Parcel Force and VAT

MonkeyGirl

I ordered £70 worth of stuff from Hong Kong which I had been saving up for as they are delayed Christmas Presents . Today I recieved a letter from Parcel force saying that I can't have my item until I have paid the charges. The thing is it isn't customs and excise duty its VAT. The whole point of me buying abroad was as it worked out cheaper if I'd known I was gonig to get charged VAT I would of bought the stuff over here :mad:. The thing that has really wound me up is that Parcel Force are charging me a " Clearance Fee" of £13.50 now I didnt ask them to keep my parcel. Is there anyway I can get my money back from them?

The receipt looks like this

Import Duty / Excise Duty £0.00

VAT £12.07

Other _____________

Parcelforece Clearance Fee £13.50

Total £25.57



The site I got the stuff from has an FAQ that say this so I can get some of it back but I can't see them giving me the parcel force money back.

Will there be any taxes/customs duties?

A. It depends on the destination. We currently ship to over 150 countries across the globe and most countries (especially the USA, Australia, Japan, South Korea) allow free trade over the internet and will not charge any customs duty whatsoever for small packages entering the country.

For the current time, we will endeavor to assist and cover in cases where duty is charged to the customers in some European countries, but we emphasize this is on a goodwill, not on an obligation basis. If you are charged customs then please collect the package, pay any fees due and then e-mail, fax or post your receipt to us and we will reimburse you.

So now for 3 parcels I'm paying £95 thats such a great saving :rolleyes: like I said I could of bought them in this country for that price :mad: :mad: .

Thank you for reading.

MonkeyGirl

MonkeyGirl

So how comes we aren't charged VAT on things from CDWOW for instance

soolin

This is a common problem when buying from overseas, or even where sending gifts and things.

I have relatives overseas and have to be very careful what I send to them and what they send to me as there are different levels of tax/duty/vat on different types of items.

Duty/Tax and VAT is also something that catches a lot of ebay users out, and makes that bargain items from the Far East or the US very expensive.

Unfortunately there is no way out, if you want your parcels you will have to pay up to Parcel Force, sorry.

Soo

elster_2

All I can say is that if the stuff have come in via regular mail and not internation express it should be a different charge. I have argued the toss with the theiving £^&&*&& before and got the reduction. BUT you will not get your parcel without paying something .. that is for sure :

quote from pf site :

"We have two levels of clearance fee for import parcels. There is a charge of £13.50 for express parcels imported through the EMS (i.e. International Datapost equivalent) and GLS (i.e. Euro 48 equivalent) networks and also for high value standard parcels (valued at over €1000). For all other import parcels, an £8 charge will apply.

These clearance charges are only applied if a duty or tax is payable on the parcel."

stevebananer

Not much good to OP now, but the official position is explained here:

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&propertyType=document&resetCT=true&id=HMCE_CL_001454

hjb123

But why buy from Hong Kong in the first place?

There are lots of websites in this country you can get stuff cheap and if you use discount codes or tips found on MSE you can get stuff even cheaper.

I for one find this site really useful and money saving now.

MonkeyGirl

hjb123 wrote:

But why buy from Hong Kong in the first place?

There are lots of websites in this country you can get stuff cheap and if you use discount codes or tips found on MSE you can get stuff even cheaper.

I for one find this site really useful and money saving now.

I was buying through pigsback.com so I got piggy points and I hadn't found these gift sets cheaper anywhere else.

Thank you to everyone who has replied I will know for next time

eilz

I got a Letter from FEDEX after delivery of am item from Hong Kong asking for £13.98, thats VAT=£8.98 and Admin charge of £4.50.

I too am a little puzzled why I got this charge and its not the first time I ordered from HK, but have never been chraged before. Can someone please advise.

Does it not depend on the cost of the item. When I got the item delivered it had two invoices in it both for £25 each, although I paid a total cost of £50 for the item, so not sure why theres two invoices. Anyway, knowing I have two invoices, can I not use one against Fedex and dispute the duty costs? I think its real unreasonble to charge so much for something I have been saving up for, for so long.

Appreciate all MSE Users help on this.

claire_bargains

Sorry to reiterate what others have said - this is a perfectly normal state of affairs. I rang up Customs and Excise to find out what the situation was, as my Mum was looking to order some DVD's from America - and they pointed out to me that there would be on anything over (I believe) £15 VAT, plus a likelihood of duty, and a charge from the courier who would transport it from their Hub Distribution Centre for imported goods.

The Customs people are always very helpful if you give them a call, so I would really recommend that anyone does this if in any doubt about unknown charges on imports.

Eilz - £4.50 isn't bad - I was told it could be up to £20 - so I think I'd swallow that. However on a quick calculation (and this is the accountant in me coming out) the VAT on £50 is £8.75, not £8.98 - so I might ask how they calculated the other charge at the same time.... hope this helps!