I recently bought a used DVD here on the Café and had to pay a customs fee to get it from the P/O. I can't get my head round it as I've bought overseas before and never paid a fee.

This is bull! It would have been cheaper for me to buy it 'brand new' in the UK and get it within 1 working day.

What criteria is there for a customs fee?

Now I hesitate to buy from private sellers overseas on here (which is a shame as there are some good deals!)

Thanks, John

If you're in the UK, you oughta know - almost everybody cheats by marking "gift" on the customs form attached to the package - if your seller marked "merchandise", thereby triggering a customs fee from your government, he's doing the honest thing.

Here there is a processing fee, plus the VAT--currently 19%--is added. It seems to be applied at random. When I order books, sometimes they arrive at my door, sometimes the postman charges me the customs fee, sometimes I have to go to the post office, and sometimes I have to go to the customs office--where they give me a knife or scissors and ask me to open the package and sort through it while they watch.

(Can you picture anyone in the US handing a stranger a large pair of scissors?)

Anyway, as Ross said, most people cheat by marking "gift" on the customs form. And while it may be slightly dishonest, I think it's the moral thing to do, because a 19% tax on something bought and sold in the US is unnecessary, inadvisable, destructive to healthy economies, and therefore unethical.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/conte......37000674

Perhaps that helps.

If anyone has moral qualms about marking "gift" on the customs form, maybe it's more acceptable to do what I usually do: no form at all, just mail the thing.

Of course, I'm usually sending DVD-size bubble mailers that weigh 4 ounces or less.

I thought it might have to do with the seller declaring it a gift or not… which is exactly what someone SHOULD do if they sell a used DVD for $15! (A private seller is not a 'merchant' so we agree that it’s not the honest thing to do.)

I'm not sure what dealers or self publishers do? I assume most (the ones I’ve bought from at least) mark it a gift but I've never given it much thought ‘til now.

Royal Blackmail also adds a ridiculous handling fee of £8 (around $12) PER ITEM which makes the whole affair pointless!

Cheers, John

I take it you are in the UK. Here are some fees you might see, again for those that missed it I have over 20 years experience with customs.

Brokerage: The fee that covers the processing of the documentation to clear the shipment

Duty: The tax paid on an item based on what the commodity is

VAT: Value Added Tax, also known as Ad Valorum, an additional fee that assumes that items are being intentionally reduced in value or to increase said value to make it competative with locally produced items. Australia is big on Ad Valorum.

Value is bases on many things, replacement value is acceptable.

In the UK and the rest of Europe they have a 'spank the US' tax which the EU implemented to try to get people to reduce their purchases of American products and thus buy more European products.

The term used properly if a gift is 'unsolicited gift'

Another good term to use on your invoice if making a purchase is "not for resale, educational item". If that is what it is.

There are a number of ways to reduce the duties legally, it just takes experience.

Ok, it was because the sender marked 'other' on the customs form and for some unfathomable reason declared its value at $35 when it only cost $16!

In a nutshell, there will be VAT + handling fee on goods OVER £18 / $27 or gifts over £36 / $50.

For years, no matter what I ordered, they all got delivered to me. Now everything I order goes to customs and I have to go to pick it up. And yes, they do hand out scissors. I have had the pleasure of explaining to them about a bunch of TTs, flipper coins, casting materials, model kits...most of the time they don't charge any fees (our VAT is 22%!!!) because it'd be too much of a hassle to fill out the forms and find the proper codes. Not all the time though... One thing that really annoyes me is shipping costs..because we have to pay VAT on them as well...

Then again, if something gets shipped to the airport, they don't have customs officers there, you go and pick up the paperwork, take it to customs office, clear it to get a stamp and then go back to the airport to pick things up. I have paid customs on a set of Schoolcraft coins but when my Master Prediction (with ATA case) was delivered to the airport, they didn't want to be bothered and just stamped "Free to release" on the documents and I didn't pay a dime of fees...

Being a regular customer, I have learned to select one guy...he never wants to see whats inside and with him I have never had to pay anything.

To have an 'interesting exerience', instead of putting "Magic Trick Prop" on the form and a low value, I'll be glad to put "Shrunken Human Head", "Priceless" on it.

Or how about "Crypto-Zoological Exhibit: Value $400."

I mean I want you guys to have FUN if you want.

Haha

In many places customs won't bother with items based on value, what it is, if the receiver is being polite, all that stuff. 'Tis the way it goes.