Royal Mail & the Taxman Ransomed packages!

Smillas_kid

Please be aware of the change in tax & duty charges that have come in. You can no longer avoid taxes on gift items. To top the misery, Royal Mail have put up the charges for handling from £1.00 to £8!:mad:

Some guy bought a blender and some figurines from hong kong totaling £62. He got a card through the door from the post depot demanding £25 import duty, £99 VAT and £13.50 clearance fee.

Yes, it doesn't make sense, how can they charge £99.00 17.5% VAT on a total of £62.00...?? Dodgy or what!

I thought I had it bad. I've just had to pay an extra £23.05 on one clothing item I bought off ebay for £34.64. Ridiculous!!

Read the last post on the link below...apparently the postal company cannot hold your goods to ransom until you pay. It is against the law. You can take it from them and they have to pursue the debt by standard civil procedures.

Heres a link to more horror stories: http://paulm.com/inchoate/2005/04/customs_royal_mail_clearance_scam.html

C_Ronaldo

well im good because i dont buy anything from hong king or america or europe, whats the problem anyway with rm

Butlers1982

they have to pursue the debt by standard civil procedures.

Right well thats well worth not paying for it.

custardy

you may refuse the item and it will be returned to customs and you can arrange payment and logistics with them.
customs decide the charge as to whether its applicable. writing gift on an item makes no difference on the value of the item.
RM are not ransoming you.they have paid the fee and transported the item to your local depot.
be aware ALL couriers charge a fee and some more than RM.
also the charge was previously £4,its a long time since it was £1.
expect charges like this to rise more once the pricing shackles are released

maninthestreet

Smillas_kid wrote: »

Please be aware of the change in tax & duty charges that have come in. You can no longer avoid taxes on gift items. To top the misery, Royal Mail have put up the charges for handling from £1.00 to £8!:mad:

Some guy bought a blender and some figurines from hong kong totaling £62. He got a card through the door from the post depot demanding £25 import duty, £99 VAT and £13.50 clearance fee.

Yes, it doesn't make sense, how can they charge £99.00 17.5% VAT on a total of £62.00...?? Dodgy or what!

I thought I had it bad. I've just had to pay an extra £23.05 on one clothing item I bought off ebay for £34.64. Ridiculous!!

Read the last post on the link below...apparently the postal company cannot hold your goods to ransom until you pay. It is against the law. You can take it from them and they have to pursue the debt by standard civil procedures.

Heres a link to more horror stories: http://paulm.com/inchoate/2005/04/customs_royal_mail_clearance_scam.html

Have you queried the £99 VAT figure with them? 99 is 17.5% of 565, so their calculations are wildly inaccurate.

Goop_2

Smillas_kid wrote: »

Please be aware of the change in tax & duty charges that have come in. You can no longer avoid taxes on gift items. To top the misery, Royal Mail have put up the charges for handling from £1.00 to £8!:mad:

Some guy bought a blender and some figurines from hong kong totaling £62. He got a card through the door from the post depot demanding £25 import duty, £99 VAT and £13.50 clearance fee.

Yes, it doesn't make sense, how can they charge £99.00 17.5% VAT on a total of £62.00...?? Dodgy or what!

I thought I had it bad. I've just had to pay an extra £23.05 on one clothing item I bought off ebay for £34.64. Ridiculous!!

Read the last post on the link below...apparently the postal company cannot hold your goods to ransom until you pay. It is against the law. You can take it from them and they have to pursue the debt by standard civil procedures.

Heres a link to more horror stories: http://paulm.com/inchoate/2005/04/customs_royal_mail_clearance_scam.html

Thank you Smilla. That last post from your link is an eye opener! It's true they won't give you your parcel unless you pay the charges. What they call it from reading the Postal Act 2000, is a retention of 'Lien': a right to keep a property or possession belonging to another person until a debt owed by that person is discharged. This is what they are not allowed to do. So Mark was right in his challenge to PF.

Where do that get their figures from? Anyway, you can't stop people from buying things from abroad, and it's such an increasing way to save money, especially now we have the internet. A lot of people do it. They should be warned of these things.

I haven't bought anything recently from ebay, but it's definitely good to know.
Gx

Stan_Morris

Smillas_kid wrote: »

Please be aware of the change in tax & duty charges that have come in. You can no longer avoid taxes on gift items. To top the misery, Royal Mail have put up the charges for handling from £1.00 to £8!

So it's a scam because you can no longer lie and pretend that your imports are "gifts"??

What's wrong with being charged import duty???

redmike123

If I were to purchase goods - for example a raincoat, from a private vendor in the U.S. I would make the assumption that it was second hand/used.

The raincoat may or may not have actually been worn, but because I was purchasing it from an individual and not a shop or a retail business, I think that its a reasonable assumption to make.

I don't think that either VAT or import duty is normally charged on used goods sold by private vendors - is it?

dmg24

Anyone else get the feeling that Smillas_Kid and Goop are one and the same?!!!

That link has some funny stories on it, what a load of whingers!

redmike123

Thanks DMG24 - A brilliant and considered response to what is a complicated subject . Doh!!

soolin

redmike123 wrote: »

If I were to purchase goods - for example a raincoat, from a private vendor in the U.S. I would make the assumption that it was second hand/used.

The raincoat may or may not have actually been worn, but because I was purchasing it from an individual and not a shop or a retail business, I think that its a reasonable assumption to make.

I don't think that either VAT or import duty is normally charged on used goods sold by private vendors - is it?

It doesn't matter who you buy from or whether items or new or not items will be charged if stopped at customs and over the limit for goods.