Customs/Postal Charges

Vulcan · 23 Mar 2012 at 15:58

NeilFawcett said:
Did they typically have value declaration on the outside?

Glaucus said:
Quite likely. But a lot are willing to fabricate.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they all had declarations on them which explains it. Fabrication of numbers only seems to happen if you buy from individuals or Asian companies, I've not known of American companies to do the same.

Glaucus · 23 Mar 2012 at 16:05

Longbow said:
, I've not known of American companies to do the same.

smaller places that you communicate with will do it. They aren't going to do it automatically by just ordering online though. Got a fair few car parts from America and non have been charged.

Even my rear bike brake disc got though almost £50 and heavy.

arknor · 23 Mar 2012 at 16:09

this hongkong company always makes me lol

Glaucus · 23 Mar 2012 at 16:10

Brilliant.

I bet theres T&C about post insurance only being the value you declare.

arknor · 23 Mar 2012 at 16:17

Glaucus said:
Brilliant.

I bet theres T&C about post insurance only being the value you declare.

nope just this
Lost parcels.

We do not consider a parcel lost until after we have filed a missing parcel report with the Hong Kong Postmaster. We can do this after 45 days.
countries such as Italy, France, Spain, Brazil and South Africa usually have extended wait times due to customs. However this is not common.
Once we have filed a missing parcel report and we have a response (no later than 60 days) from your countries postal authority, we can then replace your parcel. We will confirm with you on your address during this process.
We do not refund or replace parcels that did not arrive because they were not picked up in time or sent back to us and lost in transit or have the incorrect address.

by default its set to 30%

AzZ · 24 Mar 2012 at 02:13

You can declare goods by yourself and avoid the handling fees.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1082224979&type=RESOURCES

Lopéz · 24 Mar 2012 at 08:50

AzZ said:
You can declare goods by yourself and avoid the handling fees.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1082224979&type=RESOURCES

You can indeed but it requires full cooperation from the sender, who have to inform the courier they have chosen before they ship the goods, who in turn may not allow such procedures and put you back at square one.

If they are willing to do this, and some are, the important sentence from that page is this one:

However, as a manual procedure there could be a considerable delay in the receipt of your goods