Royal Mail - Customs charge

[tom_tom_go]

I have been hit with two different amounts of charges this week from buying garden railway items outside the EU leaving me just under £100 out of pocket.

These charges have never been applied to items I have bought before and I wonder due to Brexit this is just another example of the UK being punished.

Another reason why I voted out!

Rant over...

[bazzer42]

From the USA? Made an offer on a Regner on the se lounge and then scared myself with the likely duty and royal mail fees... Been caught in the past. Won't it be worse after Brexit with duties from European countries?

[Busted Bricks]

Currently you have to pay duty, VAT and a fee on all imports from countries outside EU if the value is above £50. It's been like that for a long time. Imports from EU countries are duty free and you pay the VAT in the country you buy from. No fee from RM as the shipments don't have to be processed for duty and VAT.

When you leave EU, ALL shipments above a threshold value (It could change from the £50 it is today) will have duty, VAT and fees added. Effectively all non-domestic goods will end up costing you more after Brexit.

[tom_tom_go]

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app ... /a_id/143/

Any goods imported into the UK over the value of £15 are liable to import VAT.

This 'value added tax' is set by the EU.

[bazzer42]

I dont think there will be an end to VAT, we set our own rates and it is too lucrative to disappear. Wasn't it purchase tax before?

[ge_rik]

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app ... /a_id/143/

Any goods imported into the UK over the value of £15 are liable to import VAT.

This 'value added tax' is set by the EU.

The actual rate of VAT is set by each by each member country. Cameron raised it from 17.5% to 20% in Osborne's 'emergency budget' of 2010. Seems as if his 'emergency' is not yet over.

Rik

[tom_tom_go]

Guys I don't think you understand my point here.

This is an additional charge set by the EU and not VAT or anything else.

[MikeD]

I don't think there's any extra charge set by the EU - in fact as people have said, imports from the the EU have no charges.

Anything over £15 imported from the outside the EU is liable to the normal UK tax (VAT at 20%, unless something like books, which don't have VAT added), plus import duty if the value is over £135 (I think) then the carrier will add another charge for collecting the duties - Royal Mail charge £8 for this.

After Brexit, I expect we will have to pay these duties for imports from the EU as well, so it will add considerably to the cost of buying stuff from Europe...

Mike D

[bazzer42]

Tom, did you get this on good authority from Boris Johnson?

[bazzer42]

More importantly - what did you buy..? not the Regner I was second in line

[Busted Bricks]

EU only stipulates VAT should be above 15% and each contry sets the actual rate. They are also allowed to make exemptions. For instance in UK you have a lower VAT rate on some goods. In Denmark it is 25% on all goods. Countries not in the EU also have VAT. VAT was not introduced by EU, they just try to ensure it does not differ too much from member state to member state. The is no separate EU VAT levied on anything you import. I'm sure VAT will still be around after Brexit. You might even see it raised.At the moment you pay no duty on imports from other EU countries. That may well change.

[FWLR]

I also voted out and i don’t mind saying so. But why should we have to pay more when we leave, just don’t but from any other country, make it here and create more jobs...

[Busted Bricks]

I also voted out and i don’t mind saying so. But why should we have to pay more when we leave, just don’t but from any other country, make it here and create more jobs...

You could have done that all along, no one is forced to buy imported goods.

With regards to fees on import clearance I do have an issue with that. I think they are out of proportion with the value of the goods imported. Here the fee is nearly £24 on all shipments above £36 in value (value = price of goods plus shipping cost). Since the posta service already has a monopoly of sorts, they can set the fee as they please. I know it takes time to process a shipment but taking into account the minimum wage, £24 seems excessive for what is only a few minutes work per package.

How much of a fee do RM slap on?

[tom_tom_go]

Recent orders in total for charges and handling were £15.66 and the other one was a whopping £49.98!

I don't have the paperwork to hand so I will check what Royal Mail actually charged me.

Items were sent from US and Australia.

[bazzer42]

Bad week then Tom, I won the raffle at Westbury show and I'm a hundred quid in pocket

[IrishPeter]

The pain in the behind with collecting customs dues is the amount of paperwork it generates for Royal Mail. Not only do they have to collect the fee, but process the blooming paperwork. In my day (late 1990s) RM charged a couple or three quid, which was basically 20 minutes of the PHG's time for pratting about with their paperwork, and back then there seemed to be no consideration given to how much time we lost delivering doing the Customs' dirty work for them. Bit of a pain all around not just for the customer but for the postie as well.

Peter in Va.

[Big Jim]

This is certainly one to watch out for if ordering from abroad.

[FWLR]

Bad week then Tom, I won the raffle at Westbury show and I'm a hundred quid in pocket

Some people are born lucky...

The charges are ridiculously high i agree and it really does put people off buying, but if we want it, it has to be paid and there is not a lot we can do about it really...

[bazzer42]

Once you have been stung (my USA trains days) you become more wary. Ebay.de is a favourite haunt of mine for odd lgb and playmobil bits, no duty and sometimes the postage can be little more than UK postage.

[FWLR]

That’s true Derek, i like the bay for that reason, but i watch out for the unscrupulous traders and individuals on there though.