Importation - Charges by HMRC

Never been stung yet, but I tend only to by small bits and pieces from abroad.  Three packages turned up today, total less that £10, so I would tell RM where to stick their tax if they tried to collect from me.

 
Polluxtroy69 said:
Surely we shouldn't be held to ransom by parcel force though. It should come to Customs. I should get a bill for the tax, pay that then it gets released and it's on it's way.

At no point have I said I would like to pay parcel force for the privilege of paying my tab then charging me triple for doing it. 

Obviously I'm going to pay it but the  point to this is that it's a piss take that we are held to ransom. 
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Problem is that if you make HMRC do the legwork then a) you'll wait FOREVER for your goods to be released and b) they'll charge you a lot more than Royal Mail/ParcelForce do.

As far as they're concerned you chose to import something so you're liable and they'll find the most expedient way of making you pay up. Just be grateful you didn't get it sent by FedEx.

 
You can pay custom fees directly but it is a sod to get through to customs and also means you will have to pay full whac every time (which you legally have to but hope you don't) 

 
Having the luck? of working in this field...if you've any questions regarding the processes on bringing something in and why it's handled the way is is please by all means drop me a PM. 

As to answer the most often raised point about why you can't clear it through customs yourself and why it goes to Royal Mail/Parcelforce...Under various postal statues and laws if...(and the key word is if) the importer (Addressee) hasn't made prior arrangements (to the parcel arriving into the UK) to clear an item through customs themselves or using a clearance agent, legally Royal Mail Group have to clear the items on your behalf through the customs process...and they're legally allowed to charge a fee for this.

From personal experience of clearing items myself and also using an agent....the hassle and costs involved are usually hellish, and often involve meeting the item at the import location to process paperwork etc in person.

 
Just a charging handle?  Was it sent in quite a large box?  I've found over the years the smaller the box the less chance of being hit, that combined with a low value declaration.  You weren't to know though and as others have said it's not G&G's responsibility.  

I've never had anything stopped via China Air though, EMS yes.  The sad part is you have to pay all these extra charges, yet your package will ultimately get delayed for a week whilst customs / PF tried to figure out how much to fleece. It's painful visiting their tracking site every day only to see nothing change ?

 
Oh I am waiting for something from G&G spares at the moment, wonder what that will cost.

 
ak2m4 said:
Just a charging handle?  Was it sent in quite a large box?  I've found over the years the smaller the box the less chance of being hit, that combined with a low value declaration.  You weren't to know though and as others have said it's not G&G's responsibility.  

I've never had anything stopped via China Air though, EMS yes.  The sad part is you have to pay all these extra charges, yet your package will ultimately get delayed for a week whilst customs / PF tried to figure out how much to fleece. It's painful visiting their tracking site every day only to see nothing change ?
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I haven't got it yet, it's due to come tomorrow. I very much doubt it's a massive box but I'll report back tomorrow. 

 
Basically, you can't get around the handling charge so suck it up Princess.  (I mean that in the nicest possible way) 

 
Rogerborg said:
What that's saying is that Customs have bagged it as attracting VAT (but not duty), and that Parcel Farce will pass on that VAT money on your behalf for the low, low fee of only £11.25 (the actual cost to them is doubtless fractions of a penny).

I'd love it if there was some way to pay the VAT directly to HMRC, and then tell Parcel Farce to shove their "clearance fee" since you have no contract with them, but I'm not aware of one.  Anyone had any success on it?
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In order to pay any costs (Duty/VAT/Etc) then an individual or company  can create a Deferment Account with HMRC.

It usually involves putting up an amount of money that is held by HMRC as an  indemnity or "Bond" against any possible forfeiture/avoidance of any import costs.

Once a Deferment Account Number (DAN) is issued, then the person or company that it belongs to can instruct a Customs Agent of their choice to effect a clearance using this Number , the funds then get taken by HMRC from the Deferment Account directly.

Any monies that get taken out of the Deferment Account have to be paid back every month to HMRC.

In over 35 years in the Freight Forwarding Industry, I've used Deferments that ranged from £250,000.00 to £12 Million .

And when I raise a Customs Entry for a customer, then the charges can be anything up to £50.00 for the Entry alone.

Extra costs are levied for using the companies Deferment Account (usually £25.00) and if the Entry contains more than one item , then that too adds cots (£1.50 per extra Item).

So, for the average airsofter, then i'm afraid that we're at the mercy of whichever courier is involved (Parcel Farce/UPS/DHL etc)

 
Im waiting on about $300 USD worth of prowin mags from Hong Kong. Im shitting myself to see if it gets stopped for duty.

I order from the USA and China alot and I very rarely get stung for duty.

The last time was from the USA in January. About 10 childhood story books. Pre-owned from eBay. That stung me about £40 in duty and charges.

Time before that was about 7 years ago, again, from the USA. An American football jacket/zip hoodie.

Jacket was about £70 plus fedex shipping of £25 plus customs/charges stung me for another £30 or so. This was my first dealings with import duty shit and I was sooooo pissed off.

So yeah, im dreading these mags coming through. But to be honest, I've had so much stuff delivered from the USA and China (4 items in the past 2 weeks alone) that hasn't been charged duty it's probably paid for the next time I get hit.

 
Duty as a maximum will be 7% as mentioned the main fee will be the handling charge from parcel force. 

 
The £12 million was for a very large UK based Food Company. I handled imports of Milling Wheat from Canada that used to cost a lot of money?

 
And if you as the customer, or the shipper decide to attempt to put a lower value, Customs will take a dim view of this.

A gift, so long as its below a certain value may be exempt - but doesnt mean it wont get charged.

And any Forwarding Company will still have to go through HMRC - there's no alternative.

 
Archer said:
And if you as the customer, or the shipper decide to attempt to put a lower value, Customs will take a dim view of this.

A gift, so long as its below a certain value may be exempt - but doesnt mean it wont get charged.

And any Forwarding Company will still have to go through HMRC - there's no alternative.
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You could use Mr Marks’ importation service





 
The thing I ordered was supposed to be delivered today as I arranged that when paying for the custom charge and PF's extortionate charge (the charge is in place to pay for storage and signing paperwork according to PFs Twitter reply). I always order from Aliexpress/eBay and never been charged before which is crazy. I didn't even get an import charge on my HID kit that I bought for my car which wasn't cheap. 

 
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