Hi
I ordered some clothes from this american store
http://www.threadless.com
I got 1 tshirt at 5 dollars
1 tshirt at 20 dollars
1 hoody at 40 dollars
so thats a total of 65 dollars with free shipping

anyway i got one of those grey cards from the post office through my door the other day saying i have a £15.73 customs charge! thats seems alot to me, nearly 30%!

so i went on this website
http://www.dutycalculator.com/
which claims to be completely accurate and it says i should only have to pay £7 vat

What do you guys reckon, am i being charged so much and if so what should i do?

£7 vat plus the £8 Royal Mail admin fee. So £15.73 sounds about right.

did you check duty before ordering?

colin79666 said:

£7 vat plus the £8 Royal Mail admin fee. So £15.73 sounds about right.

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I bloody knew it would be some stupid admin charge!

custard said:

did you check duty before ordering?

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no i never really thought about it, havent ordered anything 'big' from abroad before

I buy antiquarian books from the US and get customs charges on about every 1 in 10. There is no logic to it - sometimes the expensive ones come through without any charge and the cheaper ones get charged.

I never got any charges before 2007.

threadless stuff gets charged more often as the bags have threadless in big letters
so easy to spot for HMRC

I have a friend in the USA who sends me stuff from time to time, clothes and jewellery and I have never had to pay anything at this end. Also, tax varies from state to state, its not a country wide set figure. Maybe this is because you purchased goods and it wasnt a 'gift'. If they had put 'gift' on the customs sticker you probably wouldnt have had to pay anything.

FionaB said:

I have a friend in the USA who sends me stuff from time to time, clothes and jewellery and I have never had to pay anything at this end. Also, tax varies from state to state, its not a country wide set figure. Maybe this is because you purchased goods and it wasnt a 'gift'. If they had put 'gift' on the customs sticker you probably wouldnt have had to pay anything.

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customs are down to the receiving country
nothing to do with where they come from
marking as a gift doesnt mean duties wont be payable

Last time I received something from the US it was tax free under £9 in value, or under £36 for a gift. What the current rates of tax/thresholds are I'm not 100% certain

SeanW said:

Last time I received something from the US it was tax free under £9 in value, or under £36 for a gift. What the current rates of tax/thresholds are I'm not 100% certain

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import duty is about £100 but VAT is still at the £18/£38 IIRC
so most folks are till getting hit but paying less duty

garlicbread22 said:

I bloody knew it would be some stupid admin charge!

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So you would expect RM to do it for nothing then?

Customs and Duty charges aren't exactly new!!! Still, at least you will know for next time eh

Next time do it as separate orders - that way you only get charged by customs on the expensive packages

Stu DemonD said:

So you would expect RM to do it for nothing then?

Customs and Duty charges aren't exactly new!!! Still, at least you will know for next time eh

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thanks for being so helpful!

colin79666 said:

Next time do it as separate orders - that way you only get charged by customs on the expensive packages

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good idea, might try that next time unless it buggers me on postage

garlicbread22 said:

thanks for being so helpful!

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No worries but really, no need to be so flippant...

Stu DemonD said:

So you would expect RM to do it for nothing then?

Customs and Duty charges aren't exactly new!!! Still, at least you will know for next time eh

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I think they do take the **** somewhat with the amount charged, a small admin fee maybe - but £8 or £9 whatever it is .... they're having a laugh!

ben said:

I think they do take the **** somewhat with the amount charged, a small admin fee maybe - but £8 or £9 whatever it is .... they're having a laugh!

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depends
they broke down the prices a while back to show the level for staffing etc it requires
bear in mind mount pleasant is one of the worlds largest offices
look at it another way
RM (and couriers) do all the work and HMRC gets their money for cock all
now if HMRC offered a direct payment facility...................

Is it not cheaper if you tell them in advance about your order? I'm sure I read somewhere that it was... x

MissR said:

Is it not cheaper if you tell them in advance about your order? I'm sure I read somewhere that it was... x

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some couriers allow you to use a service that includes all duty/clearence in advance
however its up to the seller/shipper of they offer that
far easier for them to just dispatch

Or alternatively, move to Taiwan or Japan - where you never get charged import on anything