Anyway to get around custom charges.
#1
Hey guy's,

I'm really miffed with my latest purchase, being a modeler means this is a hobby which is recreational & meant to be enjoyable. I'm not a happy bunny though !!
I purchased a exactrail freightcar off ebay & paid my postage. I've got a ticket from the mail office here in the uk saying i need to pay £18.50 customs charges. Now i don't mind paying charges for things but i think they are really taking the P@ss when the charge is for more than the item is worth.

we have a saying in England " Rip off Britain " & it has really left a foul taste in my mouth. I think its a joke when they do this & wondered if anyone had anyway of doing a tax dodge & getting around this because i cant be paying for everything twice when trying to buy things for my layout.

Cheers,

Si
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#2
I've been stung before, but only for higher priced items where shipping cost and Royal Mail handing fee are a smaller proportion of the total charge. One of the problems in the UK is the Royal Mail flat rate fee, which for lower priced items is a high proportion of the cost. Annoyingly the VAT is charged on the shipping cost as well as the item value. They seem to be getting hotter on charging for lower price items too, it used to be the case that anything under about £40 was ignored.
Unfortunatly, as far as I can see, the only options are to either put up with the possibility of getting charged, or buy from within the EU. Prices may be cheaper in the US, but not after all the charges. Trouble is, most US stuff is harder to source in Europe.
I'm not sure what happens if you refuse to pay the VAT plus RM charge, what are customs going to do with an Exactrail boxcar?
Tim David
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#3
Here in Canada , we get dinged for "duty" when bringing stuff in from the U.S. , or having it mailed to us ........they seem to relent on smaller items though . As you mentioned , it gets ridiculous when the taxes and duties exceed the value of the item . It's a ripoff .

Terry
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
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#4
Sorry, Si - but as someone in exactly the same position as you, it is a case of "put up with it and pay the money, or change your hobby" - it does mean you make do with smaller fleets though! Thats why I model shortlines
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#5
I know what you all say, and it has happened to me in the past.
In most cases, and particularly when it involves a professional seller (train store etc) they will put the real value on the box, and you get stung. If it is a private shipper (as in many cases with stuff from e-bay) ask them if they instead of the real value, could write down 'gift', or 'sample without value' on the box. Although it will mean you have absolutely no leg to stand on if the item goes missing or damaged (it hasn't got any stated value afterall) and cannot be insured shipping, you might be able to circumvent the tax man , at least for lower price items. However if the Royal mail / customs start to think you just seem to receive too many 'gifts' or 'commercial samples without value' they might get suspicious.

Use it sparingly.

Koos
Be sure to visit my model railroad blog at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.namrr.blogspot.com">http://www.namrr.blogspot.com</a><!-- m -->
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#6
Just so we're clear, the primary question here is "How do I circumvent the law where I live?"
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#7
I think you're basically stuck with the problem that the hobby costs what it costs. We all pay taxes. California sales tax adds almost 10% to anything we buy in the state, and if you calculate your annual hobby budget, you've got to recognize that sales tax alone is 10% of it. Tax avoidance is legal; tax evasion isn't. You can legally avoid sales tax by ordering off the web out of state, though they're trying to end that. But I wouldn't recommend falsifying the value of anything or misrepresenting what it is.
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#8
Yeah , Koos , the " gift " designation seems to work here with smaller items . And tax here is 13% but that's another story Goldth

T
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
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#9
Question....do you get dinged the tax/customs duty every time? I get it about 1 package out of 7 so I figure I'm ahead of the game even when I get dinged badly on a package.
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#10
I'm not condoning tax evasion, but just to give an idea of the amount we can end up paying here in the UK
Typical Exactrail car on Ebay $30
Typical shipping to UK on Ebay $15
VAT (sales tax) charged by UK Customs 20% on value and shipping price
Customs 'handling fee' charged by Royal Mail £8/$12.80
So, for one car we typically end up paying 30+15+9+12.80=$66.80
Paying VAT is OK, paying VAT on the shipping too is annoying and being charged more than the VAT for a 'handling fee' for processing the VAT is even more annoying!
Tim David
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#11
Isn't it possible to elect to pay the duties in advance, thereby skipping the extra fee? I've done this at least once and while it felt expensive, it was cheaper than getting hit with duties PLUS fee at this end.
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#12
Buying from eBay using their Global Shipping Program does this, but not all items allow it. It may or may not work out cheaper (for the UK) but it allow you to know costs before start and reduces the inconvenience of having to go to a post office to pay the fees.
With the GSP , the US sender posts to a central processing location (in the US) There they work out the VAT required for the recipient's country and pay that, charge a fee for their service and the onward shipping and then ship it on.
Tim David
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#13
Believe me, the Ebay Global Shipping Program is an even bigger rip-off - it means that you pay the customs duty on EVERYTHING, rather than taking a chance on it not being charged here by the custioms - and I suggest that you watch very closely how much the shipping charge is - a lot of sellers are boosting their take by charging excessive prices for shipping to make up for low selling prices
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#14
shortliner Wrote:Believe me, the Ebay Global Shipping Program is an even bigger rip-off - it means that you pay the customs duty on EVERYTHING, rather than taking a chance on it not being charged here by the custioms - and I suggest that you watch very closely how much the shipping charge is - a lot of sellers are boosting their take by charging excessive prices for shipping to make up for low selling prices
My gut feeling is that I would use it on expensive items where I'm pretty likely to have to pay anyway, and avoid it on the cheaper items where I might not get charged.,
Tim David
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#15
The only way around it is not dealing with it. It sucks but that's the way it is. I miss a lot of UK deals just because of the shipping/customs/holding roulette wheel.
Tom

Model Conrail

PM me to get a hold of me.
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