Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

@Mods: I searched for a related thread, but couldn't find anything that wasn't locked re. Brexit or UK/EU politics ... but I have a feeling there was something recently ... please move if necessary.

I'm not ranting, just a bit nonplussed. And totally pi**ed off...

I recently placed an order with Bombshell Miniatures to try and emulate (blatantly steal) McGibs' amazing Explorator Primaris marines concept as seen here: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/759068.page#10031668

Ordered the helmets plus a little robot (tiny mini, nothing dreadnaughtesque).
Order total: $11.99 USD + $9.99 USD = $21.98 USD
Plus $14.80 USD for shipping (which I think is astronomical, but it is what it is...).

Service and information from Bombshell BTW were absolutely top notch!

Just got a card from Royal Mail, notifying me that I have to pay £13.32 for fething customs!?!?! WTseriouslyF?
What for? Why? How is this charge even remotely justified? I've already paid more than half the order value for shipping. And it's not like this is gonna be a huge parcel. Why do I have to pay an additional $17.40 USD.

I mean, I'm obviously gonna pay it ... I want the stuff ... but ... guess this is a bit of a rant after all.

It's happened to me a few times - last time was from Iron Wind Metals (battlemechs).

It depends how much they declared on the customs form (over £15 you're taxed), and Royal Mail charge an £8 handling fee.

I know. It's an outrage.

The problem is the very small limit of value you can bring in tax free. I think it's about £18.

If you do go over the limit, the shipping cost is added to the value of money you have to pay the duty on. Even then, the real outrage is the "handling fee" of £8 to £10 that the Royal Mail or courier adds to your bill for the wonderful service of charging you £4.

There isn't a guaranteed way around this.

They used not to be so strict, and you could receive quite a proportion of packages without being caught.

However they have got a lot stricter in the past few years, I think partly because the actual cost of running the service has been shifted entirely on to the end user. Otherwise it wouldn't be worth spending £8 to receive £4 tax.

Yep been there - bloody annoying.

Yeah it used to be that customs sent you a letter and you had to pay customs directly, these days Royal Mail and a lot of other mail services will pay the customs fee themselves, they will then put the cost of that onto you as well as a handling fee for having paid for you (even though you can't get away from them paying it for your most times).

It does tend to speed things up since its direct with the postal service rather than customs, however it does mean that you get stung for a higher import cost, esp if you've not imported that much and thus, say £8 becomes quite a significant part of the cost.

Also the shipping cost doesn't have any real effect on customs unless you pay for your import fee as part of the shipping fee.

When a package is assessed for VAT, they only check if the package value is over the threshold. If it is, though, then the VAT is payable on the package and postage.

@everyone: thanks guys, at least now I know I'm not being singled out

Is this a UK-only thing? I spent the past ten years in Japan, where I didn't need/want to order anything from overseas.

Before that, I lived in Germany, and ordered quite a lot of (relatively) high-value garage kits from US makers on Starship Modeller ... never had a problem with customs though, despite some items costing several hundred dollars...

Sometimes if you order through some sites the custom charge is paid for you; eg I believe that can happen through ebay - you might pay a bit more up front but the customs are done already when the order reaches customs.

However all countries charge customs on imports, however what the threshold is, what the tax bands are and how diligent they are at monitoring what comes in and out will vary.

 War Drone wrote:
@everyone: thanks guys, at least now I know I'm not being singled out

Is this a UK-only thing? I spent the past ten years in Japan, where I didn't need/want to order anything from overseas.

Before that, I lived in Germany, and ordered quite a lot of (relatively) high-value garage kits from US makers on Starship Modeller ... never had a problem with customs though, despite some items costing several hundred dollars...

It might also be *ahem* how they packaged the product and the wording used on package (for example a repair item) or classing it as negligible value items. Customs do rely on the correct paperwork being attached to goods. It's completely illegal of course (and hence not being suggested) and can invalidate insurance costs but then some might take that risk from the extra sales that generates.

