New Import Duty/VAT Thread. Read Post #1 for Rules

Discodog · 25-03-2016 7:09pm

I am considering buying a garden saw from Japan. The item price is €33 & postage to here is €22. I also have the option of cheaper postage to the UK & then Parcel Motel.

Can someone tell me what additional charges would apply & whether deliver here or the UK is best ? Thanks

Collibosher · 26-03-2016 1:56am

Discodog wrote: »

....I also have the option of cheaper postage to the UK & then Parcel Motel..

Be careful, because if it arrives at Parcel Motel and there's vat owing, then it will be refused.

Discodog · 26-03-2016 11:33am

Collibosher wrote: »

Be careful, because if it arrives at Parcel Motel and there's vat owing, then it will be refused.

Yes I thought that. It was an option because they offer cheaper delivery to the UK. Is it only VAT or will the Couriers add handling charges ?

Umekichi · 26-03-2016 8:10pm

Discodog wrote: »

Yes I thought that. It was an option because they offer cheaper delivery to the UK. Is it only VAT or will the Couriers add handling charges ?

Yeah all the couriers and an post add handling charges. The cheapest one is An Post which is about €6 I think?

Discodog · 26-03-2016 8:35pm

So if i add standard VAT plus say a tenner am I likely to be around the total cost ?

contrary_devil · 28-03-2016 7:48am

Have you factored in your liability for customs duties?

Discodog · 28-03-2016 9:30am

contrary_devil wrote: »

Have you factored in your liability for customs duties?

On a €30 item ?

Allyall · 28-03-2016 10:47am

Discodog wrote: »

On a €30 item ?

Yep, as it's over €23.

It could be 23% of €30 = €6.90 + €7 An Post handling = €13.90 at your door.

Discodog · 28-03-2016 12:24pm

So typical that when you add it all on it's barely cheaper

Allyall · 28-03-2016 12:58pm

They (Customs) have "An administrative arrangement allows for the waiving of Import VAT where the total Import VAT calculated on a consignment does not exceed €6." - Which would be ~€27, but often does apply up to the value of €30.
Which means your item may come in without any charges, but €23 is the actual value before adding vat.

Worst case scenario is, it gets stopped and you get charged, and it only works out a small bit cheaper.

ohnonotgmail · 29-03-2016 8:56am

Allyall wrote: »

They (Customs) have "An administrative arrangement allows for the waiving of Import VAT where the total Import VAT calculated on a consignment does not exceed €6." - Which would be ~€27, but often does apply up to the value of €30.
Which means your item may come in without any charges, but €23 is the actual value before adding vat.

Worst case scenario is, it gets stopped and you get charged, and it only works out a small bit cheaper.

isnt the vat based on the item cost plus shipping so €55 in the example provided?

ED E · 29-03-2016 9:00am

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

isnt the vat based on the item cost plus shipping so €55 in the example provided?

Yup.

Allyall · 29-03-2016 9:56am

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

isnt the vat based on the item cost plus shipping so €55 in the example provided?

Yep, apologies.
I hadn't seen the €22 shipping, I was just responding to the €30 item (And that should be €33).

Discodog · 29-03-2016 11:21am

Thanks for your help. That knocks on the head. Only €10 more via Amazon.

contrary_devil · 29-03-2016 11:09pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

isnt the vat based on the item cost plus shipping so €55 in the example provided?

V.A.T. is calculated on the cost of the goods + insurance + shipping + customs charges.
It seems I haven't enough posts to allow me to be able to post links but there is information on the Revenue site regarding this.

realeoin · 11-04-2016 10:31am

So I ordered some DIY stuff from the States.
Some tiny DC hobby motors (rated 5 volts) and two new tips for my soldering iron (basically two small pieces of metal).

Total value $28
Shipping $24

I was €40.11 to my debit card for the purchase.

UPS just called to my door with a collection charge of €42.00 more

That's is more than a 100 per cent Import charge. That's completely insane.

Not only that but I ordered a similar package a few weeks back with twice the value of goods of the same and it was still less than this. What is going on ??

Naturally I declined to pay and would like to dispute the charges

What is the best way to go about this ?

realeoin · 11-04-2016 10:31am

So I ordered some DIY stuff from the States.
Some tiny DC hobby motors (rated 5 volts) and two new tips for my soldering iron (basically two small pieces of metal).

Total value $28
Shipping $24

I was charged €40.11 to my debit card for the purchase.

