£78 quid Customs Charge!!!!!!!! AGGGGHHHH

[viv1984viv]

Yup, Vari assured me more than once it was marked as a gift of low value.... I guess customs decided to open it just to check....

Would asking for any receipt or invoice to be emailed instead of put in the parcel help???????????????

BIG two fingers up to customs, why can gap have fabric from italy, shipped to mauritius for construction and back to UK and charge £20?????? But why is little me buying non EU items with a smaller carbon footprint than most of the shite on the highstreet left to pay a customs charge??????

AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Is it worth using a different name and address for future buys???

[ggatsby]

hey man

i don't live in the UK, but my friends who do are afriad to buy anything online exactly for this reason. but 20 (edit: oh wait 78 pounds wtf thats insane) quid seems really high =[

[M4TM]

cot dayum... what did you buy?? how did customs assess a value to the item?everytime i ship shit to the UK, i write gift valued at USD 10-15... i don't think anyone's gotten dinged. at least not THAT bad.

[viv1984viv]

bought some eternal 877s, 24 odd quid import duty + 40 vat + 13.50 Parcel force clearance fee. What a scam!

Is it worth using a different name and address now? Do they keep a record?

[cyberPUNK]

was the receipt in the parcel by chance? i noticed you mentioned something about that as well. if that's the case, then i'm sure that's the reason you got hit. it's best not to leave any documentation of the value or anything, and if you mark the item used, make sure not have any tags on it, regardless if they're price tags are not.

i've never had anything like this happen and i ship a significant amount of parcels every week around the world so i'm interested in what you have to say.

as for keeping your name...i guess only a customs official would have that information.

[Darkeside]

24 odd quid import duty + 40 vat + 13.50 Parcel force clearance fee. What a scam!

this it the thing - Parcel Force make a right meal off it and charge you the earth, their admin fee is the final kick in the balls isn't it.

I've been hit badly a few times.

Its a shame when EMS converts to Parcel Force once it hits the uk.

Changing your address shouldn't matter, it all depends on the item listed - they really do hammer any one they can.

[sybaritical]

Rules is something like anything over the value of £18 - or £36 if it's a gift - gets 17.5% tax + additional 12.5% for items of clothing originating outside of the EU. I got hammered once on a pair of PRPS the first time I ordered out and that was enough but I've made sure it's never happened again ...

If it's marked as a $50 gift your parcel would have come through fine, but if they insured the parcel for the full value as some stores claim they have to do to cover themselves legally, you're stuck.

The worst thing I heard was some guy getting taxed on shipping the snowboard equipment he already owned back to London after his holiday ended rather than pick up excess baggage tariffs.

[mike lowrey]

I doubt they'd have you on any blacklist if you just got hit with "regular" customs charges.

just have a proxy remove all paperwork and mark it as a gift and low value. in this case if it goes to customs, they wont have an invoice and don't know the actual value, so you can provide it yourself.

[Kesnel]

I have to say, I feel your pain. Though whilst the import duty and VAT are annoying, not to mention expensive, I don't mind paying them so much, though, of course, I'd much rather not. What really irks me is having to pay the redelivery charge when I've already paid for it to be delivered in the first place.

I had something come the other week that had a marked value of around £45 (which was its actual value), I then had an invoice from Parcel Force for something like £25, of which about £15 was a redelivery charge. The international shipping didn't even cost that much to begin with; it's extortion!

[viv1984viv]

Interesting points guys, I guess although vari marked it as a gift they may well have insured it for their own security.

Guess its the last time I buy direct from a shop. I figured that id save 25 or so quid if I buy direct rather than use a proxy. Myopic....

[Gem_art]

A very similar disaster occured to me when some Skulls I brought from Fab Four last April were intercepted at customs. I also used to buy a lot of bike parts from the States until the U.K. distributer told customs they were being undercut resulting in customs checking every package marked bike parts.

It's especially galling if you get hammered buying something you can't actually purchase in the U.K. Protectionist bullshit...

[viv1984viv]

I remember when that happened to you, yeah awful.

Without getting too political, Why do I have to pay the customs charge? The shops that sell SugarCanes in London - how do they get around it????

Also the UK used to have an import tax so anything made in britain was abit cheaper - but now nothings made in the britain since the markets opened up, but how can Primark import loads of Taiwan made goods and sell them for a price that cant be enough to cover any customs charges??????

Next time ill use a proxy.

EDIT - A well known and stylish member just repped me with the comment

"try $650"

!!!!!

[jcotteri]

shit mate thats really unlucky. lets hope i don't get pinged...

*fingers crossed

[azn8oi]

oh wow. dont bitch about a $160 customs charge.

i had to pay $640 for a customs charge thanks to Oki-Ni.

but I agree that your situation was more random. :eek:

[Darkeside]

Without getting too political, Why do I have to pay the customs charge? The shops that sell SugarCanes in London - how do they get around it????

have you seen the tag price on SugarCanes in American Classics???

you are paying their import charges and then some - they've got them marked up huge amounts!

