The Horse bag - is £71 import tax legitimate?

[Gladtimeslady]

Help please. Is this import duty charge legitimate?

My daughter ordered me a bag from The Horse as a birthday present. (At £225 this is significantly more than she would normally pay for a present for me and is a big stretch for her. I was horrified that she had spent so much but, for various reasons, she wanted to treat me.)

As she is now away, she gave my details on the order so I would be informed directly about delivery. I got an email saying the bag would be delivered today. I have now had another email from FedEx saying I need to pay £71.59 import tax if I want the bag delivered. Is this legit or is it a scam?

My daughter obviously knew nothing about this and is is certainly not made clear on the company's website. If it's legitimate I will pay it myself, but I obviously don't want to be scammed.

Where was it posted from? If outside the UK then yes, you usually have to pay tax on it.

Yes, that sounds correct and is normal. There are a few companies with sophisticated systems that calculate it before purchase and include it in what you pay, then they pay each Gov.

Just had a quick look at The Horse website and they clearly state it will be payable at the point of delivery. Very common for ordering from the US.

International Duties & Taxes
International delivery costs do not include any taxes or duties (excluding US customers), which are applied by your local government and customs office, on imported goods. Any customs duties, foreign taxes, or other fees are the responsibility of the customer.

Should the customer refuse to pay duties and taxes held on an order applied by customs the responsibility lies with the customer to arrange for the order to be returned to The Horse in order to receive a refund.

Please contact your local customs office directly for more information on taxes, duties and regulations.

I looked at the website too. Only US customers are exempt from import taxes. And its not the company who is imposing the taxes it's the government. I don't think it's a scam.

Yes, sounds about right. Some sites pay import (eg Marc Jacob’s), but most do not.

Ah I remember the first time this happened to me. So annoying, but you just have to suck it up if you want the item.

Yea that amount sounds right and FedEx are very efficient about collection of import taxes.

Tiktok and Instagram shopping is a pain for this. US based companies you'd have never heard of otherwise, and then surprise import duties which the inexperienced shopper doesn't realise as the site charges in your home currency automatically.
Lesson learned for DD sadly.

Yes this is correct. And if you do not pay this, the bag will more than likely be returned.

That sounds about right.

Import duty is 2.5% on goods between £135 and £630, and that is due on both the cost of the bag, and on shipping costs.

Then VAT (20%) is due on the total cost of the bag, shipping, and duty.

So if the bag was £225, and shipping was £20 (a guess), then duty would be £6.13.

Then 20% of 225+20+6.13 = £50. So not far off the £71 you're being asked for. You could ask for a breakdown of the costs, but it sounds in the right ballpark.

Thank you all for your speedy replies. As you say, lesson learned. I'll pay it now.

I do think they should make it clearer in the website that the import duty could be a significant amount.

They do make it clear OP. It isn’t hidden anywhere. They are very transparent about this and have written in plain English so there can be no misunderstanding.

It is no different to ordering from any other country. Duty and VAT need to be paid, it’s just how this happens. Most retailers that ship internationally don’t have sophisticated systems to calculate and charge it at the checkout, or the desire to manage process and pay each country.

Duty is not the big cost for you, VAT is. You pay VAT on almost everything you buy, but because it’s not separated out day to day you aren’t noticing it.

Yes, lesson learned.