A question about Import vat /customs duty

*Rainbow*Warrior*

I wonder if anyone could please advise on these charges?

My daughter has bought a pop group headband for a concert. She bought it through ebay from a seller in South Korea. The item cost £18.57 with free shipping, so total cost £18.57.

We've had notification of customs charges as follows:

Import VAT £38.56
Customs Duty £5.07
Handling Fee £8.00

Total £51.63

I know you have to pay duty / vat on items worth over £15 but surely these costs are excessive? £51.63 charges on an item costing £18.57. I read that import vat should be 20% so that would be about £3.71 not £38.

I know we can dispute the charge, I found a form online. But since we haven't paid the charges yet, i wanted to ask first if people think the charges are likely to be correct, or if I'm likely to get a refund?

dj1471

No that's clearly not right, it's likely the value has been incorrectly declared by the sender.

soolin

dj1471 wrote: »

No that's clearly not right, it's likely the value has been incorrectly declared by the sender.

I agree, it definitely sounds like seller has over declared the value. I have no idea though how easy getting a refund is.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

Thanks. I found a claim form online, it looks like I will have to submit it by post along with the label and proof of the item cost. My concern is that they will find some new regulation I'm not aware of and say it's valid, and of course by then it will be too late. But I'll give it a go anyway.

Thanks for the replies!

ballisticbrian

Can you see on the CN22 label on the parcel what they declared the value as?

soolin

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Can you see on the CN22 label on the parcel what they declared the value as?

It sounds like they just have the bill so far.

OP, it is usually something like a misunderstanding of currency, so they have declared in a currency other than sterling and either omitted to preface it with the correct symbol or it is unreadable.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

Haven't picked it up yet, I'm still waiting for the RM card as I'm not sure I can collect it without that. I know I can pay online but my daughter is hoping we will get the card delivered today and can collect it this afternoon.

Emily_Joy

If it was China, not South Korea, it would have been easier to explain. The exchange rate Chinese Yuan to British pound is about 10:1...

*Rainbow*Warrior*

Update - when we picked it up there was already a note on saying Customs had made a mistake! They charged £11 not £51.

Just a shame they didn't update the RM website with that info because we were in two minds whether to collect it at all, or let it get returned to the seller!

On a side note, does anyone know (or suspect) that Customs flags certain addresses? We've ordered quite a few things from overseas and lately it seems everything gets held up in Customs, while my daughter's friends have their stuff sent straight through with no delays. I wonder if they've flagged us as repeat purchasers likely to incur charges?

soolin

*Rainbow*Warrior* wrote: »

Update - when we picked it up there was already a note on saying Customs had made a mistake! They charged £11 not £51.

Just a shame they didn't update the RM website with that info because we were in two minds whether to collect it at all, or let it get returned to the seller!

On a side note, does anyone know (or suspect) that Customs flags certain addresses? We've ordered quite a few things from overseas and lately it seems everything gets held up in Customs, while my daughter's friends have their stuff sent straight through with no delays. I wonder if they've flagged us as repeat purchasers likely to incur charges?

It is possible as in these days of everything being computerised they might trigger a watch if they note a pattern.

However it might be random, I buy a fair bit from overseas, as do my OH and sons, we seem to go through periods where everything is stopped, even packages marked (correctly) at say £18 which always seems harsh when RM or a courier charge such a large handling fee. However other times we seem to go for months and months with nothing being stopped even on some high declared values.