Import duty from Japan

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nick16

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hi all,

Bought a lens hood from Japan for £19.85. (on ebay)
expected to some some import costs, but have had a card through the door from the PO saying i need to pay just over £11 in costs?

This seems absolutely ridiculous to me. Is this the correct amount to be paying or have RM added some silly handling fee on top? (im guessing thats the case)
Im reluctant to pay it, but know that i dont have a lot of choice in reality.

Thanks,
 
Most of that will be the RM fee for customs clearance. That's actually cheaper than most carriers!
 
check the listing ? is it clearly marked as being shipped out shipped outside the uk ? does the seller say anything about costs? id go back to the seller
 
nick16 said:
hi all,

Bought a lens hood from Japan for £19.85. (on ebay)
expected to some some import costs, but have had a card through the door from the PO saying i need to pay just over £11 in costs?

This seems absolutely ridiculous to me. Is this the correct amount to be paying or have RM added some silly handling fee on top? (im guessing thats the case)
Im reluctant to pay it, but know that i dont have a lot of choice in reality.

Thanks,
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Royal Mail charge £8 admin fee (as far as I remember it is/was a statutory fee), you would also be incurring import vat on the total amount of your purchase.

https://personal.help.royalmail.com...id/143/~/when-you-have-a-fee-to-pay-grey-card.
 
I was aware there would be costs when buying from abroad, but didnt realise RM would dip their hand in my pocket too. As soon as i saw £11 i knew most of it would be of their doing.
I assumed i would have to fill out a form and pay a few quid to HMRC.
 
It's been that way for decades. RM check your incoming package for duty due and since they are not in the business of being unpaid tax collectors they charge you for the privilege, they cannot charge the inland revenue.
 
Once had a photo published in a American advertising campaign ,and as it was used in a international companies product line they gifted me $600 dollars worth of products f.o.c .i had to pay £32 in import duties and v.a.t on the goods though which took a shine off a bit,plus making a trip to a out of area sorting office to pay and collect the goods as it was parcel force
 
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Yes its an £8 handling fee from RM.
Nothing but positive things to say about them...
And a 12 mile round trip to collect it.
 
nick16 said:
Yes its an £8 handling fee from RM.
Nothing but positive things to say about them...
And a 12 mile round trip to collect it.
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You expected them to do it for nothing? They have to sort the duty out, collect it and then send it on to the tax people, how much do you think that costs, what would you consider a fair fee?
 
nick16 said:
Yes its an £8 handling fee from RM.
Nothing but positive things to say about them...
And a 12 mile round trip to collect it.
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Why didn't you just pay online and they then deliver the item? The 12 mile round trip was completely unnecessary...

It even says so on the card, just after "what to do next? You can pay in a number of ways:"

fee-to-pay-10-2015-220x309.jpg
 
Im on holiday as of tommorow so it would be left in their sorting office. (not their fault i know)
I could do with the hood for the holiday.
A reasonable charge would be related to the value of the item, as a percentage.
 
nick16 said:
A reasonable charge would be related to the value of the item, as a percentage.
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Anyone importing something more expensive would disagree with you...

Have you heard of the law of unintended consequences?
 
nick16 said:
hi all,

Bought a lens hood from Japan for £19.85. (on ebay)
expected to some some import costs, but have had a card through the door from the PO saying i need to pay just over £11 in costs?

This seems absolutely ridiculous to me. Is this the correct amount to be paying or have RM added some silly handling fee on top? (im guessing thats the case)
Im reluctant to pay it, but know that i dont have a lot of choice in reality.

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Just think of all the added costs when Brexit is complete, many Far East items including cameras, come via Europe now. and do not attract such fees.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
Just think of all the added costs when Brexit is complete, many Far East items including cameras, come via Europe now. and do not attract such fees.
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But they'd have had to pay the VAT and tax to get them into Europe.
 
jakeblu said:
But they'd have had to pay the VAT and tax to get them into Europe.
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Cameras and complete camera kits do not attract import tax into Europe, while lenses do.
Vat has been universal throughout Europe. However re-exports do not attract vat.
It seems more than likely that with a "Hard" Brexit. imports from Europe will be treated the same as from elsewhere, so would attract clearance costs vat and import tax, and in some cases multiple taxes.
As vat is applied last, it is charged on the item. The import tax and on the clearance fee and postage cost.
 
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Terrywoodenpic said:
Just think of all the added costs when Brexit is complete, many Far East items including cameras, come via Europe now. and do not attract such fees.
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I think that either you do not understand how imports work, or you are scaremongering about Brexit.

This was a personal import. Bought from a supplier in Japan, shipped to the UK. Europe has nothing to do with it. OK, if it was carried from Japan by someone like DHL, they may have chosen to transport it via a hub at Frankfurt or Schiphol or somewhere like that, but if it is only in transit then there would be no duties payable in Germany or the Netherlands. (In much the same way that you don't need a visa for a foreign country if you're just changing planes there and never pass through immigration and customs there.)

Alternatively, if a supplier chooses to set up a distribution centre in an EU country, imported duty and VAT are payable when an item is imported there but then no further taxes are payable f the item is subsequently shopped to the UK. Most EU countries have higher rates of VAT than the UK, so serving the UK market via an EU base makes things more expensive in the UK.

