Customs charge?

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landlord
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:21 am

Customs charge?

Post by landlord » Sat Sep 22, 2012 10:44 am

Hi all, I'm in the UK and have been waiting for my recent order. Today I got a card form the Royal Mail saying I have to pay £11.25 Customs charge. Is this new? I have never had to pay a charge before and my order was only $34 dollars.

Anyone else had to pay recently?
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Cupcake
Posts: 1097
Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:52 pm

Re: Customs charge?

Post by Cupcake » Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:54 pm

Hello, yes, that's normal. Anything over £15 (about $23-24) and you have to pay a handling fee and the customs charges. Depending upon what the goods are, there are different rates of taxation. I've recently found this independent website http://www.dutycalculator.com/ very helpful.

You'll probably find that the Mount Pleasent C&E boys are getting much more attentive these days. In previous years, parcels could slip through but in the last 1-2 years, none get through. Last time I had one, I was only over the limit by about 25pence and it got hit with fees, so I had to send it back as I couldn't afford that. Couple that with the high shipping costs from the USA just now, makes buying tricky. Sometimes better, if possible, planning one large order and accepting the customs fees knowing that it'll be less in overall costs than a handful of smaller parcels with each individually having high shipping costs. Hope that helps.
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