Customs fees for books from the US?

[cloudywithachanceof]

I ordered 6 printed books from the US. All educational books, and they came to USD$115.90 altogether - around £68.30 according to the exchange rate today. The books were delivered about 2 weeks ago. They were sent by USPS and then Parcelforce delivered it to me.

Today I received a letter from Parcelforce saying they want to charge me £27.95 in customs fees for the books. I thought printed books are 0% VAT? I read through the HMRC guidelines and it says so. What should I do about this? How do I contest this with Parcelforce, and is it possible to contest this at all or do I have to just suck it up and pay it? Did Parcelforce not open the parcel when it was still in their hands, and check the contents?

P.S. I had paid the US seller USD$57.95 in addition for shipping, so the total I paid the seller for the books and for shipping came to USD$173.85.

Could be handling fees for getting the stuff through. Do a bit of paper work. Use an xray machine.
Would still query it though and ask what it's for because educational books are duty free. If they reply, without giving a full reason, ask them to justify the costs, considering they will have been paid by the sender. So you are confused as to why they are being paid twice for the same parcel.

I'm not sure if sender paid it. This is the wording of the letter :

"Dear Customer,
After checking the customs and excise parcel records it appears that we have delivered a parcel to you from abroad. This parcel incurred international customs charges of £27.95.
The parcel was delivered without collecting the monies owed. Please could you contact Parcelforce on the above number to remedy the situation.
Please accept our apologies for any inconveniences caused.

Yours sincerely,
Parcelforce"

VAT is not customs fees, VAT is charged on top of customs fees.
I'm just trying to find the applicable rate for you on books or printed materials. Are they textbooks or novels/fiction?

Thanks LL. They are all curriculum books for primary school aged kids.

2 textbooks, 2 workbooks and 2 teacher manuals.

okay, I've found 3 sources that say that books are 0 rated for import duty (not official and almost official).
But if they weren't marked as books, then the invoice comes thru as per standard procedure.

So you need to write back & explain that they were books which attract 0 import duty. Leave it with them to ask more questions if required.

ps: you could include a copy of your original order (from Ebay) to try to document the parcel contents.

I've thrown the box for the parcel away now, so unable to check how the seller labelled them. Is it best to write to them then? They have only given me an address, a phone number and a fax number. I suppose writing to them will keep a paper trail so it is some evidence I have responded to their request and not just ignored it.

Unfortunately the PayPal invoice I was sent did not itemise the bill. The seller is an educational resources company in the US though. I didn't buy off EBay but I did pay by Paypal. I could try asking the seller to send me an itemised bill next Monday when their office is open. I can't be sure if they would send me one.

Maybe phone & write to confirm.
Would be in seller's interests to send you a copy of the invoice.
I don't think Parcelforce will ask you for proof, btw, but would be nice for your peace of mind. Good luck.