Amazon hidden customs charges

wesleyad

Hi guys,

I know customs charges are for the buyer to pay, I accept that and am happy (ish) to pay when I know they are coming.

My problem is I bought some goods off amazon, the price was in pounds, the delivery pounds, the description in English. There is nothing to suggest the product its not coming from the the UK. However its been held up for VAT charges. I am struggling to see how there is any way I could possibly have known this charge would be levied. The only thing on page that's not English is the manufacturer name, but that's normal as its the brand.

Some other searches say that Amazon will warn you when you attempt to buy but his didn't happen and I just tried a test transition and nothing appears.

Should Amazon be warning in this situation or is it just a question of side searching every buyer?

lisyloo

Are you able to put a link up?

sheramber

Was this a marketplace purchase?

born_again

Which Amazon site?

Sandtree

Its the sidebar that is key and checking firstly who its sold and dispatched by, on this case its clearly from the US but in other cases you may want to click onto the seller to double check where they are based.

When it is the likes of Amazon it will also often have some warning text about the spec potentially being different however if its from the EU or a third party then this text doesn't always appear.

nyermen

Like Amazon EU is from europe, i'd say Amazon US is clear its the states.  And if its Amazon not a marketplace (or even fulfilled by)
That said - the size of amazon, it's a bit silly that they're not sorting out any customs charges themselves.  I wonder if this is an error?  I've had a number of items from Amazon EU without any duty due. (in fact in many cases, the item could be available from UK or EU amazon, depending on which "seller" you happen to get when picking the item).

bris

We need a link to the item, it will tell if you have a case. 

theoretica

How much did you pay?  I think the import tax rules change at £135. 

I am sure some sellers give Amazon false information about where the item is.

Sandtree

nyermen said:

That said - the size of amazon, it's a bit silly that they're not sorting out any customs charges themselves.  I wonder if this is an error? 

They do for any order under £135 irrespective if its from Amazon themselves or Marketplace which is what the law requires the likes of Amazon and eBay to do.

To do so for orders over £135 would become complicate for Marketplace where Amazon aren't dealing with the delivery. They could do it for their own sales or marketplace sales where they do the delivery but that then adds more confusion for people really and potentially messes up sales because people see the cheaper marketplace vendor delivery items and dont factor in that for those taxes have to be paid whereas the higher priced Amazon delivered is an all inclusive price.