View Full Version : Uk importing custom charges!
charmed699
11-03-09, 15:48
Hello guys,
I just got home and found my first ever custom charges card asking me to pay almost £25 for an item I ordered from overseas. It never happened before even though I have spent over £60 on items before in a single package.
It can only be my Kirby Ultra star soundtrack or the Resident Evil 5 soundtrack from Japan that I got last week. Does anyone know what is going on currently as I though the limit was set to over £100 since 8th December 2008?
It's annoying because I paid no more than £25 for each soundtrack and now I am being told to double that amount! Will definetly try to appeal as it looks really unreasonable. I remember going with a friend when he had to pay custom charges years ago for his Trizeal but that was like £11.
Any advice is greatly appreciated from anyone that experienced it. It's crazy to think I have to pay nearly £60 for Resident Evil 5 soundtrack!
Triple Seven
11-03-09, 17:29
That may be a special tax on Kirby Ultra Star Soundtrack. Certainly they don't want that in the country.
charmed699
11-03-09, 17:42
You say that but once you try a kirby game you will never look back. :p
It's really annoying as I could be listening to whichever one it is instead of thinking why I have th pay so much money. I could be getting ready for Resident Evil 5 by listening to its soundtrack right now!
I thought a lot of us imported anyway or is it just me? I got quite a lot of stuff and never had one of these custom charges on higher priced items(sorry for repeating myself). Not sure where they get off such a price anyway considering music cds in the UK cost between £10 and apparently handling fees is like £8 for Royal mail.
I guess that I will have to pay them a visit on friday/saturday and see what can be done. I should set my zombie counterpart on them for trying to extort such an amount off me.
Triple Seven
11-03-09, 21:47
You should check with your customs office, shouldn't be too hard to access that kind of information. As for that specific case, there should be a number you can call to ask questions, check the paper(s) you got.
As far as I know, in the EU most things are tax excempt if they are under Euro 20 in total. I think not all packages are actually checked and some circumvent taxes by creatively labelling packages.
P.S.:
I actually played one of the very first Kirby games back in the day. I don't care about that kind of games any more, though. Nonetheless, I respect that and if people like them, irrespective of their age.
Depending on which company delivered it they have been a handeling fee involved aswell. It dose seem a bit excessive, it could be that your package was searched and your items could have been over valued.
I think that sellers usually label down the item on the packaging to prevent this, you proberbly either ordered from an official body... or someone not used to selling abroad, its a bit like a lottery when it comes to customs, like when your asked what the value of the item your sending abroud is (say for example its a valuable photo) you always reply "oh its just some paperwork"
charmed699
14-03-09, 11:24
Thanks for the advice guys and I went to the post office yesterday. The staff were very helpful and even let me see the package to see where it came from.
It was the Kirby soundtrack as it came from the States which is where the ebay seller is from. I was shocked to find out that not only did he forget to tick any of the boxes but also marked the value as $60. It explains why the custom fees are more than the price I paid for cd which was $30 and also why it was stopped at customs. The staff told me if the gift box had been ticked then it wouldn't have happened.
It's fortunate that after telling this to the seller he seems to agree that it is best for it to go back and then he redoes the form properly before resending it. Now let's hope nothing the Resident evil 5 soundtrack comes through with no problem. I might try to call Customs and see what can be done about it as it is a simple mistake but have very litlle hope.
If you paid for the item, then it is not a gift, and to mark it as such is defrauding the Government. Pay the customs if you get charged when he resends it (as non gift!)
charmed699
14-03-09, 13:20
Well considering the item is a free item from club nintendo and will never be avaiable worldwide for sale I am pretty sure it doent matter much. I get what your saying but it's not like I'm importing something thats worth thousands of pounds and it can't even be given a value since it's a free item. Anyway that's your opinion and let's leave it at that.
Trust me when I say that if I could buy game soundtracks from the UK then I wouldn't resort to importing them. Just never really understood why there's a tax for importing and even more items not avaiable in the country.I suppose that maybe I will have to do some research on it someday...
Well considering the item is a free item from club nintendo and will never be avaiable worldwide for sale I am pretty sure it doent matter much.
It was free? You said he marked it $60 instead of $30. You also wrote in the first post:
I paid no more than £25 for each soundtrack !
Also:
It was the Kirby soundtrack as it came from the States which is where the ebay seller is from. I was shocked to find out that not only did he forget to tick any of the boxes but also marked the value as $60. It explains why the custom fees are more than the price I paid for cd which was $30 and also why it was stopped at customs. The staff told me if the gift box had been ticked then it wouldn't have happened.
So I don't think anyone is going to believe it's suddenly now a free item.;)
I get what your saying but it's not like I'm importing something thats worth thousands of poundsDon't try to rationalize it. It's just as bad a pirates stating: "well it was a crap game anyhow, what's the difference."
Anyway that's your opinion and let's leave it at that.It's not an opinion; it's the law. This topic shouldn't really be open, much akin to piracy, it's discussing illegal activities. I'm not trying to railroad you, but I'm sick of people trying to rationalize breaking the law like this. Pay the fees like the rest of us.
Just never really understood why there's a tax for importingYou pay the tax on almost everything you buy within the UK anyhow; this is nothing new.
It's not an opinion; it's the law. This topic shouldn't really be open, much akin to piracy, it's discussing illegal activities. I'm not trying to railroad you, but I'm sick of people trying to rationalize breaking the law like this. Pay the fees like the rest of us.
You pay the tax on almost everything you buy within the UK anyhow; this is nothing new.
ParJay has a point with that and I do happen to agree.
Ryu Kazama
15-03-09, 21:44
A £25 extra charge? Seems harsh if it's Royal Mail delivering it. They shouldn't charge more than £7 for handling fees on it's own. ParcelForce will charge £13.50 and UPS will charge £11. Prices I'm listing are what I remember them as.
The import value limit didn't go up. Apparantly that was something else. I thought the same thing and decided to read up on it since I wanted to import the SFIV sticks (didn't import in the end) so yeah, the import value never actually went up.
Next time just keep in touch with the seller on how to mark a package. Some import sites will let you give them requirments but will not refund the full value if you asked them to mark it down.
So glad I'm going Japan in summer...gotta make me some friends to ship over stuff, heh.