Import Tax?

[ripkord]

Hi there I odered a Nintendo DS the other day from play-asia HK and all in (including UPS express shipping) It cost ?120 which is ok.... However I didnt know about Import tax until today....

Does anyone know how much this is likely to be? (im in the UK)

[Ginza]

UPS shipping = OOF. They will tax you a fair amount id say.

[ThoseOfTheUnlight]

Did you ask them to mark it down?

If not, they will charge you ?30 about..

[ripkord]

Eh? mark it down ? :/ whats that mean...

(edit ok underprice it to avoid customs - i didnt ask them no)

I cant see anything on the website about it, apart from "disbursements" which is 2% or ?10 whatever is higher.... is that not it then

[ThoseOfTheUnlight]

Well straight after you ordered, you could have asked them via email to mark your package down in the declared value they put on the front of the parcel. This would mean that customs would charge you less in import tax etc, saving you a bit of money.

Since you didnt ask them, the import tax will be charged on the full amount, so you'll be paying about ?30 or a little bit more when it arrives to your doorstep.

[ripkord]

Aww ffs

thanks.... I still cant see anything concrete on UPS website about this... anyone got a link??

[Yoshimoto]

You'll be looking at between ?30 and ?35 i'd have thought.

For some reason i wasn't actually charged anything by UPS for my DS when it arrived* but for my games which arrived a day later i was charged just over ?26 for a parcel that was worth about ?95.

If you send Play Asia a message they will mark the declared value of the packaging down to 50% so Customs & Excise won't charge you so much. You will only be insured to that value however if it happens to go missing.

*I was told i owed some money when i phoned them in the morning, but the delivery guy didn't ask me for anything.

[ripkord]

Its already half way across europe.... argh.... so how do you pay this?

[Yoshimoto]

Aww ffs

thanks.... I still cant see anything concrete on UPS website about this... anyone got a link??

There won't be anything on the site about it as obviously its illegal and therefore not something they want to advertise.

You've got to pay the charge on the doorstep in cash usually. Sometimes the driver will be a friendly sort and let you ring them up with a Credit Card while hes there but not usually.

[ThoseOfTheUnlight]

You'll pay the delivery driver, you'll have the have the right amount of money in cash, as they dont like giving change

You can perhaps pay by cheque also!

[buster_broon]

only ever got one thing delivered by ups and they hammered me for ?60

his little smug face in his ****ty brown van

when i told him i didnt have the money he mentioned that they would be taken to the depot and after 14 days shipped back

so i gave him his money - every penny from the cars ashtray and shrapnel around the house

he wasnt pleased

[ripkord]

how much was the thing you got delivered worth?

[buster_broon]

how much was the thing you got delivered worth?

it was a bunch of dvds from gavecave in the states

to be honest i cant remember

but import will be 17% of the goods plus whatever ups seem fit to charge for releasing the item

but that ranges from ?1.25 or 4% from dhl to the monsterous ?15 from parcelforce

so you could be charged around ?27 - ?40

also you will get charged on a value with shipping added later

if the item is marked at ?130 and shipping costs ?20, you will pay duty on ?150, thats the part i think sucks

but i recently paid customs to dhl for 2 items and because they only took ?1.25 as admin costs, it didnt bother me

what bothers me is parcelforce taking ?15, when you get charged ?4 duty

[ripkord]

the item was 100 and shipping was 20 so 17% of 120 = ?20 ish

+ random UPS charge.... argh ffs id have been as well buying it for ?180 out of cagames :/

[gIzzE]

UPS are ****ers when it comes to charging you, I had a video scaler returned after it was repaired and it had a value of $1000 on the box but also said it was repaired, they tried to sting me for ?171.
I explained that I had already paid vat on the item when I bought it, and the declared value was for insurance, he would not let me take the item until paid, so I told him to keep it. As he turned round to walk back to his van I grabbed the parcel and shut the front door. He was banging on it for about 10 mins and I just said that as far as I was concerned I had never seen him, and I would be calling his depot in a couple of days to find out where my parcel was.
After him threatening to call the police about 50 times and me laughing at him through the window, he eventually went, never heard anymore from them.


UPS charge you the import tax (6%) and vat (17.5%) on the overall price including shipping, and then about ?10 admin fees, they charge you this whether customs and excise charge you or not, they have their own customs to get things through quicker, nice little earner for them!! I bet they only pay the vat on stuff they get pulled up on, I can't see them declaring everything.


edit: I woud think that based on your ?120 you will pay....
?120 + 6% import duty = ?127.20
?127.20 + 17.5% vat = ?149.46
149.46 + ?10 admin fees for UPS =

?159.46

Let us know what you actualy pay.