Clearing British Customs

[dtr42]

sorry to hear you have been scammed but it realy is buyer beware .and because you did not use paypal or a visa/mastercard you will probably get nothing back .hope it wasn't a large sum

[Stephen]

Hmmm very interesting, thats something I didnt know - cheers!

But im still sure there is a "gift" option on customs declorations, or is that just for outgoing stuff? Its been a while since I sent a parcel abroad.

For the UK gifts (incoming non eu) are VAT/duty-able unless the value is under £18 I believe (could be wrong, but I read up a fair bit when I got a few things imported.)

Before anyone thinks about trying to defraud HMRC, any insurance on the item will be invalidate if it's declared to be £18 when it's realy a £1000 camera ....

[GlassWalker]

But im still sure there is a "gift" option on customs declorations, or is that just for outgoing stuff? Its been a while since I sent a parcel abroad.

A slightly different limit applies to "gifts" before taxes become applicable. A quick google on hmrc suggests a £40 limit for gifts and £15 for everything else. I'm sure it used to be £18 for everything else... damn them! It also says gifts can only be declared when sent from by individual, and does not apply to purchases even if it is intended as a gift.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I've bought stuff from the U.S and only ever had to pay the shipping costs as shown on the website. Buying from the UK (FLO), i know there is VAT added onto the cost of items and then the shipping costs on top.

I dont know why people in Ireland dont seem to charged any import duties etc when buying from the U.S.

Could it be some kind of trade agreement betwwen both countries, seen as Ireland is the "gateway" to Europe for American companies and the tax those American companies based here pay, is pretty low. Its a incentive for American companies to base their European operations here in Ireland so as to bring in oodles of cash to the Irish economy.

Well, it used to be that way.

"You scratch my back and i'll scratch yours".....................situation.

?????????

[dtr42]

I've bought stuff from the U.S and only ever had to pay the shipping costs as shown on the website. Buying from the UK (FLO), i know there is VAT added onto the cost of items and then the shipping costs on top.

I dont know why people in Ireland dont seem to charged any import duties etc when buying from the U.S.

Could it be some kind of trade agreement betwwen both countries, seen as Ireland is the "gateway" to Europe for American companies and the tax those American companies based here pay, is pretty low. Its a incentive for American companies to base their European operations here in Ireland so as to bring in oodles of cash to the Irish economy.

Well, it used to be that way.

"You scratch my back and i'll scratch yours".....................situation.

?????????

it seems that ireland and germany customs tend not to charge[or if they do it's at a lower rate than uk customs . so they are the euro entry of choice for usa and china etc, uk customs cant then charge any customs on items as they have already entered the EU and are exempt from any extra duty charges

[GlassWalker]

EU countries are supposed to have similar but not necessarily identical rules on import tax. That also doesn't mean they get enforced equally. Even if tax is due in the UK, when shipped by regular post, they don't always charge you for it, suggesting they do a random sampling not 100% charging. Taking extremes, I've been charged for a single CD import before, yet other times hundreds of $ worth of stuff in a massive box gets through uncharged. I hear Italy has a particularly horrible import system, and you can often see international sellers (e.g. on ebay) simply saying they wont deliver to Italy! If indeed Ireland has a more... import friendly tax situation it may become economic to route via there somehow... shall have to look into that!

[LukeSkywatcher]

it seems that ireland and germany customs tend not to charge[or if they do it's at a lower rate than uk customs . so they are the euro entry of choice for usa and china etc, uk customs cant then charge any customs on items as they have already entered the EU and are exempt from any extra duty charges

Thanks for that info. I can see how that makes sense. Ireland being the nearest country in the eurozone to America makes Ireland the obvious choice of getting American goods into Europe (both logistically and financially) and Germany being the strongest economy in Europe would also be an obvious choice (financially).

Least i think thats how it makes sense. I am by no means an economist.

[malc-c]

As imbarrising as this is to say I've been dooped. So that people in the future won't fall for this I'll explain the circumstances:

This person JC81 (on www. cloudynights.com) contacted me about a wanted add I posted and said he had one for sale. He said he was located in the UK and would ship UPS or FedEx. We made arrangements for me to send him the money via MoneyGram. He then sent me a website and tracking number from a different courier other than UPS or FedEx. I didn't think much of it at first. He then said that the customs office in the UK has it on hold because of some clearance issues and needed to pay another amount to get it through. But only customs from the receiving country would put it on hold not the sending country. This is what finally brought my to realize this was a scam. Unfortunately too late for my original payment. The courier he used is www.firstflight-shipping.com which is a bogus website. He sent telephone numbers that were fake as well. Pretty elaborate set up they got going here.

I've heard of people getting scammed by someone trying to buy thier item for sell but not through a wanted add.

Oh man, I hope you didn't loose too much by this scam.

Thanks for being bold enough to post about your experience so others may learn and be on their guard. Personally, when dealing with any transaction such as this I use paypal linked to a credit card, especially if the item is over £100 so that there is a means of recovering the money should it turn out to be a fraud. I would never use moneyGarm or western union

[x6gas]

Oh man, I hope you didn't loose too much by this scam.

Thanks for being bold enough to post about your experience so others may learn and be on their guard. Personally, when dealing with any transaction such as this I use paypal linked to a credit card, especially if the item is over £100 so that there is a means of recovering the money should it turn out to be a fraud. I would never use moneyGarm or western union

Ditto. Really sorry to hear this, but personally if there is anything like an appreciable sum involved then I always ensure that ultimately it's a credit card at the end of the line. That way - if all else fails - the credit card company will give you the money back and do what they can to recover the money. I had a bad experience on ebay once... PayPal were useless but my credit card gave me a refund in full once I had signed a form confirming the fraud.

[Woking]

Truly awful, there's some real scum in this world.

Trust you've already posted your experience on CN so that others are warned.

[crazyjedi]

This has been a very worrying and unpleasant thread. It really does hammer it home to everyone to be VERY careful when purchasing things via the web.

This thread should be essential reading before anyone looks at the buy and sell section of forum web sites

[Carbon Brush]

Post removed. duplicate.

[mallorcasaint]

There is nothing wrong with buying things on the Web. That is only the medium and is no more dangerous than classified ads in newspapers etc. It is the scam artistes that are the problem, not the medium.