Customs Letter

[chrishil1]

dreaded customs letter arrived this morning from parcelfarce.

paid £8 for frame and £20 delivery from us - took 8weeks to get here.

now I get the letter.....

you owe us £11.95 vat and £8.00 clearance fees = £19.95 in total

Is this about right, or could I claim some of the £20 back? or would they charge me more for importing a bike frame?
Told the seller to put the true value on box when sending.... ie £8

Why do we put up with this country?

[pickle]

from what others have said that sounds about right??  what frame was it for £8??

[harris]

handling charge , i usualy get slapped with similar charges  .

[Webdawg]

The Cusoms charge you wont get away from and it's pretty near to the true cost.

VAT at £11.95, pm me some details, i work in freight and that seems nutty for an £8 bike

[2020mad]

from what others have said that sounds about right??  what frame was it for £8??

   probley a burner 

[chrishil1]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180112681942

mongoose fs-1

So £20 sounds about right?

[kdw712]

that does seem a bit steep for something so cheap even with inc the shipping costs
esp when lots of peeps get new school redline cranks shipped over and pay nothing extra

[Frosty]

sounds like they have misread the value because that level of customs charge would equate to a value including shipping (as that is charged too) of £67 - something is definately wrong

[SaMAlex]

They usually do include the shipping charge. They charge you on a percentage of the VALUE + SHIPPING!

It still seems tight that they bothered to charge you for an £8 item.

[chrishil1]

my mistake, i misread it.

The charges are

import £0
excise £0
vat £11.95
other £0
Parcelforce Clearance Fee £8.00

total £19.95

so just got the vat from customs, the £8 is the parcelforce charges and paperwork.
(as per man at depo - I called them up)

But as you say vat 17.5% would equate to value around £67
when it really was $54 inc postage - around £28

may email them when it turns up tomorrow.

[jimwise68]

Hit and miss, I have found.

Had a $200 frame land and get hit with duty, following week got @250 wheels and nothing   

I always ask the seller to list it as a gift and label it as child's bicycle parts.

[Bananaman]

I have one better than that, had some decals yesterday with a customs sticker saying £15 charge VAT and handling but they posted it anyway

Had the shitta today, a seat arrived which will remain nameless for now with £26 on which I have had to pay

[Frosty]

would that be the 5 gold (I think that is it) for a DBHL??