FedEx Overcharging VAT!

Smoak

Hi All,

I was wondering if somebody could advise me!

Basically my problem is that I brought an item (clothing) from India, now I have been charged £43.48 overall to pay, which I understand is EU VAT and FedEx Admin charge. I believe this is wrong because they have calculated the freight charge being as £118.45 but the invoice by the seller states freight charge being $10 (£6-7), so clearly there has been an mistake, but also the item only weighed 0.900kg. The item's value is £45 estimated and by my calculation I should only pay £8-10 for VAT not £43.48. Now I wanted to know if I have misunderstood something or if there is any advise that can help me reduce the amount I pay?

Thanks!

Helix

How much did you actually pay for the item including postage? It doesn't matter whats on the invoice as they know many people lie to try and pay lower fees.

If its wrong based on what you actually paid then your probably have a case. If you actually did pay more and got caught out then you will have to pay.

shaun_from_Africa

I can't see that it would be possible to ship a 0.9KG package from India to the UK for only £6 or £7 unless it was shipped by the cheapest possible surface mail service.
If this figure was grossly undervalued then HMCE would simply estimate what the true shipping costs would be and charge accordingly.

Hintza

As Helix says; how much did you actually pay all in?

Smoak

Hi Helix and Hintza,
I paid in total £50.58, that's including postage. I just think that paying £43.48 for VAT is expensive on a product of that value.

I would like to thank you both for the replies!:)

Lomast

FedEx charge around £10 admin fee i believe then the rest will be made up of both Import duty and VAT.

InsideInsurance

$10 for FedEx from india to UK seems very low, as others have said. Doing a quick quote on the FedEx website and it comes in at £89 for non-priority from the Goa region and £116 if priority.

I believe VAT is charged on the price paid for the item + actual P&P paid + actual insurance paid. If someone sells something with free P&P but actually pays $10 to send it to you then that $10 gets added on when VAT and duty is calculated.

How quickly did the item turn up? The price you say has been used as the basis for the calculation is much closer to what the FedEx website says the postage should have been.

Did the seller possibly miss calculate shipping but has actually honoured their price despite being out of pocket?