Stung by Customs

[JamesM]

The value of the goods has to have the postage or delivery charge added before VAT is applied. This is also true for inland purchases.

When ordering from the states, I either place an order that comes to just under £18 or I go way over that value (above £90) to reduce the impact of the £8 handling fee charged by the post office.

[Modular]

Originally Posted by Steve Crook Then you don't get the parcel! I don't know what would then happen to it, if it would be returned to the sender. I've never refused to pay the fees.

Neither have I. Mind you, the bigger couriers tend to deliver the item regardless, and then send one a seperate invoice for the amount due.

Originally Posted by Steve Crook The person sending it can't pre-pay it.

Individuals can't, but companies certainly can. Most of the Channel Island based DVD suppliers pre-pay the duty on goods over £18.

[spliffy]

The thing to do here, if you can, is to speak to your supplier and come to an 'arrangement'.
Try and get them to split the discs over two or more packages.
If the company is a small one, and you can make contact with somebody there personally, you can arrange for them to remove the shrink-wrap. The goods then become second-hand (the value can drop by half) and can be sent as a 'gift' quite legitimately (well...almost !).

[smudge]

Originally Posted by spliffy The thing to do here, if you can, is to speak to your supplier and come to an 'arrangement'. Try and get them to split the discs over two or more packages. If the company is a small one, and you can make contact with somebody there personally, you can arrange for them to remove the shrink-wrap. The goods then become second-hand (the value can drop by half) and can be sent as a 'gift' quite legitimately (well...almost !).

You should be very careful with such arrangements.

Although the seller physically renders the item description, it is the importer who has legal responsibility for any declaration made within a business contract. HMRC can still render the receiver liable for any tax, duties or (in a big enough 'risk' scenario) penalty.

Smudge

[AdrianTurner]

I have been importing R1 DVDs for years and got hit by HMRC for the first time last month, on copies of L'Avventura (boring boring boring) and La Notte (bit scared of seeing that now). About £3 tax plus the Post Office's handling charge of £8. I am incredibly heartened, though, that while there are people in the HMRC who lose a few million personal details on a couple of CDs, there are still some diligent employees who spend hours of their time in tracking down contrabandistas like me who seek to damage the economy of the UK by importing arthouse claptrap by Antonioni. Makes you proud to be British, doesn't it?

[orpheum]

Now when i buy any dvds from the states i just buy 1 or 2 at a time to avoid any problems with customs.

[BristolUK]

Of course, one could just accept that the price is so much less than the UK - or the item is just not available in the UK - that the extra is worth it.

A couple of years before I left England, I ordered some CDs from the USA and including all extra costs, the total was still less than half what I'd have paid in England.

Now I live in Canada I still see disrepancies. I just received some CDs from Amazon.com. The total was $45 whereas the same CDs from Amazon.ca would have been $60.

Now here's the funny part. They were mailed from within Canada.

[dremble wedge]

Originally Posted by AdrianTurner I have been importing R1 DVDs for years and got hit by HMRC for the first time last month, on copies of L'Avventura (boring boring boring) and La Notte (bit scared of seeing that now). About £3 tax plus the Post Office's handling charge of £8. I am incredibly heartened, though, that while there are people in the HMRC who lose a few million personal details on a couple of CDs, there are still some diligent employees who spend hours of their time in tracking down contrabandistas like me who seek to damage the economy of the UK by importing arthouse claptrap by Antonioni. Makes you proud to be British, doesn't it?

That's the spirit! Let's bring down HMRC by the medium of arthouse cinema!