Sending a package to the UK, customs question!

[Odesseiron]

Hey all, I have a buyer here on BG for a bunch of DVD's. Problem is he is in the UK. I went to ship the package today, and one of the dudes at Fedex Kinkos said from experience the customs fees are insane for UK. He said he sent a 6 dollar mug to someone over there, and got hit for a 36 dollar custom fee later on. That was a 6 DOLLAR mug. You have to claim what you're shipping, and it's 400 bucks in DVD's. It's not a small/light box either, so I can't claim it's like 5 dollars worth of shit.

What should I do here? Anyone with experience in shipping overseas, please offer advice. Thanks

[Jotaru]

Claim the cost is negligible, profit. It could be ten pounds of mud!

[Vigilia]

In my experience the customs system in the UK is completely random. Me and my husband order stuff from the States frequently (books and games mostly, sometimes t-shirts and whatnot, he used to order consoles too back in the day) and only time ever either of us got hit by the customs ... was with £24.50 for my FFXI security token last year. >_>

I have honestly no idea what the customs in UK base their pricing on or the selection on what parcels to hit with the fee. Based on their website they are supposed to do it for all parcels with contents worth £36 or more ($9.99 security token wut?). I would suggest sending the DVDs in multiple smaller packages.

[Odesseiron]

Claim the cost is negligible, profit. It could be ten pounds of mud!

Could work both ways. That cost claim form is also the insurance for the item. I claim nothing, the package gets lost, I get nothing. :/

[Kayatani]

I think you can avoid VAT if you send it as a gift, not sure where that leaves you in reclaiming the money if it gets lost, or the legality of it since it's not a gift but I don't think customs have any way of finding out.

As Vigilia said, it's not 100% for customs to grab hold of your parcels, but I wouldn't bet on them missing it (especially because of the high cost/size), since it can be an unpleasant surprise if they do, to the tune of 17.5% VAT and £10~£20 handling fees.

The reason that mug cost so much to import is that the handling fees are static, so for small-value items it's unreasonably expensive (though in my experience they rarely charge smaller/cheaper imports compared to big/expensive stuff).

[Blabj]

Ditto Vigilia's opinion, UK customs is ass backwards. I got taxed almost double the actual price on an order of t-shirts from the states, but absolutely nothing on a $2500 shipment of a camera and lenses.

[SephYuyX]

Ive sent numerous packages to London just through my local USPS, and I was charged no additonal fees what so ever, just cost me like 7$ or so for the postage.

[Kayatani]

Ive sent numerous packages to London just through my local USPS, and I was charged no additonal fees what so ever, just cost me like 7$ or so for the postage.

The guy who recieves it gets taxed, and has to pay royal mail handling fees because USPS will just drop it off at the airport

[SephYuyX]

The guy who recieves it gets taxed, and has to pay royal mail handling fees because USPS will just drop it off at the airport

Always sent to the same person, and they never mentioned anything about this. Shrug.

[Kayatani]

Well, as already said, customs don't always charge packages, especially if they're small/cheap. I guess the handling fees are just for it being processed at customs rather than delivery

[Angelicus]

The guy who recieves it gets taxed, and has to pay royal mail handling fees because USPS will just drop it off at the airport

Always sent to the same person, and they never mentioned anything about this. Shrug.

It can be random what they charge on, depending on what is stated on the customs form as the contents and value - but it's always the recipient that gets charged, as it's effectively "their" parcel.

The charges are the Duty on the importing of the goods, usually VAT at prevailing rate, plus a static fee for the carrier of the parcel to get it to clear customs and then deliver it to the recipient, which can be up to £15 extra on top of the VAT charge. Depending on which carrier is doing the delivery in the UK

It's how I've always found it, had stuff from Think Geek, and other T-shirts, items sent through.