yorks5stringer Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 In a rush to get some strings late at night I ordered them off a US Seller unintentionally. The strings cost £25, the postage £7.25 and now I have had a card from Postie saying they want a further £13.25 off me! The strings are £38 here! Is there anything I can do other than pay more attention in future and "suck it up"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Sadly not, unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu_g Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Ive just had the same thing i ordered some pickups from only music.com and got hit for £13 something they charge £8 handling fee thats what pisses me off,tax me fair enough but idont have many options left to me regards handling fee and it doesnt make alot of sense i ordered pickup rings from fretsonthenet.com these cost more but i paid no tax or handling fee? I cant work it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBus Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 You will pay anything up to 25-30% on top of the total price plus postage. That covers VAT and any customs charges. Have a look around on the Royal Mail web site. There is a page that explains it very clearly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 (edited) I was lucky - I placed an order with Stewart Macdonalds, about $78 IIRC, then started wondering if I'd get clobbered for the VAT & PO Charge. Fortunately the parcel arrived with the proper value/details on the customs form, but it had been posted from Sweden where I presume the tools I ordered were made, anyway I didn't get stung, which was nice Edited April 13, 2013 by KiOgon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 [quote name='stu_g' timestamp='1365865127' post='2045370'] Ive just had the same thing i ordered some pickups from only music.com and got hit for £13 something they charge £8 handling fee thats what pisses me off,tax me fair enough but idont have many options left to me regards handling fee and it doesnt make alot of sense i ordered pickup rings from fretsonthenet.com these cost more but i paid no tax or handling fee? I cant work it out. [/quote] It's luck of the draw, in that not everything gets picked up. Basically allow for 20% on the initial cost including postage, plus £8-£15 admin charges. If duty comes to more than £9 then that has to be added plus the VAT. Then if you don't get charged it's a bonus. Got to agree that admin charges are a kicker on low value items, although nothing is payable if the goods cost less than £15. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentalextra Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 I've ordered a few computer parts and got away with it. I have a friend who ordered clothes and got hit badly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 [quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1365863875' post='2045346'] In a rush to get some strings late at night I ordered them off a US Seller unintentionally. The strings cost £25, the postage £7.25 and now I have had a card from Postie saying they want a further £13.25 off me! The strings are £38 here! Is there anything I can do other than pay more attention in future and "suck it up"?[/quote] Happened to me once with a scratchplate; after speaking with the supplier in the US they offered me a full refund. So I told the post I wasn't prepared to pay it & send it back. I was then given a lengthy speech as to "do you realise how much trouble that will cause them? etc etc etc" which admittedly did sweeten it a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yepmop Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 It's luck of the draw, I recently ordered some vintage Fender tuners for £60 from America and didn't get stung which was lucky. I think customs just pick on certain flights and run a check a bit like they do at the airports when you go through customs. I have in the past (at my risk) got the seller to declare the items as used and under £37 (which I think is the up limit for no custom charge), but not all sellers will do this for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin_lindsay Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 It's the luck of the draw whether you get stung with import duty. The limit at which charges are levied is now £18. I've had items arrive with no charges, and had many others with big charges compared to the actual buying cost (compounded by tge Parcelforce admin charge). If you factor in the charges and don't get hit, its a bonus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChick Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 Some sellers will mark it as a gift so you don't need to pay tax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 [quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1365925288' post='2045925'] Some sellers will mark it as a gift so you don't need to pay tax. [/quote] Marking things as a gift only works for goods up to the value of £36 and if it's sent by a private individual. The limit for charges used to be £18 (it had stayed at the same amount since at least the 90s, in spite of inflation) but has now been reduced to £15. http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&propertyType=document&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 [quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1365925288' post='2045925'] Some sellers will mark it as a gift so you don't need to pay tax. [/quote] Hmmmm... are you sure. The sender can mark it as a gift but I have a vague recollection (used to buy from the States frequently) that this doesn't make it exempt because that loophole was being abused by all and sundry. I do know that if the value is declared nil or virtually nil and the item goes missing you'd get nothing back i.e. don't try it with basses! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 [quote name='Musky' timestamp='1365926248' post='2045937'] Marking things as a gift only works for goods up to the value of £36 and if it's sent by a private individual. The limit for charges used to be £18 (it had stayed at the same amount since at least the 90s, in spite of inflation) but has now been reduced to £15. [url="http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&propertyType=document&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014"]http://customs.hmrc....=HMCE_CL_000014[/url] [/quote] Snap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 [quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1365926329' post='2045941'] Snap! [/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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