Royal Mail £8 Internal Post Handling Fee scam?

newbiecontributor

Where the difference of £8 is the turning point as to whether importing an item makes it worth buying from abroad or the UK, this makes a big difference especially for non urgent items incurring customs fees of less than (say) £5.

custardy

newbiecontributor wrote: »

Hi I had to sign up just to contribute here.
I like many import many items from outside the EU to the UK. When I buy items costs just over the duty limit and incurring customs fees of a few pounds, It's extremely unreasonable to be charged £8 by royal mail for their international handling fee.

So I decided to complain to Royal mail and after getting nowhere apart from their standardised unhelpful responses and ending with me checking with independent mail regulators, I was directed to HRMC.

Afterall, it's them (HMRC) who decide to use Royal Mail in the first place once an item has reached the UK.
And I thought they should offer a choice, IMO, as to which mail carrier to use and not automatically put all parcels through RM and incurring the fee. I don't give up easily and I was pleased to get a workable solution.

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There is a way around this, please read this and share, and stop being ripped off by the RM international handling fee:

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'To avoid paying Royal Mail a handling fee you can declare the goods yourself. You will need to ensure that the sender clearly marks the parcel ‘goods to be customs cleared by importer’. You will then need to complete a legal import declaration which you will have to send to our Central Processing Hub in Salford. They will calculate any import charges and write and advice you of your tax liability. When you have paid this and the funds have been cleared, the Hub will clear the documentation and inform the Customs unit at the relevant Royal Mail Office that the goods may be released for delivery. This manual procedure will considerably delay receipt of your goods. You can obtain copies of the import declaration form from our National Advice Service (NAS) on 0845 010 9000.'

That is straight from a reply from HMRC after several emails.

how much do you value your time at?

personally im glad you posted this.
now nobody can complain
they have a 'free' option available to them

adastra_2

I just bought a couple of lcd display panels from the states, value $45 (~ 28 ukp) as declared on the package. The duty was 6.49 and the "Clearance Fee", 8.00 ukp. This means that in effect, i've paid around 50% tax on this import and the "Clearance Fee" is more than the duty. Doesn't stop there either. Despite what the RM web site suggests, it's not fixed fee either, but a sliding scale depending on package value. I bought some test equipment from Oz a couple of years ago and the "Clearance Fee" was something like 25.00 ukp. Profiteering or what ?. How this is justified, I can't imagine, but as usual, greedy profiteering to a captive audience and it's not surprising that some buyers get packages undervalued. If a system is seen as being unfair, expect people to find workarounds.

Usefull to know about self declaration though and well worth it for the more valuable imports. Excellent post...

Regards,

Chris

paddyrg

You are free to use whatever importer you choose. RM charge a handling fee for taking your package out of the mail stream, so manually processing and handling your package, having to store it, deal with HMRC, advance you the tax payable (so they can have the goods at a local sorting office to make them available fast) and generally facilitate the process for you. Bit of a shock if you've never encountered it before, but it sounds like you have yet you chose RM again instead of say Fedex who have a slightly lower fee in some cases. You pay for the convenience of being able to import goods without having to mess around with bonded warehouses and declarations, etc. It's a bit of a bargain really, if you think about it - doing it yourself will probably cost best part of an extra hour and delay your package significantly.

xdaisyx

adastra wrote: »

I just bought a couple of lcd display panels from the states, value $45 (~ 28 ukp) as declared on the package. The duty was 6.49 and the "Clearance Fee", 8.00 ukp. This means that in effect, i've paid around 50% tax on this import and the "Clearance Fee" is more than the duty. Doesn't stop there either. Despite what the RM web site suggests, it's not fixed fee either, but a sliding scale depending on package value. I bought some test equipment from Oz a couple of years ago and the "Clearance Fee" was something like 25.00 ukp. Profiteering or what ?. How this is justified, I can't imagine, but as usual, greedy profiteering to a captive audience and it's not surprising that some buyers get packages undervalued. If a system is seen as being unfair, expect people to find workarounds.

Usefull to know about self declaration though and well worth it for the more valuable imports. Excellent post...

