Paying duty on goods from outside the EU- have I been ripped off?

[Beryl]

I have ordered some items from America which I think I will be liable to pay inport duty on. I have only been required to pay this once before when living in the UK. On that occasion I had to pay the guy on the doorstep before the parcel was released and on checking afterwards, I was pretty sure that I had been over charged.

How does it work in France ? It will be delivered by the postal worker, do I pay him upfront and if the amount of duty is wrong, how do I challenge it?

[cooperlola]

We get a lot of stuff from the US (mostly model railway and electronics items but also books, DVDs and CDs).  Probably 70% of the time, we aren't asked to pay duty at all - they just get delivered.  On other occasions, (relatively small amounts), we've paid the postman/delivery company direct.  On one occasion we had a letter from the Douane (sp?) - customs, explaining the charges, and had to pay before it was delivered.  So, it's been a bit "pot luck" for us.  Each time we've paid, we've had a customs form with details as to how to make a claim if we feel the charge is wrong.  On the whole, with the dollar being what it is - on balance buying from the US is really economical - even with customs charges.  I wouldn't worry if I were you - chances are, you won't pay duty at all!

 

[Beryl]

Got stung again!

It came via UPS, the company I bought from in America gave me the option of paying $ 15 to cover the taxes etc but said it would take a little longer , so I opted to pay them this end.

BIG MISTAKE € 44 [:(]   this is €23 TVA ,€6 droits de douane and charges additionnelles / dedouanement €13 and than anothe 2.55 tva !

I cannot understand the disparity and how this figure is worked out as the  value of the goods was a tad under $70 which is about 50 euros, which means the TVA is running at 90 % !

Have UPS done their sums wrong ? Can anyone shed any light on this please before I send them an email ?

 

[Beryl]

I had just updated this and it  vanished from the list of postings , so I have written this simply to kickstart it!

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

Is there not a sum below which TVA is not levied I think it used to be about 15 to 20 euros didn't it?

[Pierre ZFP]

Yeah I think you've been ripped off.

Initial cost 50 euros, duty 6 euros (which is about right) then TVA is levied on cost plus duty (can we say no double taxation? apparently not) which is another 11 euros.

So you should have paid 17 euros tops.  As for 'dedouanement' or 'taking out of bond' who are they kidding?  An article worth 50 euros going into bond? I don't think so

[BJSLIV]

Don't understand the VAT calculation, but UPS levy a standard minimum admin charge of 13 Euros. There are lots of complaints on French forums. there are alos complaints that its pretty well impossible to get UPS to refund over-payments.

Never mind it could have been worse. If the goods had been counterfeit then you would have had a fine to pay as well.

 

[Beryl]

There was never any danger of them being counterfeit, what kind of gal do you think I am?[:D]

I have emailed UPS ( and the company in the US ) to ask for some kind of explanation and will report back if I get a reply.

I will certainly get the taxes calculated and paid for at the US end in future, lesson learned!

[Busy Bee]

We sent a parcel of used baby clothes (2.5 kg's worth) to my brother who lives in Canada - 6 weeks later the parcel was returned by Canadian customs and my husband paid the postman 27 euros customs duty to accept the parcel back as it was deemed unacceptable to Canadian Douanes - explain that one! (if I'd have been in I would have told the postman to keep them - very politely of course)

Tracy

[Nick Trollope]

Buying from outside the EU is loaded with problems. Firstly the VAT and duty is based on what the customs man believes is the value of the goods. If you buy something second-hand off eBay, then they will go on their experience as to what it is actually worth (bear in mind that everyone puts a lower value on customs declarations). Secondly, you are bound to be stung for charges levied by the carrier, who are unwilling to work as unpaid tax collectors.

In my experience it is rarely worth buying cheap things from outside the EU.

 

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Ripping people off is what goverments do best.

Must say, we have been lucky and not had to pay on items we've received from outside the EU. Although when we lived in Australia and bought the viamichelin gps maps of France from France, little Johnny Howard made sure he got his cut when he slapped his 10% gst (vat) bill on top of what I'd already paid. [:(]

I'm getting cynical in my old age.

