Customs charge on imported ebay purchase

Turnbull2000

Hi,

I've been hit with a Revenue & Customs charge on a bicycle part imported from the US and not available in the UK. Is the fact I couldn't buy it here even if I wanted to grounds to contest the charge?

noh

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

Hi,

I've been hit with a Revenue & Customs charge on a bicycle part imported from the US and not available in the UK. Is the fact I couldn't buy it here even if I wanted too grounds to contest the charge?

No.

VAT and duty is due on the total value including shipping costs.

Mikeyorks

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

Hi,

I've been hit with a Revenue & Customs charge on a bicycle part imported from the US

Expensive! Tends to be 14% duty + 17.5% VAT.

But not a chance of contesting it on grounds of limited availability.

John_Pierpoint

How much was the "delivered UK" price of the part.
Was the part a sub assembly or just one bit of bent metal/plastic.
[Far be it from me to suggest importing the individual bits of a sub assembly and assembling them here in the UK (Theoretically the mercantalist reason for charging you the 30 something percent tax to "protect our cycle industry = take a bow Brompton) but back in the 1970's IBM got into terrible trouble for invoicing the parts and when Customs opened the box it was a sub assembly inside.:rotfl:]