Delivery bill for customs - who pays?

[Dinosaurhearmeroar]

Hi everyone,

I’ve just had a baby and my lovely uncle and cousin in America have sent over lots of baby things. Today I had a letter from parcel force saying that the package was in the UK but there was a customs charge of £105 to pay.

It feels very gauche to ask them to pay this fee as they have already spent a lot on the presents but equally I don’t think I should pay this? Nor do I rly have the means to as my maternity leave package is very basic.

what do you all think?!

😊

What makes you think they know the OP has been asked to pay this? They probably have no idea.

My husband once bought me a beautiful silver watch. He didn't realise that it was from an American website and thought that it was a website that was able to trade internationally.

Roll forward a few weeks.

The watch ( not an expensive designer watch , just had an unusual bracelet) arrived at Heathrow and my husband was told that he needed to attend to collect it and pay taxes and other holding fees.

I think you'll have to suck it up this time but, going forward, mention this to your cousin. If you feel that you can.

As they say , in the US, 'it's a bummer.'

No I wouldn't pay

Perhaps you could thank them for the gift and say that you haven't yet received it though as you are just trying to save up for the customs charge!!!

I have American in-laws and at Easter they sent us a few hundred dollars of horrible American chocolate and those peep marshmallows, colouring books, stickers and plastic chicks... postage about $80 too, cost us £50! We just pay it to keep the peace but would much rather have it in the bank. We encourage them to get stuff for the kids on Amazon UK/next/M&S.

It's always the recipient who pays, not the gift-giver.

If you don’t want it/can’t afford it, then don’t pay. You don’t have to suck it up. No one can force you to pay.

I would do what someone said earlier; check with them what’s inside, ‘in case it’s a scam’. If the value is worth much more than the duty, then you could always sell it on eBay etc, but if it’s less, then just don’t collect.

if you accept this one time, can you afford to keep on paying the customs duty in the future? Nip it in the bud now. After Brexit, we told family in Europe not to send any gifts to us in the UK, nor to expect any. The duty paid from US for eg is not a new thing, by any means.

"Remember I am saving and unable to pay mortgage soon so partner will be doing it all"

In this situation it would be daft to pay. If these are relatives that actually care about you then they wouldn't want you to pay either and if they are relatives that don't care about you then you don't need to care about them.

I would say this is something they need to be aware of as otherwise you could find yourself in this situation again in future. Given you can’t afford it, I would just be honest. Then next time they will think it through before sending things, as there are ways around it such as declaring a lower value etc.