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[raywilb]

my son has recently had a laser level stolen & ordered one off amazon he didn,t know at the time of ordering but it was bought from a German company.. he has had a letter this morning telling him he needs to pay , Customs Duty. Import V.A.T, & a Clearance fee.  totalling  over £6 i guess its beware when purchasing anything from Europe

[Doctor Gollum]

Common sense would have told him that.

The rules changed at the beginning of July, but it's hardly a secret.

Most companies include the duty in either the purchase or shipping costs, but some shippers demand payment before delivery. Parcel Farce for one charge aa £12 admin fee to do this regardless of the actual duty due

[Nick W]

Common sense would have told him that.

The rules changed at the beginning of July, but it's hardly a secret.

Most companies include the duty in either the purchase or shipping costs, but some shippers demand payment before delivery. Parcel Farce for one charge aa £12 admin fee to do this regardless of the actual duty due

Parcel Farce won't deliver the parcel until the charge is paid. Paying on collection used to be possible but the 'local' hub for international parcels in this part of Kent is now in Crayford, which means losing an hour and a gallon of fuel for a parcel that we paid to be delivered


And I agree, the £12 admin(which doesn't include the tax) is taking the piss.

[Lizzie Zoom]

I obviously was lucky enough to have my sensor from Autodoc in Germany, costing £44.33 plus £7.04 delivery arrive at my door via Parcel Force with no Customs charge, although it came with a "Customs Invoice".

Is there a minimum cost of goods applicable before the duty has to be paid?

[Doctor Gollum]

€45 going to EU. Imagine a similar cap tother way

[dave the builder]

I think there is a duty threshold of about £130 of goods ,under that is not charged duty.

[Lizzie Zoom]

Ah, right

[Andy B]

Common sense would have told him that.

The rules changed at the beginning of July, but it's hardly a secret.

Most companies include the duty in either the purchase or shipping costs, but some shippers demand payment before delivery. Parcel Farce for one charge aa £12 admin fee to do this regardless of the actual duty due

No. It's not been a secret, but if Ray's lad wasn't thinking or looking that hard when he ordered it he wouldn't have looked to see where it was being sent from.
I recently bought something from Amazon and was charged £50something instead of the £40something I'd expected. When I went back to look again, the £40something was plus VAT .... I never expected to pay a price + VAT so didn't look that hard.

[Olympia5776]

It's now become a revenue stream for UK and EU.
Prior to Brexit I was quoted £145 total to bring a half pallet over from Wales to Ireland . No paper work ,just call give details and pay.
Unfortunately due to Covid shutdowns I couldn't get all the components to be placed onto the pallet ( manual gearbox conversion ) at the place  of despatch , Brexit passed and it all went South.
My pallet, which I undervalued down to €200  ,was collected last Monday and delivered here today.
Pallet courier now charged me £99 + VAT and a customs/clearance charge of £65 + Vat  = £196.
Meanwhile the Irish Revenue Commissioners decided that they wanted a piece of the action and I had to pay a Customs Complience Agent €56 Vat , €10.53 duty and €25 admin fee ( circa £80 total ) before the pallet could be released for delivery.
Prior to anything happening I had to get what is called an EORI ( economic registration and operators identification)  certificate from The Rev. Comms. which was a ballache to secure .
So my £145 quote went up to £276 .

I've also been caught out twice when purchasing from EbayUK when I failed to look below the postage charges to where the customs charge is listed .
I now purchase all expensive items from within the EU although their "postage "prices are creeping up as they see an opportunity to capitilise on the EU/UK thing .
As a staunch Brexiteer I have to live with my decision but it's interesting to see how both sides are clearly making money from the situation.

[STEMO]

And it can only get worse, Don. Governments and companies are mostly skint after the pandemic, and any chance to claw back a few Bob will be taken. That's apart from the opportunists who, as you say, see their chance to jump on the bandwagon. Add to this the rising cost of oil and price inflation in general.

[Olympia5776]

And it can only get worse, Don. Governments and companies are mostly skint after the pandemic, and any chance to claw back a few Bob will be taken. That's apart from the opportunists who, as you say, see their chance to jump on the bandwagon. Add to this the rising cost of oil and price inflation in general.

Ahh cheer up Steve on this beautiful sunny day  ...we got Brexit done and just have to box clever now . My VAT bill from both Shylocks should have been through the roof .

[TheBoy]

I think there is a duty threshold of about £130 of goods ,under that is not charged duty.

Its not duty, its VAT. Duty is on other goods like booze and fags etc.

But, yes, its £135 from memory, anywhere in the world.  Remember, this is what customs deem the value is, not what is written on the Customs label.

Beware, anything marked as "Gift" on the customs label comes in much, much lower thresholds.


The actual VAT element is generally insignificant compared to the courier handling charge, which is normally insane money.

[TheBoy]

It's now become a revenue stream for UK and EU.
Prior to Brexit I was quoted £145 total to bring a half pallet over from Wales to Ireland . No paper work ,just call give details and pay.
Unfortunately due to Covid shutdowns I couldn't get all the components to be placed onto the pallet ( manual gearbox conversion ) at the place  of despatch , Brexit passed and it all went South.
My pallet, which I undervalued down to €200  ,was collected last Monday and delivered here today.
Pallet courier now charged me £99 + VAT and a customs/clearance charge of £65 + Vat  = £196.
Meanwhile the Irish Revenue Commissioners decided that they wanted a piece of the action and I had to pay a Customs Complience Agent €56 Vat , €10.53 duty and €25 admin fee ( circa £80 total ) before the pallet could be released for delivery.
Prior to anything happening I had to get what is called an EORI ( economic registration and operators identification)  certificate from The Rev. Comms. which was a ballache to secure .
So my £145 quote went up to £276 .

I've also been caught out twice when purchasing from EbayUK when I failed to look below the postage charges to where the customs charge is listed .
I now purchase all expensive items from within the EU although their "postage "prices are creeping up as they see an opportunity to capitilise on the EU/UK thing .
As a staunch Brexiteer I have to live with my decision but it's interesting to see how both sides are clearly making money from the situation.

Its what "we" wanted and voted for,  And we were told of this, but is was simply washed over as "Project Fear"

[Nick W]

But, yes, its £135 from memory, anywhere in the world.  Remember, this is what customs deem the value is, not what is written on the Customs label.

Beware, anything marked as "Gift" on the customs label comes in much, much lower thresholds.

Once HMRC have decided that an item is undervalued, you don't get to argue about it or the value that they assign to it.


The same applies to claiming that something you bought for you is a gift.


The word for both of these things is fraud. And HMRC has real teeth in such situations.

[Doctor Gollum]

Anything from out side the EU was always subject to tariffs, so again, it shouldn't come as a surprise unless you voted for Brexit to 'stick it to the Darkies'

Even before Brexit, I found it competitive to source certain items from the US as EU as the exchange rate outweighed the duty/shipping... quite often 1$=1£/€ purchase price.

Sellers have the option of paying the taxes or passing them on to the customer. The customer has the option of shopping elsewhere.