Royal Mail £8 Internal Post Handling Fee scam?

mattyprice4004

acmp wrote: »

I've just been stung by this. If I had chosen for Royal Mail to process this for me it would have been fine, but I didn't have a say in it. I was informed that I owed them £8 and if I don't pay then I won't get my goods.

This is simply demanding money with menace. I can't see another view for it.

If HMRC contacted me (they have my details, they are on the packet) then I could pay them or CHOOSE to let a 3rd party handle it for me. But this is not the case sadly.

I doubt I will get anywhere with a complaint, but that is what I am going to do.

You did have a say in it, you just didn't know what you were doing.

So you expect HMRC to contact you, wait while you decide what to do, and then pass the parcel to whichever method you choose? Who pays for the contact, storage of parcel, time taken sorting it etc?
Here's another view to it (as you put it) - blind naivety.

acmp

Mattyprice, thanks for your considerate input. Perhaps you could spend a little time brushing up on your helpfulness though, before you offend someone. After all, this forum is susposed to be about helping each other, and not shooting down the noobs.

Remember, if you have nothing nice to say...

shaun_from_Africa

acmp wrote: »

After all, this forum is susposed to be about helping each other, and not shooting down the noobs.

Remember, if you have nothing nice to say...

How is telling someone only what they want to hear actually helping them?
Pointing out an error or omission in someone's thoughts or actions can often be more helpful than simply agreeing with a person just to try to keep them happy.

acmp

Shaun,

If there had been some useful content then I would have let it go, but there simply wasn't any.

I did post on how to get around the Royal Mail charge, by completing the HMRC forms, and this will hopefully help others. But name calling and unhelpful comments speculating on what HMRC may or may not do in a fictitious scenario do nothing to move the conversation forward.

ciderImbiber did have helpful and useful comments to make, and there were taken on board by me.

TDnTDE

Just signed up to state my issue

I ordered 2 small items from eBay UK last month (cable pants) listed by a business seller in the USA.

The price of the items I wanted was 60p each, and I ordered 2, postage was £15.89 to the UK, and seeing as I've not been able to find these items anywhere else online I decided to go for it.

Yesterday I got a card through the door from Royal Mail demanding £16.35 in Customs charges / Handing fees.

I've had a look over the HMRC website and they state that any items with a value under £15 are exempt from Customs duty & Import VAT.

Obviously I need to pay before and work out the issue after, so I will be paying for and picking up the package tomorrow, but I'm pretty unhappy about having to pay double my original fee, I wasn't happy paying postage in the first place

Thanks for any advice! I've never dealt with this type of thing before.

doveman

TDnTDE wrote: »

Just signed up to state my issue

I ordered 2 small items from eBay UK last month (cable pants) listed by a business seller in the USA.

The price of the items I wanted was 60p each, and I ordered 2, postage was £15.89 to the UK, and seeing as I've not been able to find these items anywhere else online I decided to go for it.

Yesterday I got a card through the door from Royal Mail demanding £16.35 in Customs charges / Handing fees.

I've had a look over the HMRC website and they state that any items with a value under £15 are exempt from Customs duty & Import VAT.

Obviously I need to pay before and work out the issue after, so I will be paying for and picking up the package tomorrow, but I'm pretty unhappy about having to pay double my original fee, I wasn't happy paying postage in the first place

Thanks for any advice! I've never dealt with this type of thing before.

I believe the £15 limit applies to the total order value, including shipping, so unfortunately I think you'll have to pay 20% VAT on that, plus the RM £8 handling charge but I'm not sure how they've calculated £16.35.

TDnTDE

Thanks for that quick reply!

I'll make sure to get that £16.35 figure queried then, should I do that down the delivery office when I pay for/collect the item or is there a better route to take?

Scarpacci

If the items were just £1.20 then there should not be a customs charge. The limit at £15 is on the value of the goods, excluding shipping and insurance. It's only when you cross that limit that the shipping and insurance charges are included in the total when assessed for VAT & duty.

If this was caused by the seller mistakenly filling in the customs form it might be harder to query, but you should look in to this as it looks like you've been overcharged.

doveman

Scarpacci wrote: »

If the items were just £1.20 then there should not be a customs charge. The limit at £15 is on the value of the goods, excluding shipping and insurance. It's only when you cross that limit that the shipping and insurance charges are included in the total when assessed for VAT & duty.

If this was caused by the seller mistakenly filling in the customs form it might be harder to query, but you should look in to this as it looks like you've been overcharged.

Ah, that's interesting as I always understood that the £15 limit was including shipping, not that the goods had to be valued at £15+ before VAT was payable and then the VAT was charged on the total order value, including shipping.

toerags

I to have fallen foul of the £8 handling charge <SPIT>

On eBay I ordered stuff from Singapore, free postage. Normally I would stay away from international sellers but decided to give the guy a shot. I got the RM card through the letterbox stating I need to pay £13.49...£8 of which was the handling fee.... what an effin' liberty :mad:! These charges negated the good deal I had on the purchase. I decided to bite the bullet and cough up the £££s.

Anyway....I've contacted my seller to inform him that he might want to provide info in his eBay listings about these extra charges for the benefit of future UK buyers. Completely unexpected I received a $20 PayPal refund from him as a goodwill gesture! and he thanked me for letting him know about the customs charges. What a guy! He's paid postage and compensates me for the £8 fee I have to pay.

James (my seller) You have restored my faith in humanity and made me ashamed of hm revenue & customs, and royal mail (lower case intended!)