Other countries might also have more lenient value thresholds. For example something that goes through (just arbitrary example) Spain with a higher threshold could then be shipped to Germany without any further questions. The advantage of being in a customs union....

One way around it is to have a brother who's married an American girl and lives in the US, and get the US items shipped to him, and he sends them to the UK as "gifts".

Another way is to be married to a Japanese wife, and get the stuff shipped to your mother in law and persuade your wife to bring it back on one of her annual trips to Japan.

However these are somwhat long-term and roundabout strategies.

Being more realistic, the only thing I can recommend is to club together with some pals, and make a big order, because the postage and handling fee is then spread among you all.

"nonplussed" this is the first time I read this, is it some kind of British word ?
Why are you paying customs, the UK is still part of the EU ?

 godardc wrote:
"nonplussed" this is the first time I read this, is it some kind of British word ?
Why are you paying customs, the UK is still part of the EU ?

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nonplussed

The OP was paying customs on stuff he ordered from the US, as far as I understand it.

Bombshell is in the USA so that's why customs wants it's pot of gold

current rules are

goods over £15 (or gifts over £39) are liable to VAT (20% in the UK)

you also (in theory) pay VAT on the shipping cost but that seems a bit more hit or miss

and then when you get to £135+ you also get charged whatever customs duty is charged on they type of goods your importing (0% on books which is why its often worth a separate order for just them, 4.7% on boardgames & I can't find a rate for minis, but I seem to remember it's different dependant on whether they're of humans or other things)

annoying but fair enough as it does pay for running the country

but then we come to the bit that really hurts, the postal service company will charge you for the privilege of paying these taxes, £8 if it comes in via Royal Mail, and more if it comes in via a courier (fedex is one of the most expensive at £12 or 2.5% whatever is more)

which is why small purchases from abroad suck. You want to keep them under £15 (no tax but the proportionate shipping fee will hurt)

or try and get as close to £125 so you pay your 20%VAT, but the collection charge is as small a proportion of your costs as possible (never go for £135 as a change in exchange rate between when you order and when the goods arrive can tip you into customs duty threshold)

 Kilkrazy wrote:
One way around it is to have a brother who's married an American girl and lives in the US, and get the US items shipped to him, and he sends them to the UK as "gifts".

Just FYI this isn't a catch all solution, it just has a slightly more generous allowance for VAT (£36.)

IDK if the same. But in Australia we didn't pay import fees for anything under $1000, now everything we import we pay GST on (is 10%). I recon if the laws are changed is cause the country needs the money. If we need the money that badly, who cares, may as well pay it.

It's how it's always been.

You don't get charged if the item is used or of lower value.

For future reference: https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad

In the last year I ordered a book from the US that cost ~£25 and came through royal mail and wasn't charged anything extra for it. I also bought ~£15 (not including postage) of stuff from the blizzard store (before there was an EU one) and I got a £20 charge from FedEx for the customs and handling. As others have said, it all depends on the amount you've spent, what you've bought, how they've labelled the packaging, and how much the company that's delivering it charges for handling.

 Overread wrote:
Yeah it used to be that customs sent you a letter and you had to pay customs directly, these days Royal Mail and a lot of other mail services will pay the customs fee themselves, they will then put the cost of that onto you as well as a handling fee for having paid for you (even though you can't get away from them paying it for your most times).

It does tend to speed things up since its direct with the postal service rather than customs, however it does mean that you get stung for a higher import cost, esp if you've not imported that much and thus, say £8 becomes quite a significant part of the cost.

Also the shipping cost doesn't have any real effect on customs unless you pay for your import fee as part of the shipping fee.

Yeah, you used to get a slip to pay from customs before they item was sent on to you. Now Royal Mail, without any sort of agreement from you, are now allowed to pay that on your behalf and then demand it from you as well as slapping their silly handling fee on top, or they sit on your mail. Farcical. Extortion pure and simple. I’m happy to pay a customs charge, I’m not happy about paying a “handling fee” to a middleman who holds it ransom, when postage has already been paid.