[Agent Orange]

i have had customs charges well over 150€ two times. shit sucks alot.

[alterion]

sucks, never had any problems, although only 1 pair of canes i have came from japland but yeah, as of last july we have no exception for "gifts " anymore, best job is to get everything marked at $50-$100 which will almost never get a charge ( not worth their effort) but will be valuable enough to ensure the parcel dosen't get "lost"

[cosmicflop]

have you seen the tag price on SugarCanes in Interstate???

quote]

Interstate are selling Sugarcanes? Are you sure you're not thinking of American Classics opposite?

[Darkeside]

now that you mention it, you are right, forever getting those confused.

post edited, thanks

[phelen]

oh wow. dont bitch about a $160 customs charge.

i had to pay $640 for a customs charge thanks to Oki-Ni.

but I agree that your situation was more random. :eek:

You know you could have refused to pay the custom and ask for the item to be returned to the shop and then get a refund?.

Happens all the time, its what I do after I got bitchslapped with a £70 odd fine while back for my Kaws Companion.

[Skeese]

Yup, Vari assured me more than once it was marked as a gift of low value....

What value did they mark it as?

[constant struggle]

i got hit with a $60 one once, when i bought a slick jacket and henley (see sig FS) from some rakuten shop called paty, even when i told them to mark as a gift, and they overcharged me for shipping, and they charged me japan tax... NEver buy from them

[azn8oi]

You know you could have refused to pay the custom and ask for the item to be returned to the shop and then get a refund?.

Happens all the time, its what I do after I got bitchslapped with a £70 odd fine while back for my Kaws Companion.

As a matter of fact, I did return the item. The old owner of Oki-Ni told me that she once did exactly what you said.

By the time it got back to the UK, the owner of the store somehow changed. A+ the old owner went back to Brazil, no way to contact her.

I called DHL to tell them about the situation, but 30min on the phone later they pull out some bullshit rule stating something along the lines of, "ONCE THE PACKAGE REACHES US CUSTOMS, IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT EVEN TOUCHES YOUR DOORSTEPS, YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR THE FEE."

I'm not gonna risk my credit for a goddamn jacket, so I paid.

like a bitch.

Oh yeah. The difference between me and you is that I'm not in the EU.

Good day sir.

[phelen]

As a matter of fact, I did return the item. The old owner of Oki-Ni told me that she once did exactly what you said.

By the time it got back to the UK, the owner of the store somehow changed. A+ the old owner went back to Brazil, no way to contact her.

I called DHL to tell them about the situation, but 30min on the phone later they pull out some bullshit rule stating something along the lines of, "ONCE THE PACKAGE REACHES US CUSTOMS, IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT EVEN TOUCHES YOUR DOORSTEPS, YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR THE FEE."

I'm not gonna risk my credit for a goddamn jacket, so I paid.

like a bitch.

Oh yeah. The difference between me and you is that I'm not in the EU.

Good day sir.

I hope I didn't come across abrasive earlier on, but that DHL line is total bullshit and I would have followed through with a complaint because thats excessive and not exactly true.

[_ironman]

http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=39728

there's a thread related to this.but yeah, my worse sting was a $105 customs fee, but that was for a media player. still ended up paying less than retail, but fuck that

[viv1984viv]

Mmmmm - so in a way you could totally just cut your losses and get a refund. Obviously I wouldnt having just 'kopped' the last 30w pair of eternal 877 - but I guess you could.

From this thread ive learned one of the benefits of proxy services, ask your friendly proxy buyer to just remove receipts etc and list as a 2nd hand gift of low value ( -$100 )

dunno what value it was marked as - it still hasn't arrived despite the delivery dates working day ending in one hours time....

[Skeese]

From this thread ive learned one of the benefits of proxy services, ask your friendly proxy buyer to just remove receipts etc and list as a 2nd hand gift of low value ( -$100 )

I always get it marked $30/£15... mark it $70+ and you'll get hit by customs again

[chantheman]

anyone ever ship anything to brazil? if so how long does it usually take to clear customs there? i marked the packed at $25 value to help the buyer but its been like a month from california.

[Le-Dobermann]

I just paid yesterday customs fee of 185e, packagef rom Hong Kong.. 22% tax + 12% customs own? tax.. outrageous!! I bought for 540e and now 185e more.. Last time they let me package go..

[duofold]

Curious...& I 'know folks' that had items that cost in excess of $5k marked as gifts to avoid duty/customs.

But stomachs were knotted until delivery - what if the item didn't make it to its destination? Since the value was marked low/gift, per the buyer's instructions, would the onus be on the buyer if lost? I believe yes.

I'm just sayin', is it the best policy to advise folks to instruct the proxy/seller to artificially deflate the value? Because if anything happens, no insurance for the real value means you're up a creek. At least, understand the potential consequence of said alternative.