You cannot ship goods from outside the EU to inside the EU without a commercial invoice. The main exception to that is documents, which require no invoices.
So that plan doesn't work.
Parcelfarce and customs charge :(
- Thread starter ElectroBlaster
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You cannot ship goods from outside the EU to inside the EU without a commercial invoice. The main exception to that is documents, which require no invoices.
So that plan doesn't work.
Cumpulsory for goods that are not in free circulation. Any goods going out of or in to the EU from a non EU member basically.
By invoice I'm referring to the document shipped with the item from the retailer, not the customs declaration which anyone can fabricate.
If HMRC decide to check the contents against the invoice an are not satisfied the invoice is truthful, they can levy an amount of duty they feel is appropriate and you'll have to pay that instead.
I would have thought if you were importing anything you'd first check how you might be affected. Surely you wouldn't just think that its not ever going to cost any more? everyone would do it al the time.
FYI, in my experience i get stung less from Hong Kong than the USA.
FYI, in my experience i get stung less from Hong Kong than the USA.
Of course but the difficulty of that is virtually impossible in cases of unique items such as works of art, or niche items which aren't popular enough for HMRC to be knowledgeable about. Which is what a lot of people are ordering because they aren't available in the EU. Other items such as hardware can be classed as second hand to reduce the fee or as a cheap model, I doubt HMRC check the model of every gpu and cpu they come across.
Deleted member 66701
Deleted member 66701
I used to advise the HMRC - they just google it.
No offense but where do you get these statistics? I worked in customs imports for a multinational courier, I did approximately 1,000 custom declarations a week which would treble in the month up to Christmas. Works of art were a miniscule quantity of what we did, and I mean miniscule. The majority of stuff I would actually say were clothing if you ignore corporate imports.
I'm sure the majority is clothing but I never said most, I said a lot of art + niche items, considering how many items are shipped even 1% is going to be a huge number of items.
Google what? Assuming the model number on the cpu heatsink has been obscured you're going to have to put it into a motherboard to determine the model and prime 95 it to determine that it isn't faulty as the sender may label it.
How does it work then? Which package do you decide to charge?
The last 3 packages I've had from Yankyland, I'm pretty sure only 2 of them got charged. And I have another one on the way...
Even 1% would be a huge over-estimation in my experience. However, customs are perfectly able to seize goods, and not release until they get satisfactory information. For smaller works of art they most probably wouldn't, but then what's the max price that will be, say £1,000? 5% VAT is only £50 on that so not a big deal. For truly high price goods, where the VAT actually mattered HMRC would happily seize and hold to ensure they get the correct amounts.
Also, as a side note, I have seen and endured the irritation of HMRC seizing ALL goods from certain shippers. There was one time where goods were coming in from Hong Kong, may have been Half Life 2 goods, and HMRC literally stopped everything and anything and launched an investigation into the prices. And this was for items in the region of £30.
My point is, don't assume that HMRC won't make the effort, they will, and they do. Commit fraud at your own risk.
Slightly OT but I seem to recall now in a similar thread you said you were getting charged the full 17.5% on your works of art. If you see that in the future and the artwork is original refuse to pay as you've been overcharged (doesn't apply to copies).
Everything over £18 gets seen by someone and has an entry made. Essentially it's up to the individual how they enter it. I tended to be quite generous if I saw the word "gift" unless it came from a company in which case I was not allowed to enter as a gift (don't know if it's changed but then a "gift" had to be individual to individual).
Although I never bothered getting payment up front. I was always nice like that.
My only one vice I had was refusing to clear porn and sending it off to customs to check. They have to view it then to make sure it was allowable in the UK. My good deed for the day I always thought
Oh I know, the UK government would probably murder for one pence.
They weren't originals they were prints, the originals cost over £10k
. Luckily most artwork I commission is digital which is outside of HMRC's scope.
For the sake of 26 pence i get charged custom duty and handling fee of £11.76
The item with shipping included came to £18.26, it was a birthday present.
if it wasn't bad enough getting older now i have to pay tax and customs for my own birthday present.
My other parcel from play asia comes to £18.52 i wonder if i'll get another £11 charge.
The item with shipping included came to £18.26, it was a birthday present.
if it wasn't bad enough getting older now i have to pay tax and customs for my own birthday present.My other parcel from play asia comes to £18.52 i wonder if i'll get another £11 charge.
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For the sake of 26 pence i get charged custom duty and handling fee of £11.76
The item with shipping included came to £18.26, it was a birthday present.
Should have said it was a gift, for yourself....
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This.
You have to pay customs charges. Unless the evilbay seller marks the item as about 15/20 quid. A seller did that for me recently. I didn't ask, but it was basically because she would rather the business from America to the Uk, than not at all she said. And at the end of the day if it goes missing, it's them out of pocket, not you as they still need to refund (if you have paid by paypal of course)
Parcelfarce have given me sleepless nights in the past, but not with customs.
On the many, many things I've had imported over the years, I've never been stung Import duty.
IT is however a risk you take and something you have to be prepared for when you eventually get her majesties customs and excise demanding money with menaces because you want to see Iron man 2 a week early or some other nonsense.
IT is however a risk you take and something you have to be prepared for when you eventually get her majesties customs and excise demanding money with menaces because you want to see Iron man 2 a week early or some other nonsense.