Royal mail customs charge is morally wrong let's fight it

InquisitiveMind

sanibel686 wrote: »

The headphones in question were Brainwavz s1
They are of course no match for high end phones but critically acclaimed as leaders in the sub £75 bracket so for $24.99 a fantastic deal.

They're most likely fakes. A company which produces "leaders" in a field will not give such huge discounts to relatively small group buys. Congratulations for falling for an internet scam.

dj1471

sanibel686 wrote: »

1, royal mail say that they only "sample" incoming parcels for value, but, I have never heard of someone being "missed" with a parcel marked £1000! so my assumption is that they view them all.

They will view all parcels and collect VAT & duty where the customs declaration indicates this is due. They sample other parcels to check if they're correctly declared.

sanibel686 wrote: »

2, If I buy a £14 item it goes through the same check but is passed on with no charge. All I am saying is that the same system is in place but the threshold is raised so that the fee doesn't outweigh the duty.

The limits for duty and VAT are set by HMRC and have no relation to what carriers charge for handling. Clearly it is not worth the effort to HMRC to collect the VAT and duty on low value items (they have overheads to pay too).

sanibel686 wrote: »

3, In France, Germany etc the threshold is 150 euros we are being taken for a ride in the UK

I suspect you are confusing duty and VAT. You are being required to pay VAT because the limit is £15, but not duty for which the limit is higher.

shaun_from_Africa

sanibel686 wrote: »

OK OK just open your brains up and think for yourselves for a moment instead of jumping in with the same old rhetoric

If you only want replies that agree with you, your best bet would be to open a couple of new accounts and use those to respond to your opening post.
I don't know if you noticed but this is a forum and forums are generally there so that people can state their opinions and views.


A couple of simple questions for you.
Why didn't you investigate the fees and charges that would be payable before proceeding with the purchase, and if you thought then too high, why didn't you arrange to do the clearance yourself?


Self clearance only requires you to get the seller to write "Goods will be cleared by importer" on the outside of the package,
This will of course result in a very long delay of your goods getting delivered to you but that is the price you pay for opting not to use the systems already in place.

tomtontom

Any bets on how long until the OP accuses someone of working for RM?

arcon5

They won't incur less in costs for handling a £10 item as they will the same size item worth £1k. So all a sliding scale would acheive is higher value imports subsidising lower value imports.

custardy

sanibel686 wrote: »

OK OK just open your brains up and think for yourselves for a moment instead of jumping in with the same old rhetoric.

1, royal mail say that they only "sample" incoming parcels for value, but, I have never heard of someone being "missed" with a parcel marked £1000! so my assumption is that they view them all.

2, If I buy a £14 item it goes through the same check but is passed on with no charge. All I am saying is that the same system is in place but the threshold is raised so that the fee doesn't outweigh the duty.

3, In France, Germany etc the threshold is 150 euros we are being taken for a ride in the UK

Well your assumption is wrong.
A £1000 item would likely be sent via EMS and as such would land in the UK and travel via Parcelforce.

visidigi

sanibel686 wrote: »

OK OK just open your brains up and think for yourselves for a moment instead of jumping in with the same old rhetoric.

1, royal mail say that they only "sample" incoming parcels for value, but, I have never heard of someone being "missed" with a parcel marked £1000! so my assumption is that they view them all.

2, If I buy a £14 item it goes through the same check but is passed on with no charge. All I am saying is that the same system is in place but the threshold is raised so that the fee doesn't outweigh the duty.

3, In France, Germany etc the threshold is 150 euros we are being taken for a ride in the UK

1. Royal mail Don't sample anything. HMRC do.
2. mail is profiled and delivered into HMRC employees based on value. it does NOT go through the same process. Part of the fee paid is to pay for HMRC to be there to expedite your product clearance in a timely fashion.
3. Complain to the government, not the Royal Mail.

4....just because people disagree with you doesn't make them wrong, or blinkered in their view.
5....its HMRC you should take up your issue with, and the government for the fees, as RM can only charge you what the government and HMRC let them...
6....if your case is so watertight, why do you need Martin's help? The answer is its not.

George_Michael

sanibel686 wrote: »

I just participated in a Massdrop headphone purchase

And before you participated, I'm guessing that you didn't read up on exactly what you might be liable to pay.

Could there be additional fees for International orders?
For all countries, the taxes levied on imported goods is up to the discretion of the customs agent in the country of importation. Every country is different, and we simply can't keep track of each country's varying import costs for different products. It is the responsibility of the importer (international customer) to be aware of the relevant laws and taxes that their country imposes on them.

https://www.massdrop.com/faq

paddyrg

This comes around every few weeks, so for completeness here's some of the other points that sometimes come up in response.

Clear your own package - it involves forms and money of course, but you can choose how long it takes. A friend did self-clearance on a rug he sent himself from overseas. He had to drive to Heathrow cargo terminal, find the handling company, pay the taxes, pay the handling company, then was able to collect. The handling company allowed a few days or maybe a week's free storage in their price (in a bonded warehouse, labelled and shelved) but after that it was a tenner a day. If you can clear your goods in person in an hour (including driving to airport, parking, etc) then you're beating the minimum wage, good for you! The rest of us would take over an hour between the paperwork and travel and queueing, plus fuel and parking, etc so even if we could dodge storage or any other costs, we'd still be down on the deal. This makes total sense of RM paying the tax on the spot on your behalf, then shipping the goods straight away - the alternative is masses of extra handling for storage which would add somewhat more cost than just keeping the flow of the mailstream instead of randomising their work at their busiest hubs.

Other shipping companies are available - most charge ITRO £15 for what RM charge £8, however you can find some that will charge as a percentage, which may be your best option next time. As I recall, DHL have one shipping service where tax handling costs are added as a percentage. Sounds like a bargain, until you realise the shipping cost itself is £40 instead of £10.

Some couriers will also offer pre-cleared shipping, where the seller pays the VAT and duty for you on a pre-estimate basis. They are still, however, dearer than the regular mailstream so it balances out.

In short, Royal Mail delivery is a bargain, and blaming them for saving you money is a bit silly when you see the wider picture.

Captain_Leaky

All the original poster had to do was to request that the seller state a lower-than-threshold value on the shipping carton label.

AFAIK, if the item is labelled as being worth less than £15, then no RM 'Handling fee' is applicable.