[Russethouse]

[quote user="Nick Trollope"]

Buying from outside the EU is loaded with problems. Firstly the VAT and duty is based on what the customs man believes is the value of the goods. If you buy something second-hand off eBay, then they will go on their experience as to what it is actually worth (bear in mind that everyone puts a lower value on customs declarations). Secondly, you are bound to be stung for charges levied by the carrier, who are unwilling to work as unpaid tax collectors.

In my experience it is rarely worth buying cheap things from outside the EU.

 

[/quote]

 

Recently we have been buying quite a lot of stuff from the USA and to date have had no nasty suprises re duty, however goods in transit are taking longer than normal and I suspect they have been inspected and there may be an additional cost,(the total value is under $50 but even if I have to pay on this one, we would still be quids in.)

Don't forget if you buy off ebay and the goods are antique (over 100 years old) get the seller to mark that on the customs form.......

[Blanche Neige]

My daughter ordered two dresses from the U.S.A. for her bridesmaids, when the dresses arrived she had to pay £60 [:(]

She says it was still cheaper than buying same dresses in the U.K.

[Hagar]

[quote user="Tracyk"]

We sent a parcel of used baby clothes (2.5 kg's worth) to my brother who lives in Canada - 6 weeks later the parcel was returned by Canadian customs and my husband paid the postman 27 euros customs duty to accept the parcel back as it was deemed unacceptable to Canadian Douanes - explain that one! (if I'd have been in I would have told the postman to keep them - very politely of course)

Tracy

[/quote]

Canada has strict import controls on apparel and textiles. There are exemptions and your parcel should have been exempt , however , you proably should have enclosed some documentation proving/claiming exemption. You can find details on Canadian Customs website.

rgds

hagar

 

 

[Busy Bee]

Thanks Hagar,

Will have a look at the website - never occurred to me there would be a problem, so just sent bundle of used clothes without even a note.  They were early baby clothes so would have looked new I suppose, as they had not been worn much!  I was just pretty irate that they cost 28 euros to send in the first place, then 27 to get them back and my sister in laws twins were due any time.

Cheers

[maureen]

Send them over with the Stork.....................

[Beryl]

An update

Apparently the charges I had to pay are all  bona fide [:(] including the duty that I had to pay on the US postage costs! So for goods and postage that cost a combined $ 112   I had to pay €44 in various extra fees/ taxes ![:@]

The next time I order internationally, I will certainly get whatever taxes I can paid at the other end. I realise that they cannot be escaped but somehow they would have been cheaper if I had paid them when I placed the order.

Still we live and learn.

[Russethouse]

I recently had to pay £12 in the Uk, goods worth about £28 from the USA. Only £4 was duty, £1 was for the post office and the balance to who ever did the administration. However as this was about parcel number 6 from the USA I'm not complaining too much, there was no payment on the others.

The limit for duty free is officially £18 in the UK, what is the threshold in France ?

[cooperlola]

I've just had a quick tot-up.  Of over 50 parcels in the past year from the US, we have been charged on only 6!  Mostly model railway and slot cars but some books, CDs and DVDs.  Varying values but nearly all over 20$ and some which got through way over that.  As I said, it seems to be pot luck but UPS are the worst.  Try to use another courier if you can (preferably the US/French postal service which seem to be the least picky!)

[Sunday Driver]

The question of paying duty/VAT is dependent upon what the goods are, not necessarily the value.

You can find details on the French [url=http://www.douane.gouv.fr]Douanes website[/url].

 

[cooperlola]

I agree about the theory, SD, natch.  However, there really has been absolutely no rhyme nor reason about this.  My o/h regularly buys model locos from the US.  They are all in the approximate $100 range and are sent as "toy trains" ([:D]).  Some we pay charges on, some we don't and honestly, it's a lottery!

The same goes for DVD's.  I buy Region 1 DVDs from play.usa.  When these are above a certain value, there is an automatic warning which comes up on the site, saying that import charges, tva etc is payable buy the buyer.  However, I have only once in the last 3 years, copped for any!