Regards,

Chris

It is a fixed fee, the clearance fee you paid of £25 would have been to a courier company, not royal mail

custardy

adastra wrote: »

I just bought a couple of lcd display panels from the states, value $45 (~ 28 ukp) as declared on the package. The duty was 6.49 and the "Clearance Fee", 8.00 ukp. This means that in effect, i've paid around 50% tax on this import and the "Clearance Fee" is more than the duty. Doesn't stop there either. Despite what the RM web site suggests, it's not fixed fee either, but a sliding scale depending on package value. I bought some test equipment from Oz a couple of years ago and the "Clearance Fee" was something like 25.00 ukp. Profiteering or what ?. How this is justified, I can't imagine, but as usual, greedy profiteering to a captive audience and it's not surprising that some buyers get packages undervalued. If a system is seen as being unfair, expect people to find workarounds.

Usefull to know about self declaration though and well worth it for the more valuable imports. Excellent post...

Regards,

Chris

Its £8
its a fixed fee
it hasnt changed for years
so either you can't comprehend the costs on the item label(every RM customs item has a breakdown of costs) or dont understand who delivered your item?

mazza111

Custardly is correct as usual. The import tax maybe more on higher value items, as it's a percentage, but the handling charge remains the same. £8 flat rate whether the item is worth £100 or £1000

adastra_2

This earlier item may have been 2 or 3 years ago, but remember being outraged at the time over Parcel Force "Clearance Fee" and yes, I am capable of reading the label to see how the total charge has been arrived at. Also, I particularly asked at the local office yesterday if the clearance fee was fixed and the man said no, it varies wih package value, so who's right ?.

In comparison, last time I had something shipped Fedex, they had a flat 5.00 ukp fee, irrespective of package size or value. I guess really, since I have already paid the duty, I would expect hmrc to pay rm to do the work, but as usual in the uk, everyone's got their grasping hand out for more and it's bohica as usual.

PF and RM used to be quite good value for local and international shipping, but prices took a real hike 2 or 3 years ago (was doing a lot of international sales at the time) to the point that charge were sometimes 1.5 to 2x that of courier companies. Much as I would like to and do support my local post office, it's not economic for larger items anymore, especially international. If you don't believe me, check prices from interparcel or parcel2go against those from PF. You will quite likely be horrified...

Regards,

Chris

custardy

adastra wrote: »

This earlier item may have been 2 or 3 years ago, but remember being outraged at the time over Parcel Force "Clearance Fee" and yes, I am capable of reading the label to see how the total charge has been arrived at. Also, I particularly asked at the local office yesterday if the clearance fee was fixed and the man said no, it varies wih package value, so who's right ?. me

In comparison, last time I had something shipped Fedex, they had a flat 5.00 ukp fee, irrespective of package size or value. I guess really, since I have already paid the duty, I would expect hmrc to pay rm to do the work, but as usual in the uk, everyone's got their grasping hand out for more and it's bohica as usual. HMRC could pay RM. they would then pass that cost onto you

PF and RM used to be quite good value for local and international shipping, but prices took a real hike 2 or 3 years ago (was doing a lot of international sales at the time) to the point that charge were sometimes 1.5 to 2x that of courier companies. Much as I would like to and do support my local post office, it's not economic for larger items anymore, especially international. If you don't believe me, check prices from interparcel or parcel2go against those from PF. You will quite likely be horrified... shipping charges from RM have no bearing on you receiving packages from abroad. Royal mail and Parcel force are two separate entities. you are talking about resellers not courier companies

Regards,

Chris

now its quite simple.
that big white label stuck to every RM customs item carries a breakdown of the clearance fee and VAT/customs cuty on it
what did yours say?

http://www.crapple.net/2009/11/royal-mails-rip-off-customs-charges/



given you were "outraged" before. why haven't you looked at your options until you were charged again?
tell you what. if you can prove RM charges a variable clearance fee on international packages,rather than the £8 i say Royal Mail charge(as per the label in my link)
I'll pay your clearance fee

molerat

adastra wrote: »

Also, I particularly asked at the local office yesterday if the clearance fee was fixed and the man said no, it varies wih package value, so who's right ?.
Chris

The "clearance fee" as in total charges will vary with the contents and value but the "RM handling fee" is fixed. You need to ensure the RM employee understands (or even cares about) the question.