Excise Duty costs

stul · 14 February 2009, 04:57

Hi
Bought a gauge on e bay a Hawk eye Depth gauge, paid £31 plus postage £16 from the USA, fair enough I new postage would be dear. This gauge still cheap compared to navman and other similar makes
Was not in when delivered so went to Parcel force to pick up and had to pay another £16.01 for excise duty £8.01 and parcel for fees £8
Bought a few things in the past from USA laptop at Xmas £280 no fees last in the past have bought fish finder about £70 all in no fees
Anyone know hwy I was charged this time tried to ring the number given by parcel force to ask government number I think but always busy
Stuart

stul · 14 February 2009, 06:17

Item number: 220347394166 on ebay
Have not fitted yet but looks well made,and asked them few questons got reply every time quickly
Stuart

hobbit555 · 14 February 2009, 07:43

here comes the customs for the other items you have not paid duty on!!!

would just keep quiet and think your self lucky that you got away with the others.

treerat · 14 February 2009, 08:22

It'll depend on how the customs declaration is filled out by the sender. I seem to remember that 'gift' or 'work related' isn't looked at by HMRC but 'goods' or 'purchases' are.

It's a lottert and you've got to remember that goods bought abroad should be taxed so be happy with the ones that weren't and put up with teh ones that are - or make sure sender know what the right on teh ticket

Andy

stul · 14 February 2009, 18:32

A friend of mine say that everything over £18 is opened by royal mail and then you have to pay for their efforts, how do Amazon get round this I wonder there is Amazon uk but most things come from Usa, seems like who it get sent by has the desired effect. Will say no more don’t want knocks on the door
Stuart

chewy · 14 February 2009, 19:22

Get the sender to mark it as a gift and email you an invoice.
I've ordered and received lots of things from abroad and never incurred any charges.

MikeCC · 14 February 2009, 19:58

It really is pot luck and any of the carriers are just as likely to impose a similar fee. If you send items to the US via postal service it seems to avoid duty but the opposite seems to happen here. So a US supplier may think they're doing you a favour.

Mind you, if think how annoying it is when you have to pay it if a customer returns an item under warranty but forgets to mark the paperwork as such.