royal mail slip asking for £9.50 customs charge

custardy

zombie_tennants wrote: »

yeah maybe i could print out the auction page? its being held at my local sorting office so maybe i could ask them about the item over the phone and ask where the item is from etc (so i know for sure)? i doubt they would let the fee go though?

no chance.your auction page means nothing.its down to the declaration

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

custardy wrote: »

w
At £7 the item shouldnt be getting charged

The limit for the Channel Islands is zero so VAT must be paid on all shipments unless a gift (if there was a limit without charge we'd still have LVCR abuse which is why the usual £15 was stripped away from the CI in April).

Crowqueen

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

No the seller doesn't have to warn you, you import, you bear the responsibility.

Opening a claim is an outrageous suggestion.

Agreed. While the seller does have the option to pay customs charges at their end, there is no requirement for them to do so.

Crowqueen

zombie_tennants wrote: »

thanks everyone for the replys

yeah i thought united kingdom was all the same so would never have known, i didnt even notice the location as i only buy from uk (and filter this option) on ebay so didnt think it was important.

do they charge this on all goods from the channel islands? or do they just flag up certain items, im sure i have had amazon items from channel islands before?

It's a new system to close the tax loophole on Amazon and other large media companies shipping all their items from the Channel Islands and therefore avoiding UK tax.

eBay class the CI as UK so it would not have been flagged up by them, unfortunately.

zombie_tennants

thanks for your help, its all new news to me, i will have to keep a check in the future x

Miss_Havisham

Crowqueen wrote: »

It's a new system to close the tax loophole on Amazon and other large media companies shipping all their items from the Channel Islands and therefore avoiding UK tax.

eBay class the CI as UK so it would not have been flagged up by them, unfortunately.

so does this mean that E Bay should change their classification of the Channel Islands in line with this new HMRC system ? If so, would the OP be able to challenge E Bay on this basis ?

The OP has been a bit unlucky. Not every package from "abroad" is charged, I think it must be random (clearly they couldn't examine and charge for every parcel received). I've had 20+ parcels from overseas in the past 3 years and only been charged on 3 of them despite all being over the £15 limit and not marked as "gift".

custardy

Miss_Havisham wrote: »

so does this mean that E Bay should change their classification of the Channel Islands in line with this new HMRC system ? If so, would the OP be able to challenge E Bay on this basis ?

The OP has been a bit unlucky. Not every package from "abroad" is charged, I think it must be random (clearly they couldn't examine and charge for every parcel received). I've had 20+ parcels from overseas in the past 3 years and only been charged on 3 of them despite all being over the £15 limit and not marked as "gift".

challenge eBay for what?
They are not responsible for import fees regardless of listings
The OP could challenge as item not received and get a refund
not what they want but I dont see eBay paying yje fees

custardy

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

The limit for the Channel Islands is zero so VAT must be paid on all shipments unless a gift (if there was a limit without charge we'd still have LVCR abuse which is why the usual £15 was stripped away from the CI in April).

DOH!
Getting rusty

Crowqueen

Miss_Havisham wrote: »

so does this mean that E Bay should change their classification of the Channel Islands in line with this new HMRC system ? If so, would the OP be able to challenge E Bay on this basis ?

The OP has been a bit unlucky. Not every package from "abroad" is charged, I think it must be random (clearly they couldn't examine and charge for every parcel received). I've had 20+ parcels from overseas in the past 3 years and only been charged on 3 of them despite all being over the £15 limit and not marked as "gift".

No.

eBay are not responsible for buyers and sellers once the sale has gone through and the seller has been paid. After that it is the seller and the buyer who are responsible for any issues, with eBay acting as a broker in case of dispute.

Since the OP is effectively an importer, they should be aware of issues around the Channel Islands. eBay will intervene to the extent that where sellers put a disclaimer on their listings that 'buyers are responsible for any import duties' - as they are in law - then they will in fact remove negs left

eBay's classification system is a little rusty (there was the long-running issue of parts of Portsmouth being classed as the Isle of Wight as regards sellers being able to block people who live in parts of the country where couriers only deliver for an extra fee) but in general the CI, as Crown dependencies, are part of the UK for postage purposes so that is what they are more concerned about.

martindow

If someone in the UK is selling on Ebay, I believe international buyers receive a warning that they will be responsible for any customs charges. A similar message really ought to appear when CI sellers are selling to the rest of the UK.

Glad I'm not a CI seller. I imagine they are likely to receive poor feedback and stars fromdisgruntled buyers (even though the customs charges are not their fault).