Buying second hand goods from US and Parcelforce

twocans

Hello,
I purchased a second hand part of a camera from a chap in the US for $50 plus postage "usps.com ref: EG 99999999 US". I then receive a letter fromParcel Force telling me I have to pay a parcelforce clearance fee of £13.50 plus £8.85 VAT, the letter gives some telephone numbers for the HMRC but they do not work. Phoning parcel force they tell me unless I pay within the next 15 days that the product will be returned. How can parcel force hold me to ransom. I worte to the email supplied by parcelforce customers4parcelforce@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk only to get a reply the following day saying "Thank you for your email. Curently the
customs4parcelforce@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk facility has been suspended until further notice."

Parcel force is holding me to ransom and giving me no grounds for appeal. The goods purchased were secondhand.

Regards

Kenny


--~~ Complete email from parcelforce below --~~

Thank you for your email. Curently the
customs4parcelforce@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk facility has been suspended until further notice.

If you have not taken delivery of your parcel then there are 2 options;

Option 1
Pay the charges, take delivery and retain the original red and white charge label and the original Customs declaration (both of the items will be attached to the parcel) and forward them to the address below together with an invoice and covering letter to explain the circumstances.

Option 2
You can refuse the parcel and ask Parcelforce Worldwide to return it to sender.

If you wish to track you parcel please contact Parcelforce Worldwide direct on 08448 004466 or at parcelforce.co.uk. If you wish to pay a charge then contact Parcelforce Worldwide at the address on your letter.

However, you can telephone 02476 212860 Monday to Friday 08:30 to 16:30 0r write to:

UK Border Agency
Coventry International Hub
Siskin Parkway West
Coventry
CV3 4HX

The information in this e-mail and any attachments is confidential and may be subject to legal professional privilege. Unless you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this message or any part of it. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately.

HM Revenue & Customs computer systems will be monitored and communications carried on them recorded, to secure the effective operation of the system and for lawful purposes.

The Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs are not liable for any personal views of the sender.

This e-mail may have been intercepted and its information altered.

Freddie_Snowbits

NO

I voted no. You are negliegent of the import duties and handling fees. There are enough topics on this subject around this parish.

joeyboy

import duty, VAT, handling fees as per usual then. I see no issue here. The threshold is £18, for a gift £40. I believe under £135 you don't pay import duty, just VAT and handling. Handling fees are generally a bit of a !!!! take, royal mail charges a flat rate of £8 in my experience, even in the parcel is a tiny little packet. Before some deluded folks here say that includes import duty, well I've already explained how it wouldn't apply and VAT is always listed separately on the bill.

For you OP I assume it's £13.50 handling fee, rather high for what is likely a very small piece of equipment, it is the curse of using a more premium postal service. Obviously VAT is £8.85, I assume from this your postage was probably $20-25? Then would make $75..which would get taxed £8.85 roughly as the cost of postage is included in the overall value, which I always find a little odd but there we go.

fluffnutter

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

I voted no.

I voted yes. Just to liven things up a little.

peachyprice

NO

OP, were you under the misapprehension that second hand goods would be exempt from import duty and VAT? If so, I'm afraid this is not so and Parcelforce are quite correct.

Freddie_Snowbits

NO

fluffnutter wrote: »

I voted yes. Just to liven things up a little.

BALDERTRASH. If I had known it was you, I would had voted Yes as well. That would had put the cats amongts the pigeons

Bamber19

YES

Pay the HMRC elements of the charge and request they invoice you for the handling fee.

It is completely ignored by providers of postal services but they cannot legally withold your package under the Postal Packet (Customs and Excise) Regulations 1986 if you pay all that is due to HMRC. (In this case you'd still need to pay it through parcelforce though I believe.) If parcelforce have already paid the duty and are now invoicing you for it then I don't believe they could withold it at all, seeing as no duty would be payable to HMRC anymore, be aware Parcelforce are completely entitled to charge you these fees though and they would be recoverable.

In addition, the Postal Services Act 2000 has a few interesting sections for you, section 83 makes it a criminal offence for the postal operator to intentionally delay a postal packet but their Terms and conditions can nullify this. Section 104 protects packages against examination, seizure, detention, retention in virtue of a lien (amongst other things) in the same way the package would ahve were it the property of the crown.

Good luck getting them to acknowledge that within 15 days and not just send it back though, you'll need to aim higher though, you'll get absolutely nowhere woth the frontline staff and tbh will be in for an argument with higher level staff if they wont allow you to pay just the HMRC portion up front.

Despite the above, there's really no solution, the way they are collecting (or attempting to collect) the payment is illegal but you can't pay it then challenge it afterwards becuase the payment itself is not illegal, you do owe it, so a civil case challenging the way they take payment wouldn't change the fact the payment was due. Any attempt to take it further in terms of the potential criminal offences is going to be met with the standard police response to anything that isn't clear cut "It's a civil matter" and even if/when you got past that it's highly doubtful CPS will proceed with a case.