Fedex Tax on eBay Phone

cupthehand

Just got hit with a bill off Fedex for €90 for a phone I bought off eBay about 6weeks ago anyone know of anyway of getting away with it or will i have to pay up!!!

dal

I got a bill from fedex for a laptop screen a while ago. Ignored it and then got a letter from a debt collection agency. I ended up paying it cos I was just a bit worried that it would eventually affect my credit rating.
Looking back now, I think I was probably overly cautious.

whisht

My understanding is that this is actually customs & VAT paid to the Irish government by Fedex, for you and instead of holding up your delivery and waiting for payment until they release the goods, they fork out and then bill you afterwards

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Make sure you're given an actual Customs and Excise invoice/bill before you go forking anything out. It sounds suspicious that they only get back to you now to collect the bill

Splinter

this does happen, i work for another shipping company and i have had customers call with the same issues, if you dont pay it will go to a debt collection agency and will only get worse from there

jhegarty

dal wrote:

I got a bill from fedex for a laptop screen a while ago. Ignored it and then got a letter from a debt collection agency. I ended up paying it cos I was just a bit worried that it would eventually affect my credit rating.
Looking back now, I think I was probably overly cautious.

It can never affect you credit rating in Ireland , only banks can do that....

dal

jhegarty wrote:

It can never affect you credit rating in Ireland , only banks can do that....

What do you reckon the OP should do?

skearon

jhegarty wrote:

It can never affect you credit rating in Ireland , only banks can do that....

Not true, as a judgement against you could be registered in court by the debt collection company and that will appear on your credit record

Flying

I thought only ICB Registered Companies could affect your credit rating.

I have no problems with excise, I have a problem with paying their admin fee after forking out say for Fedex postage.

Tis a bit rich to be honest.

Also note they usually send the debt collection notice out within 7 to 14 days of no payment,l they are vicious for money like that.

Creamy Goodness

dal wrote:

What do you reckon the OP should do?

to pay it. he owes it so he should pay it.

customs tax is liable on second hand purchases as well as new purchases,he should get a customs billed first though.

cupthehand

The breakdown of charges is as follows from Fedex receipt:

Disbursements out of the scope of EU VAT

€78.79

Clearance administration Charge VAT @ 21%

€10.00

Other charges VAt @ 21%

€2.10

Total

€90.89

wheresmybeaver

If the eBay seller is really nice, they'll mark the package (no matter what the content) as a Gift / Phone Accessory (valued at less than €20 or thereabouts) so that you won't have to pay VAT when it arrives here.. Naughty! But it happens alllllll the time.

eamon234

jhegarty wrote:

It can never affect you credit rating in Ireland , only banks can do that....

Of course it can - if they take you to court you get a judgement against you - this shows up on Stubbs (not the ICB) when someone does a credit check on you (also known as a CCJ) and then
Computer says no (cough!)

whisht

wheresmybeaver wrote:

If the eBay seller is really nice, they'll mark the package (no matter what the content) as a Gift / Phone Accessory (valued at less than €20 or thereabouts) so that you won't have to pay VAT when it arrives here.. Naughty! But it happens alllllll the time.

Lots of eBay sellers do this but it doesnt mean you wont get charged
I have bought lots of bits from USA & China and even if marked as gift etc, its the luck of the draw, some you will pay, some will get through.....

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Yup if customs officials are in any way suspicious, they can open the package and make their own valuation, which can be whatever they want and you have to pay tax on whatever value they say the item is

skearon

whisht wrote:

Lots of eBay sellers do this but it doesnt mean you wont get charged
I have bought lots of bits from USA & China and even if marked as gift etc, its the luck of the draw, some you will pay, some will get through.....

Plus I have found you nearly always pay tax using Fedex/TNT/DHL, better to use registered airmail

Flying

Free Market me Ar5e

magpie

Airmail is the only way to go. In my experience your items are much less likely to go 'missing' and you don't have that thorny customs issue to overcome.

dingding

10 euro + vat does not seem an unreasonable fee for the service that they provided on your behalf.

If enough people do not pay then they will have to suspend to the service to people that are willing to pay.

If you are not prepared to pay you should not buy items outside the EU.

whisht

skearon wrote:

Plus I have found you nearly always pay tax using Fedex/TNT/DHL, better to use registered airmail

100% agreed with you here
I generally found the same also

dal

dingding wrote:

10 euro + vat does not seem an unreasonable fee for the service that they provided on your behalf.

If enough people do not pay then they will have to suspend to the service to people that are willing to pay.

If you are not prepared to pay you should not buy items outside the EU.

10 euro is not for the delivery. That's already been paid.
10 euro is for them paying Customs on your behalf.

For THAT service, 10 euro seems enormous (given the scale that they do it on).

Mr. Presentable

Given they have paid your taxes for you, and risk not recovering them, €10.00seems perfectly reasonable. I'd question the €2.10 VAT they levied on it though.

cgarvey

The 10 quid charge is to cover the additional costs Fedex incur where the sender/recipient have not properly sorted out the VAT affairs in advance. This category of customer represents a tiny minority of Fedex customers, so it's not something they're going to include in the delivery charge.

10 quid doesn't go a long way on Irish salaries for the costs involved of the manual labour (packet inspection, filing of paperwork to revenue, or the various other costs involved like phone, software, etc.)

The VAT @21% is something the Irish government insist on, and nothing to do with Fedex (and is standard practice for businesses the world over).

You chanced your arm (or were misinformed initially) on avoiding customs, you got caught.. "deal with it"!

Solair

Flying wrote:

Free Market me Ar5e

If you're importing from outside the EU, it's not a free market at all. You are liable to pay import and excise duties.