Parcelfarce and customs charge :(

Strife212 said:
They charge you £13 for the service of taking a week to pay the tax on your behalf though.
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Parcelforce have almost no control of how long it takes to clear your parcel. Their deferment account with HMRC means the item "clears" (in principal, from a financial perspective) immediately.
 
Why does UPS clear their stuff instantly then? I'm not sure exactly what it is but anything that requires a tax payment with parcelforce takes an absoloute age to be delivered to the depot.
 
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I had a typical "we tried to deliver but you weren't there" yesterday.

I ordered a wedding album for a client, I had it delivered to work, watching the status online now and again and it changed to:

"Delivery Attempted"

???

What?

Went to reception - "No parcel for you Raymond"
Went to the lobby - "No parcel here either"

Called up Parcel Force

"The status is delivery attempted" says the guy.

So I said "That is impossible, this building opens 24 hours a day, there are 2 receptions in my office, 2 receptionist/security guy on the front desk, your guy clearly never turned up"

He says "it appears that the company name is missing from the address label, so the driver didn't know which company in the building to do to."

So I am thinking.....right.....pointless arguing with him, i remember putting it in on the delivery address box.

Called up my printers who says "Yup, the company name is on there"

Waited today, it turned up, and guess what? My company name is on the address label.

Bunch of liars.
 
Strife212 said:
Why does UPS clear their stuff instantly then? I'm not sure exactly what it is but anything that requires a tax payment with parcelforce takes an absoloute age to be delivered to the depot.
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It depends really on where the goods came from.

Generally speaking some shippers have access to departmental freight clearance & duty collection system called CHIEF - Customs Handling of Import Export Frieght. Or use a duty agent.

They in effect make the customs declaration themself, others either interface with the local Entry Processing Units 'EPU' or post off manual declarations to be processed by the department.

Given recent office closures, there is now generally not the option to use EPUs so its CHIEF access through NES or post it to a centralised unit.

The declaration for import or export is known as a C88, or a AAD/SAD.

It's all boring Customs ****. But that's proper imports though.
 
last time i bought from the states it was 2 bulbs for a rear projection tv
cost here was £300 each got 2 for £250
then got stung for another £48 in customs/handeling charges paid up as it was still far cheaper than buying from the uk
 
SpazzyCazzy said:
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.
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I purchased off an american ebay seller recently 4 snes games about $55 worth, they marked it gift and the value £8 :D thankyou goldrush pawn.

Another company marked it merchandise for $65 and i got £15 customs charges that includes i believe the £8 that royal mail charge which is fair enough on the $65 purchase.
 
MrMoonX said:
it generally only ever works out cheaper to buy from the usa, if you dont get caught for VAT and customs
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Rubbish, I bought loads of stuff from the US and other countries where the item, (or equivalent if the item is not available here), worked out cheaper even with VAT/Customs/Courier Service charge added.

Yes it is better if you are not charged but being charged doesn't mean it necessarily isn't still worth it ...
 
Lopéz said:
Various couriers charge various amounts for the handling charge. You are paying for the luxury of the consignment being cleared quickly under Parcelforces deferment account with HMRC. £8 is actually quite cheap, some companies do charge more than this.
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This: We have just had a package arrive at work from China and to pay

Import servicing Fee: £76.48
Handling Fee: £90
Agency Fee:£83.50
Uk port secuiry Fee: £3.50
I CAF £36.00
Customs Clearance: £50
Customs Duty: £159.22

So £8 is cheap!

As already said, it's the gamble you take ordering from abroad. Some shipper put RMA or gift on the packages and sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.

I used to import loads of stuff from the States and would be hit about 1 in 4 times for import vat/duty plus handling. I always made sure what I was buying was still always cheaper with these charges on.

Of course, when I didn't get charged, they were a bargain.
 
So thats what... 4% - 5%?

Damn, still sounds like a helluva lot of money to just add on top, bloody fee's!
 
The VAT was the biggest thing.

Yeah, we roughly base all our import costs on roughly 15% once you include shipping costs and all handling fees.

If it's still cheaper then you buy. In this case, the cheapest UK price was £48,000 so £12,000 plus 15% is a very good deal.

In fact it bugs me that we can buy stuff from China which is better quality and have it shipped over here, pay all the charges and still only end up paying a quarter of buying the UK version.

But that's cheap labour for you.
 
I've seen people thinking they were clever and buying whole car bodykits from japan because they'd save a few £100's. Then get stung with the import taxes. Ouch!

My rules is always account for the extra tax and if it gets through without it then that's some free beer monies :)
 
memyselfandi said:
Rubbish, I bought loads of stuff from the US and other countries where the item, (or equivalent if the item is not available here), worked out cheaper even with VAT/Customs/Courier Service charge added.

Yes it is better if you are not charged but being charged doesn't mean it necessarily isn't still worth it ...
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I don't think he was saying "in every case".
But in the vast majority of cases, if you add import tax and VAT onto a US imported item it's usually not worth the hassle.
Especially if the item isn't covered by a full international warranty.
 
Biohazard said:
It depends really on where the goods came from.

Generally speaking some shippers have access to departmental freight clearance & duty collection system called CHIEF - Customs Handling of Import Export Frieght. Or use a duty agent.

They in effect make the customs declaration themself, others either interface with the local Entry Processing Units 'EPU' or post off manual declarations to be processed by the department.

Given recent office closures, there is now generally not the option to use EPUs so its CHIEF access through NES or post it to a centralised unit.

The declaration for import or export is known as a C88, or a AAD/SAD.

It's all boring Customs ****. But that's proper imports though.
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Same goes for most courier imports too, goes via CHIEF. Most stuff is express cleared on a bulk entry anyway. Of course for a lot of things the item doesn't even need to be in the country yet to clear - lots of our Swiss material clears at 2 or 3am.
 
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