To have to pay £84 in Customs charges for childrens clothing, or end up with zilch?

[Diege]

Grrrr!!! Purchased two items from US-based children's website. Designer dress with tights (£80 - OK, I know, shamefull..) and pair of trousers (about £50). V. hard to find items that I'd been after for ages, so was OKish about paying £15 p&p per parcel.
No mention made on website about possible customs/VAT added on.
OK, letters then arrive, one day apart from ParcelForce saying they have 2 parcels to deliver, but I need to send £84 to cover customs/VAT/parcelforce fees.
Have e-mailed said shop, who basically say they're very sorry, but that its not their problem. If I want a refund, I need to send back within 14 days, but then I have to pay £84 to collect the parcels to send back (plus pay for extra postage). They would be sent back eventually by parcel force to sender if I didn't collect, but then too late for refund.
Soooo, looks like I'll end up with nothing - can't justify charges, but then I end up with nothing. Are the shop right d'you think? I've gone back onto their page, and there's no ref to possible extra charges for overseas sales.
Any one help shed any light from experience/legal knowledge?

Buyer Beware!. This is a major problem with using any non EU based website.

If you use any non EU based website you will be stung as the consumer for all the importation along with customs and excise charges incurred. I've had to pay charges from the US for a Christmas present from my friend.

Many US based shopping websites do cater to non US customers but many sites do not always make it clear that the customer will have to pay all the import duties required. This is because they mainly cater to US and Canadian customers.

Full declaration has to be made by the seller as such parcels can readily be intercepted and opened once they're in the UK. The store cannot declare such items as a gift; a description of each item has to be made.

Most goods arriving in the UK from outside the EU are liable to any or all of the following taxes:

customs duty
excise duty
import VAT

and must be paid whether:

you purchase the goods or receive them as a gift
the goods are new or used (including antiques)
the goods are for your private use or for sale

I think I am going to write to my US relatives to tell them not to ship Christmas presents to us this year.

Normally, they send us things you could easily get here, and then they pay ridiculous shipping charges. I think they would be gutted if we had to pay £50 on top.

Looks like my goods were opened, and were subject to all three of the charges you list Attila, plus parcelforce's own fee . Hmm, I'll see if I can scrape together the charges...hopefully can re-sell on e-bay next year? Or on MUmsnet For Sale (would you take a fiver hun?

I have also had a look at the website you presumably ordered the clothes from (www.trendytogs.com) re delivery outside the continental US.

It states the following:-
Outside the continental US:

We offer USPS Express Priority for shipping outside of the US. Any duties and taxes incurred are the responsibility of the recipient and are payable upon receipt of the goods.

We will not accept returned packages refused for non-payment of duties. Please contact your post office regarding duties imposed before placing your order (were you aware of this stipulation).

In your case I would stump up the £84 asap particularly as they are not going to accept returned packages refused for non payment of duties.

never ever ever order from websites outside the uk. sitting in the comfort of our own homes, the web seems like one big village. it isnt. cusstoms charges etc sound perfectly normal.

I would pay the duty and chalk it up to experience.

You won't do it again and £84 isn't a huge amount of money - yes, it is for a few bits of children's clothing, but an awful lot of people get scammed out of far bigger amounts.

Thanks Attila - I hadn't noticed that on the page my payment was directed to , or maybe my eyes glazed over at the small print! Yep, think it's down to me to cough up or lose out - at least I know where I stand . Will certainly steer clear of all non-uk websites in the future.

Yes truly scaryscience - a pain in the ar*e but hardly life shattering - will certainly make sure dd wears them! Hey, just thought, hope they fit!!

Maybe you could sell them on afterwards and make some money back?

That's the idea - they were pre-ordered items that have now sold out in many UK stockists (or never make it here), so do have that supposedly 'rare' appeal. Will never moan about UK p&p charges again!

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Oooh thanks for the info' - might give them a ring and see if they'll hold them for me a few extra days . I guess if it did go back the shop couldn't sell the items again as they had already received payment for them - or maybe I'm being naive!