Customs charges when buying from US

[linos 3]

Dear all. I have recently received three packages from the US, 2 reps and a crystal. One of the packages arrived no problem. The other two required a customs charge and courier handling fee. This can be quite irritating so I spoke to one of the parcel force guys about cuatoma charges. What he told me was quite interesting and if you don't already know useful when us Brits purchase via M2M from the US.

 

If a parcel is sent USPS priority shipping it generally gets passed on to Parcel-force. If it is claimed a good/merchandise then the declared value needs to be £15 or less otherwise will incur charges. If the parcel is claimed as a gift then you are allowed a declared value of up to £34 before being charged. Usually charge is 20% if declared value plus a handling charge.

 

If it is sent via he standard USPS method with low declared value this goes through Royal Mail and generally has no customs issues.

 

Hope this is helpful

[JohnG 41]

When buying large orders of buckles ($500 at a time) from China I ask them to ship China Post or Singapore Post, NEVER have issues with them, but I HAVE had customs issues with FedEx and to a lesser extent EMS. I am located in Spain. The Fedex package was in Sept, for a ton of NATO rings, only $120 and declared value of $50 and I STILL had issues.

[black263 228]

Problem is that the "value" of £15/£34 includes the shipping charge. If you factor that in, pretty well everything you buy is going to be subject to a charge. And, I've been charged as little as £1 in VAT in the past, plus a £15 processing fee. DHL seems to be the worst for this. I've paid charges to them on everything I've bought from overseas.

[JimboJames1972 0]

I bought an Ollech &Wajs watch a week or so back from the US. The sender (an authorised dealer) sent it via USPS and declared it as "Watch Parts" because it was jus the watch head, no strap or box etc. They also declared its value a bit under what they billed me for.

 

I still got hit for customs charges, but I knew roughly what to expect and had factored these additions into my budget for the watch when I placed the order. As it turned out I was charged less for importing so I ended up better off that I had expected.

 

Happy days :-) J

 

PS. I have also recently bought a few watch items from France (EU member country) and Switzerland (non-EU country). Neither included any import duties. The items from France I was not expecting any charges for, but I was surprised and relieved not to have to pay any extras for the Swiss items.

[black263 228]

I bought an Ollech &Wajs watch a week or so back from the US. The sender (an authorised dealer) sent it via USPS and declared it as "Watch Parts" because it was jus the watch head, no strap or box etc. They also declared its value a bit under what they billed me for.

 

I still got hit for customs charges, but I knew roughly what to expect and had factored these additions into my budget for the watch when I placed the order. As it turned out I was charged less for importing so I ended up better off that I had expected.

 

Happy days :-) J

 

PS. I have also recently bought a few watch items from France (EU member country) and Switzerland (non-EU country). Neither included any import duties. The items from France I was not expecting any charges for, but I was surprised and relieved not to have to pay any extras for the Swiss items.

 

That's because the customs union is not restricted to the EU but includes all countries that have signed up to the Schengen agreement. Although Switzerland isn't EU it is a Schengen signatory.