Any ideas why I didn't have to pay customs charges?

spookylukey

I bought an item on the US ebay from a business seller, it cost $160 which is around £100 including postage. The seller sent it USPS Priority which is then taken over by Parcelforce when it enters the UK.

I looked at the tracking and it arrived at Heathrow and was clearing customs for around 3 or 4 days before being delivered to me by Parcelforce. I understood that I would have to pay customs charges plus a Parcelforce clearing fee of £8 if there were customs charges. From googling it seems that PF make you pay the customs/handling fee before they deliver the item so it seems like I've been overlooked.

Any ideas why this might be? The package was correctly declared as merchandise with the correct value, I just can't understand why if they had it there for 3/4 days that they didn't look at it and request the customs fees? Any ideas?

soolin

At least half the items I should be paying duty on never get charged, I think ti all depends on whether it is really noticed ro not.

Hermia

I think it's just luck really. I wonder if they just spot check some parcels because they don't have time to look at all of them. I've had some go through, but others have been caught (including one that was only £1 above the customs limit - grrr!)

trukdiver

spookylukey wrote: »

I bought an item on the US ebay from a business seller, it cost $160 which is around £100 including postage. The seller sent it USPS Priority which is then taken over by Parcelforce when it enters the UK.

I looked at the tracking and it arrived at Heathrow and was clearing customs for around 3 or 4 days before being delivered to me by Parcelforce. I understood that I would have to pay customs charges plus a Parcelforce clearing fee of £8 if there were customs charges. From googling it seems that PF make you pay the customs/handling fee before they deliver the item so it seems like I've been overlooked.

Any ideas why this might be? The package was correctly declared as merchandise with the correct value, I just can't understand why if they had it there for 3/4 days that they didn't look at it and request the customs fees? Any ideas?

When I started buying from the US, I was hardly ever charged but they seemed to tighten up later on. It's a bit of a lottery really - probably depends on how busy they are?

martindow

Parcel force seem to be most likely to let items through without payment. With Fedex, UPS, etc it is much rarer.