After Brexit, we don't know what will happen because we don't know whether we'll have a trade deal with the EU. Worst case, we don't, and there are import duties payable on imports from the EU. But some types of goods don't have import duty anyway (for example camera bodies don't) and some goods would be shipped directly to the UK from the far East. So even the worst case is not necessarily going to have a significant impact on prices.
 
StewartR said:
Europe has nothing to do with it. OK, if it was carried from Japan by someone like DHL, they may have chosen to transport it via a hub at Frankfurt or Schiphol or somewhere like that, but if it is only in transit then there would be no duties payable in Germany or the Netherlands. (In much the same way that you don't need a visa for a foreign country if you're just changing planes there and never pass through immigration and customs there.)
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Sorry to nitpick, but there are countries that require a visa to just transit airside, for example, the UK ;)

From the 1 December, the airside and landside transit visa requirements are changing because we are making the rules for transit without a visa simpler, more consistent and easier for customers and partners to understand.

Transit visas are required by some customers who are passing through the UK en-route to another country within 24 or 48 hours.

Some nationals require a visa to transit both airside and landside, these are know as Direct Airside Transit Visas nationals (DATV), others only need a visa to transit landside, known as non- Direct Airside Transit Visas nationals (non-DATV).

Airside transit refers to passengers catching an onward flight on the same day and from the same UK airport at which they arrived. Airside transit passengers do not pass through the UK’s border controls.
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https://www.gov.uk/government/news/transit-visa-requirements-are-changing
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...immigration-act-2014/changes-to-transit-visas
 
StewartR said:
I think that either you do not understand how imports work, or you are scaremongering about Brexit.

This was a personal import. Bought from a supplier in Japan, shipped to the UK. Europe has nothing to do with it. OK, if it was carried from Japan by someone like DHL, they may have chosen to transport it via a hub at Frankfurt or Schiphol or somewhere like that, but if it is only in transit then there would be no duties payable in Germany or the Netherlands. (In much the same way that you don't need a visa for a foreign country if you're just changing planes there and never pass through immigration and customs there.)

Alternatively, if a supplier chooses to set up a distribution centre in an EU country, imported duty and VAT are payable when an item is imported there but then no further taxes are payable f the item is subsequently shopped to the UK. Most EU countries have higher rates of VAT than the UK, so serving the UK market via an EU base makes things more expensive in the UK.

After Brexit, we don't know what will happen because we don't know whether we'll have a trade deal with the EU. Worst case, we don't, and there are import duties payable on imports from the EU. But some types of goods don't have import duty anyway (for example camera bodies don't) and some goods would be shipped directly to the UK from the far East. So even the worst case is not necessarily going to have a significant impact on prices.
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Wholesalers usually keep goods in international quarantine warehouses when in transit, and taxes etc are not paid untill the destination country. The EU works some what differently in that duties and vat tends to be paid in the most advantageous country. After brexit we will not have that option.
I am certainy not expecting prices to be any lower at retail level.

We shold expect all our imports to be at world rates. And your private imports will be as costly from Europe as they are now from Japan.
 
There are some sites that let you buy various items from Japan Yahoo Auctions and ship them all in one go, so you only pay one £8 fee. The fees those sites charge do add up though.
 
I wish eBay sellers specifically targeting the Uk market (as a lot of Japanese sellers are) would be upfront about these costs. Obviously in their interests not to be as the product appears cheaper. Maybe eBay could have something automatic that appears in an auction listing if it's from a specific country to the Uk.
 
Bluep said:
I wish eBay sellers specifically targeting the Uk market (as a lot of Japanese sellers are) would be upfront about these costs. Obviously in their interests not to be as the product appears cheaper. Maybe eBay could have something automatic that appears in an auction listing if it's from a specific country to the Uk.
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It does say in tiny under the postage details "International items may be subject to customs processing and additional charges."

Ebay do something called a Global Shipping Program where you pay duty when you pay for the item. I've just done this buying a backpack from the US. So far as I can tell this only seems to be available on items sold in the US.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/shipping-globally.html
 
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I know they have caveats but it wouldn't take much to insert a test that picks up item location as say Japan, being advertised on U.K eBay therefore " please be aware a minimum of x amount of customs duty and an admin charge by RM or courier of minimum etc...
 
Bluep said:
I know they have caveats but it wouldn't take much to insert a test that picks up item location as say Japan, being advertised on U.K eBay therefore " please be aware a minimum of x amount of customs duty and an admin charge by RM or courier of minimum etc...
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One thing I've learned is that if your item is sent from Japan by EMS, for some reason Parcelforce are responsible for delivery and they charge more than RM.
 
Bluep said:
I know they have caveats but it wouldn't take much to insert a test that picks up item location as say Japan, being advertised on U.K eBay therefore " please be aware a minimum of x amount of customs duty and an admin charge by RM or courier of minimum etc...
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Why would it be in eBay's interests to provide information which might discourage you from buying via eBay?
 
Just be glad it isn't as much as my last Japanese purchase!

10320946_10204400487468860_8224468959425106356_o.jpg
 
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