receiving items from channel islands - royal mail fee ??

zzybee

hi, i need some advice. bought some body creams from channel islands on ebay. now i get a postcard asking me to pay a customs charge with a £8 handling fee. this is more than double what i paid for the items themselves. any suggestions as to how to go ahead with this? thanks in advance.

soolin

You are going to need someone better than me to explain this as I can't explain anything well.

basically though the CI are a strange area, HMRC consider them EU 'Special Territories' goods sent from there to the UK attract duty and tax.

The link is below with the actual wording as well. As such you either pay the duty and handling charge, or you forgo your goods. If you were not aware you were buying from the CI it might be worth contacting the seller as you could not reasonably be expected to realise where goods were coming from if misrepresented.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/buying.htm

Customs Duty, Excise Duty and import VAT: introduction
*From 1 April 2012, all mail order goods sent to the UK from the Channel Islands is subject to VAT at import.
HM Revenue & Customs operates a scheme with the Channel Islands for the prepayment of import VAT, and all mail order businesses based in the Channel Islands are entitled to apply to join. Goods sent this way do not incur further customs charges in the UK, and do not incur the Royal Mail/Parcelforce handling fee.
If exporters choose not to send goods using this facility, they will be subject to the customs charging process in the UK, which will inevitably mean a longer processing time before they are delivered to the customer. Items sent outside this scheme will also be subject to the Royal Mail/Parcelforce handling fee.

zzybee

thanks soolin. one more thing to watch out and be aware of. lesson learnt.:)