to learn not to do this.

Thanks @LondonJax I thought maybe that had something to do with it, like extra insurance if it goes missing. But it didn't go missing and how I have to pay more 😭
I assume that was why she was so quick to offer to refund me some money, without me mentioning it at all, to make up the difference?

Well regardless of it all, I really do want that veil so I'll be paying the £65 at the post office tomorrow either way and I'll figure out the rest afterwards.
Thanks all for the help, advice, guilt trips etc! 😏 I know a lot more about customs charges now!