US import duty / tax

Plus the delivery charge that will be with the most expensive courier in the uk . Plus vat

20% Vat
8-10% Import Tax
Any other charges Parcelforce fancy adding on

I hope that the 2 months between @ObiWomKenobi asking and getting his answer wasn't too long a wait.

Why do people do this?

haha. to be clear its currently 20% VAT and 14% duty + any shipper charges

To be pedantic, the VAT is applicable on any shipping charges too - the domestic handling charge applied by Parcelforce etc... will probably have this included though.

Starting to think I should never order anything from the UK ever. ever. fucking waste of time and money as well.

Ordered from Evans end of August. Still not here, I am in Canada.
Tried the tracking number.
Parcel is bouncing around in Brazil. WTF????
And a couple of inquiries to Evans have gone unanswered.
They used to be okay, Evans, but have gone to hell now.

Oh dear

Oh dear oh dear

Oh deary deary me

What are we gonna do now?!

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ignore me, thread opened up a few pages back rather than the last one.

Would I incur import duty on second hand items bought from US based ebay seller?

Yes - expect to if the sender marks the package as having any value.

The import tax game and handling fees fracas is a lottery - some people get charged $$$$$ Some £0.

The only way to avoid is for the sender to mark as gift and value at $0, which, unles they’re a close friend, would be foolish as it voids any insurance or claim value for the item.

It’s now why a US eBay item costs 20- 40% more - they auto add import and handling, whereas previously this was left to chance and discretion.

Thanks. For clarity, are you saying the import duty is marked into the USD price if you are looking at a US listed item from the U.K. on eBay?

I’m looking at some spendy tub wheels with a BIN price.

Normally, you’ll see the BIN price, and then you’ll see a fuck load more added on for the “international forwarding centre” or whatever they’ve decided to call their money grabbing scheme for skimming off the top of whatever import duty and tax you may or may not pay as an importer to the UK.

Basically eCunts (eBay) have cleverly hedged their bets against the worst possibile scenario of you importing that product, charging the worst possible tax and handling, and then pocketing the difference. It’s like a gamble - only 90% of the time eBay win, yet give you no option to try and win yourself and will charge you that worst cast scenario tax.

That's just not how their global shipping program works.

They actually charge you less than Parcelforce would because they take advantage of your tax free element.

Yeah but it still prevents the possibility of not being charged the duties at all, which having ordered extensively from Japan, US, Switzerland etc has historically been a 50/50 chance of charges.

That was more of an educated presumption of how the global shipping program works, based on the fact they’re never going to do anything that purely benefits the customer if it doesn’t give themselves something in return, and they’re never going to risk not charging what could potentially be charged, which, from historic experience, seems to be completly inconsistent finger in the air guesswork.

It’s entirely possible that HMRC told ebay to stop facilitating smuggling and the global shipping centre is their response. I’d imagine this makes them the importer of record which means they’ll have to submit accurate invoices/etc with ‘correct’ HS codes to clear every parcel.
Edit: Evidenced by the lack of having to do it yourself when ordering through them.

Just won an auction on EBay US, thought given the competitive price it was worth paying up for the pricey international shipping, only to be stung with an import charge equivalent to about 30% of the items value. Had I known I wouldn’t have bid, so will probably cancel, just seems daft buyers can’t be made aware of the import charge in advance.

What did you think was going to happen?

Delivery by tax avoiding fairies

Well I’ve not purchased anything via eBays global shipping program before, but in general my understanding was that any import charges owed are due in the U.K., so when your item comes through UK customs it’s then any tax or duty is calculated and charged. At that stage it’s your postal service or courier who inform you and only release the goods when the bills been paid. So worst case I assumed I’d have to pay a further 20% reflecting U.K. VAT.

In the blurb on EBay it’s seems to say that their “import charges” don’t include your domestic customs charges, so what is it Ebay are charging for? Doesn’t that mean you could easily be double taxed? Regardless my main issue is that there was no forewarning about the extra charge or any way to estimate it on the listing. In the past on other listings there were delivery cost estimators where you enter your country and the shipping cost was calculated, why not the same for these import charges?
Is it really too much to ask to know what you’re going to be charged for something before you buy it?

So worst case I assumed I’d have to pay a further 20% reflecting U.K. VAT.

You pay VAT on the price of the goods, plus the cost of delivery, plus the Import duty (which varies, depending on item).

Plus any UK-side handling fees (which will already include VAT. So, you know, silver linings...)

The global shipping program should take care of everything though - it has when I've bought from the US.

Looking at buying a Paul Comp qr seatclamp. Can't find any uk or eu shops with it in stock so looks like it'd have to be direct from Paul in the US and pay the tax etc.

At $70 shipped I should get away with not paying duty right? But I'll be paying tax (20%) plus a handling fee of either £8 or £11.25, can't really tell, if it's Parcel Farce that deal with it.

I guess I'll also have to choose between Paypal bumping me with their conversion rate or a foreign currency fee if I paid by card.

Without worrying about that last part, it turns a £38 seatclamp into £71.68. Faaaaack.

After picking up a US parcel this morning which i paid £65 for, and being charged £25 import & fees, I got told by the post master that ANYTHING with a US origination regardless of value will get picked up and VAT charged.

Almost negates the benefit of buying anything from USA and getting it shipped thinking its “cheaper”