Hacking Customs charge of £11 !?

[ackers]

I ordered a black CycloDS from gamersection.ca (a Canadian reseller) 3 weeks ago. I paid in total around £35 with international shipping fees as I am in UK. Finally, three weeks later something comes in the post... but it's not my CycloDS, it's a piece of card from Royal Mail saying my item is in Customs and I will have to pay £11 to get it. I seriously was not expecting that. I thought the item would come straight to me, not to Customs. After all, I payed all the international shipping rates so why the hell do I have to pay an extra £11 !? I feel like I've been conned

What do I do, do I contact gamersection.ca or do I just pay the stupid fee? I wish I just bought from a UK site and I wouldn't have to pay this £46 and I wouldn't have waited 3 weeks. >

 

[Deleted User]

Seems a bit expensive to me. I only got charged about £3 or £4 on a similarly priced item. It definetly should not be that high.

 

[c2ironfist]

It's not gamersection's fault it is your government that does that to you. Gamersection has no control over it.

 

[jalaneme]

it's called import tax and you take risks ordering stuff from overseas, you really have to research what website you buy from and see if they are UK import friendly, you can't just expect to buy from any international website and expect to get away without paying import tax.

basically if you order anything over £18 overseas you will be charged import tax + a handing fee from the royal mail, if the seller marks the item as a gift and declared the item on the invoice as low value you can avoid import tax but you will need to contact the seller to see if they will do that for you.

there is very few overseas shops i will use online due to import tax.

 

[Agjsdfd]

I have heard of that custom paying thingy before. Its an airmal service, but as far as I read in yahoo, and other google searchings this service takes longer.
Basically cheap shipping, but the reciever is feeling it

(paying all the cost...)

 

[OSW]

hahaha, probably why bamboogaming labels all their packages as gifts to the value of $10

 

[coolbho3000]

Yep, and that's why Dealextreme always lists their items as cheap LED flashlights.

 

[gedly]

I ordered a black CycloDS from gamersection.ca (a Canadian reseller) 3 weeks ago. I paid in total around £35 with international shipping fees as I am in UK. Finally, three weeks later something comes in the post... but it's not my CycloDS, it's a piece of card from Royal Mail saying my item is in Customs and I will have to pay £11 to get it. I seriously was not expecting that. I thought the item would come straight to me, not to Customs. After all, I payed all the international shipping rates so why the hell do I have to pay an extra £11 !? I feel like I've been conned

What do I do, do I contact gamersection.ca or do I just pay the stupid fee? I wish I just bought from a UK site and I wouldn't have to pay this £46 and I wouldn't have waited 3 weeks. >

It's quite an eye opener when you discover just how un-free world trade still is, isn't it?

Countries pretending to reduce trade tariffs while simultaneously putting in sneaky "admin" charges like you have paid is as old as the hills.

And yet, where jobs are concerned, we're all in a highly competitive global market and must fear for our livelihood. Funny that, isn't it?

 

[Avenger]

Welcome to the reality of ordering goods overseas.

 

[skarthebloodchild]

That happened to me once.
You can tell them to put as a gift.
Some sites deny to do it.

 

[adgloride]

hahaha, probably why bamboogaming labels all their packages as gifts to the value of $10

I was going to say the same thing.

I don't know how the import charge is worked out. But its something like 17.5% VAT and then the royal mail charge you a fee for paying it, which seems to be anything they please. Also when they work out the import charge they take the value of the item, postage on it doesn't count.