Thoroughly annoyed

[dirky]

So I order my Timberland boots from a US site hoping to save myself some cash (www.footlocker.com & £40 to be precise) order it, pay the abnormal shipping charge since its coming from overseas, it arrives this morning and the bloody Parcel Force driver says "this package carries a £43 customs charge" Fuck ooooff I said, he said it's not down to him he just delivers.

So in the meantime I'm lumbered with an extra £43 to pay & footlocker have been lumbered with several nasty E-Mails. :/

Funny really because I'm actually paying more for them now then what I would have paid for them over here. I got them for £86 inc shipping etc from Footlocker, they would have been £120 over here + shipping.

[Q-Target]

I believe the term for that is "pwned". The trick is to get someone to buy them for you over there and then ship them to you as a "gift", thus bypassing the customs charge.

[[n00b]SteveO]

I believe the term for that is "pwned". The trick is to get someone to buy them for you over there and then ship them to you as a "gift", thus bypassing the customs charge.


bit iffy this, the type r owners club members have been doing this for years, now customs have wised up about a lot of it.

[Q-Target]

Well, obviously you get them to put it to "Little Cousin Zeke" or something...with "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" stickers all over it.

[dirky]

Well the fact that the site didn't mention anything about a customs charge and the fact its £43 ffs is why I'm pissed off.

[Appo]

Not sure what Footlocker could have done to prevent customs not charging you like all retailers that send goods to customers overseas they are obliged to tell you that there will be duties to pay.

This page on their website would seem to explain the situation quite clearly -

http://www.footlocker.com/content/custserv.cfm?TID=5555-11130411212111111270068-0&help=shipping_info&Q=7

[funkeh]

yea the gift thing is bllx,i ordered a Schott Parker from the states ,they sent it as a gift and customs stung me for 60 quid.
Dont care tho,still got the parka 100 quid cheaper than buying it in the uk :)

[Lungboy]

Gift works sometimes but not every time, and it seems to be getting less and less likely to work now. Most packages over a certain size will be opened to check for terrorists hiding themselves away in them or something, and if they notice that it isn't a gift then you will get stung for the full amount.

[Q-Target]

Who are they to determine what is and isn't a gift anyway? If my cousin Al In'Saini wants to give me an RPG for my birthday surely that's between me and him? The whole point of the gift being exempt from customs charges is so that you don't have to foot the bill when receiving gifts from friends/family in the states. If I was to pull the proverbial fast-one and have a "gift" shipped to me from the states I'd make sure that my "cousin" puts in a greetings card wishing me a happy birthday or something, oh and some soiled undies just for the benefit of the customs men.

[Heartwork]

at this time of year, gift works absolutely 100%.

And my dad uses the gift trick for ebay stuff all the time, and he's not once actually had a customs charge with it. Thats in literally years of use.

[dirky]

Not sure what Footlocker could have done to prevent customs not charging you like all retailers that send goods to customers overseas they are obliged to tell you that there will be duties to pay.

This page on their website would seem to explain the situation quite clearly -

http://www.footlocker.com/content/custserv.cfm?TID=5555-11130411212111111270068-0&help=shipping_info&Q=7

Well thats fucking fantastic isn't it, they mention it on a page but dont mention it in their confirmation E-Mails. It's probably my fault, I should have known that they would add customs charges & what not but its such a shock when they turn up at you door and demand money.

[Lungboy]

I've imported a fair amount of stuff, through proper shops and ebay. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. There is no way you can say it definately will, even at this time of year.

[Heartwork]

I'm sure the post office must be overwhelmed with people sending gifts at chrismas time, and I really don't see any way they can actually prove that something isn't a gift - so surely it's more or less a guarantee around now?

[Appo]

They really should do what other sites do and warn you as soon as you put in your address details that you will have to pay duty. There isn't anything you can do but swallow the charges at least you will know for next time.

[Lungboy]

It is nothing to do with the Post Office, it is Customs.

[[n00b]SteveO]

at this time of year, gift works absolutely 100%.


Tell that to Evo who got stung for 40% import tax on a flippin engraved mugen plate!

[moron]

The limit on gifts not being charged duty is €45. Anything above that will be charged at the full rate anyway.

dhl have a vague 'how much duty' thing at http://www.dhl.co.uk/info/duty.html#vat found a better one on customs site last week but lost it now.

[[!$$ueS]]

Ahh crap i was gonna import them t-shirts from USA my Mum said the same thing about import tax, i may get lucky so i'm just gonna check out how much customs would be now.

[[!$$ueS]]

From calculation on that DHL site it will cost approximately £34 to import 2 t-shirts including duty which was £1, and VAT = £5. So still not a bad price i'd say.

[danred5]

The best way to do it, is to have a chat with the sender and tell them to declare the item at £$x ammount,(eg, I paid £600 for my digi cam, asked them to declare at £150, I paid around £25 import duty instead of £100, and was quids in as the camera was £950 here)

I always try and do this, that way it does limit what you pay on potential custom duty, otherwise the buggers will just invariably charge you full whack on equivalent item price in u.k