Advice wanted from NZ mumsnetters on customs duty ...

[shelscrape]

Hi all. We've been in NZ for just over 2 months now. I've gone and ordered some clothes from M&S and Emma Bridgewater without thinking about import duty ... ooops! The guidance on the customs website is very vague, does anyone have any experience of ordering things from the UK? have you ever been charged duty? Thank you :)

Hi,

If your order was under about £100 you should be OK - if it's over then I think you may be charged duty+GST+some other charges. I don't know how consistent they are with applying the rules though - I was sent a parcel with the customs label filled out completely wrong and there were no problems.

It is complicated to work out but basically it's this:

Take the value of goods ordered, add duty (10% for clothes, 5% for chinaware)
Add the postage cost
Add GST to the whole amount
Subtract the goods and postage costs to get the duty+GST figure
Convert to NZ$ using the rate on the customs site (currently .45)
IF that's $60 or more, then you'll probably be charged, plus handling fees and maybe biosecurity fees etc.

Hope I got that right

if you go onto Britishexpats.com there's a whole thread there on import duty

They started toughening up on it last July apparently. All those Brits flooding customs with their GAP, M&S, Next prchases

make sure you get the VAT-free option when ordering from M&S

Wow, didn't know about the VAT free option, how does that work?

I ordered stuff from M&S last week, arrived today no problem. Have ordered loads in the last year from book depository and never been charged once.

My parents had to pay duty on one parcel I sent back to the UK.
I may have got off lightly.

Yes, how does the VAT free option work on M&S. Have looked at length but can't find anything.

Bt the way all the emma Bridgewater arrived today - was only dispatched on 31st March, super quick service, no breakages and no duty to pay .... hurrah!

I ordered some things today from the Happy Puzzle Company and when I put in a NZ billing/posting address it automatically took off the VAT. I can't find anything like that on M&S.