[Rugster]

I ordered an MP3 player off Ebay last week, and today I got a letter from the customs.

They need me to send them back the receipt and details of what I paid, what it is, is it for personal use etc.

It's come from China.

What (if anything) am I likely to be charged, embdy ken????

[Loki]

Once they have worked out how much it is worth and it will be worth more than your personal allowance of 18 pounds, they will charge you import tax on it. Which is the equivalent of VAT. However all this can be avoided if anything getting imported from another country which is outside the EU, is declared as a gift.

Pretend you have a long lost Falkirk supporting uncle in Beijing.

[scot_17s]

Ruggy Bairn, on Oct 6 2004, 06:41 PM, said:

I ordered an MP3 player off Ebay last week, and today I got a letter from the customs.

They need me to send them back the receipt and details of what I paid, what it is, is it for personal use etc.

It's come from China.

What (if anything) am I likely to be charged, embdy ken????

Sounds possibly like a VAT thing, if you bought it off a person rather than a business then i dont see how they can add this though. Possibly means another 17.5% on top of your purchase though.

[ALL HÚNS 'n' TIMS ARE SCUM]

Say its a prize or your researching MP3s players for a magazine and will be returning it.

[Skyline Drifter]

Ruggy Bairn, on Oct 6 2004, 06:41 PM, said:

I ordered an MP3 player off Ebay last week, and today I got a letter from the customs.

They need me to send them back the receipt and details of what I paid, what it is, is it for personal use etc.

It's come from China.

What (if anything) am I likely to be charged, embdy ken????

You need to pay VAT on goods imported from abroad.

It'll be 17.5% of what you paid for it.


Unless of course you take up some of the evasion tactics recommended above.

[Rugster]

Thanks guys, but the receipt shows I paid VAT on it, Does this mean I don't pay anything?

[SaintSam]

Why didn't you just buy it in a shop?

[Rugster]

SaintSam, on Oct 6 2004, 08:31 PM, said:

Why didn't you just buy it in a shop?

Because I got it from Ebay for £25, whereas the cheapest equivelant in the shops was minimum £100.

[SaintSam]

Point made

[Ceske]

Im sure you`ll be fine Ruggy...........although you may not be and you could find yourself in a stoney wee jail cell with nothing more than your cell mates "hot boaby" to keep you warm!!









cheers to "Still game" for the use of the joke

[Tormod Macleod]

My mate stays in Thailand where he can get fitba tops cheap as. If we were to import them, would 17.5%VAT be all we had to pay customs?

[Loki]

Get you rmate to send them over, with a letter and card saying Happy Birthday. As its a gift you wouldnt have to pay any kind of import tax or VAT.

I really dont know how your receipt includes VAT as that only applies to things bought in this country. Is the seller based in the UK, then importing them from outside the EU?

[An Sionnach]

Ruggy,

Advice can be found here......

Let's keep Ruggy oot 'a Bar-L!

[Rugster]

hailtothethief, on Oct 7 2004, 12:44 PM, said:

Get you rmate to send them over, with a letter and card saying Happy Birthday. As its a gift you wouldnt have to pay any kind of import tax or VAT.

I really dont know how your receipt includes VAT as that only applies to things bought in this country. Is the seller based in the UK, then importing them from outside the EU?

It was nothing like the Vat I should have paid, only £1.19. I think it might be the tax at his end, and paypal just calls it VAT.

It'll be a fiver at the most anyway. I hope

Cheers Kilt, having a look now!

[Skyline Drifter]

Ruggy Bairn, on Oct 6 2004, 08:16 PM, said:

Thanks guys, but the receipt shows I paid VAT on it, Does this mean I don't pay anything?

No, presumably that's a local Sales Tax at point of sale. Most countries have a sales tax of some sort. Doesn't preclude you from paying VAT also but I don't know enough about this specific area to advise properly.

[Rugster]

Skyline Drifter, on Oct 7 2004, 01:51 PM, said:

No, presumably that's a local Sales Tax at point of sale. Most countries have a sales tax of some sort. Doesn't preclude you from paying VAT also but I don't know enough about this specific area to advise properly.

I've twigged that now, I think paypal just calls it VAT.

I've read the link the Kilt put up, and it says for MP3 players, you are due VAT plus an import duty of 2%. So that's just under 20%, which equates to £4.60. Hardly going to break the bank, but worth knowing about if you're purchasing something more pricey

[Bongovonbudvar]

Ruggy Bairn, on Oct 6 2004, 06:41 PM, said:

I ordered an MP3 player off Ebay last week, and today I got a letter from the customs.

They need me to send them back the receipt and details of what I paid, what it is, is it for personal use etc.

It's come from China.

What (if anything) am I likely to be charged, embdy ken????

You will also be charged for the privilege of the item being opened and repackaged and another service fee upon collection from Royal Mail ( who act as an agent)................

We get items all the time where the surcharges are way over the value of the goods and the usual response is 'ram it'..............

It's just your Donald what gets opened, unless the sniffer dogs are about and Sid ends up paying over the odds for used knickers................

[Tormod Macleod]

hailtothethief, on Oct 7 2004, 12:44 PM, said:

Get you rmate to send them over, with a letter and card saying Happy Birthday. As its a gift you wouldnt have to pay any kind of import tax or VAT.

Thanks for that.

However, I might be having a birthday roughly every fortnight

[Loki]

I have had games, DVDs etc sent from Singapore and my mate always marks them as a gift, and there is never a problem. But gift has to be marked on the item when posting, normally you have to declare what an item is.

[thejailender]

My brotehr in law had a letter from the HM Customs and Excise a few months back. He had bought a pair of night vision goggles over Ebay.

He too had to provide a reciept, they said to him if he could prove how much he paid then he would be charged the VAT on what they estimated the product to be worth..

He too got around it by saying it was a friend who had sent them on, but he was still charges a bit for them to re-package and send it on.. This it was about £10 or something

[Tormod Macleod]

Thanks for that guys.

[Rugster]

The damage is £11.64.

I presume roughly a sky diver of that is for VAT. The rest will be some admin charge the f'kers reckon they are are due for simply opening a f'kin package.

Still, if I don't pay it, some nomark postie will have a free MP3 player, so f'k you I'll be collecting it in the morning.