UPS just called to my door with a collection charge of €42.00 more

That's is more than a 100 per cent Import charge. That's completely insane.

Not only that but I ordered a similar package a few weeks back with twice the value of goods of the same and it was still less than this. What is going on ??

Naturally I declined to pay and would like to dispute the charges

What is the best way to go about this ?

nava · 11-04-2016 10:37am

realeoin wrote: »

So I ordered some DIY stuff from the States.
Some tiny DC hobby motors (rated 5 volts) and two new tips for my soldering iron (basically two small pieces of metal).

Total value $28
Shipping $24

I was charged €40.11 to my debit card for the purchase.

UPS just called to my door with a collection charge of €42.00 more

That's is more than a 100 per cent Import charge. That's completely insane.

Not only that but I ordered a similar package a few weeks back with twice the value of goods of the same and it was still less than this. What is going on ??

Naturally I declined to pay and would like to dispute the charges

What is the best way to go about this ?

Start by asking them to give you a break down of the charges, maybe they were not declared properly and UPS just estimated them?

realeoin · 11-04-2016 11:54am

Hi thanks for reply

Well the order was shipped 3 days ago (8th of April) from the US
and already it is at my door this morning (11th of April)

How could it possibly have gone through customs in this amount of time (over the weekend too)???

UPS is definitely trying to diddle me with a completely overestimated Duty charge.

Is it UPS I should contact for a breakdown of charges ??? Surely this is somehow illegal if they are claiming more money than what I am legally obliged to pay ??

ohnonotgmail · 11-04-2016 12:42pm

realeoin wrote: »

Hi thanks for reply

Well the order was shipped 3 days ago (8th of April) from the US
and already it is at my door this morning (11th of April)

How could it possibly have gone through customs in this amount of time (over the weekend too)???

UPS is definitely trying to diddle me with a completely overestimated Duty charge.

Is it UPS I should contact for a breakdown of charges ??? Surely this is somehow illegal if they are claiming more money than what I am legally obliged to pay ??

if the order did not include an invoice with a breakdown of shipping charges they will estimate the shipping charges based on standard. If the seller did not include a proper invoice with the parcel then it is the seller fault not UPS that the charges are so high. If you can get them a proper invoice they will recalculate the charges.

rubadub · 11-04-2016 1:10pm

Also note that if it went through normal post there would have been a decent enough chance it would have slipped through. An post seem to look at the value of the item when deciding if its to be charged, when charged they do charge on the shipping costs too though. i.e. if you bought a pen for $2 with $30 shipping an post might let it through, while couriers seem to jump at the chance to get their admin fee.

realeoin · 11-04-2016 1:23pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

if the order did not include an invoice with a breakdown of shipping charges they will estimate the shipping charges based on standard. If the seller did not include a proper invoice with the parcel then it is the seller fault not UPS that the charges are so high. If you can get them a proper invoice they will recalculate the charges.

Hi thanks for this info

This was indeed the case. The shipper did not included the shipping charges on the outside of the package. UPS thus charged me Import based on what their standard fee is (about €75)

So the value of my parcel was escalated from €40 (incl postage) to €100 (incl postage)

I have since emailed the invoice to UPS who said they will re-calculate the charge and re-send the package for delivery tomorrow

Still doesn't sit right with me though

They are 100% aware of all this both before and at the time they first deliver the package.
Could they not have sent a quick notification either to myself or the merchant ???

Could have avoided all the hassle and package would have been delivered on first run rather than on the second.

Anyways thanks for the replies

realeoin · 11-04-2016 1:25pm

rubadub wrote: »

Also note that if it went through normal post there would have been a decent enough chance it would have slipped through. An post seem to look at the value of the item when deciding if its to be charged, when charged they do charge on the shipping costs too though. i.e. if you bought a pen for with shipping an post might let it through, while couriers seem to jump at the chance to get their admin fee.

Yeah you're right. I bet if I'd paid for standard post none of this would have happened either. Seems the more you pay the more you can be shafted.

ohnonotgmail · 11-04-2016 1:27pm

realeoin wrote: »

Yeah you're right. I bet if I'd paid for standard post none of this would have happened either. Seems the more you pay the more you can be shafted.

if you had gone for standard post you would not have got it in 3 days

rubadub · 11-04-2016 1:28pm

realeoin wrote: »

They are 100% aware of all this both before and at the time they first deliver the package.
Could they not have sent a quick notification either to myself or the merchant ???

Some couriers charge a fixed admin rate fee, I think some charge admin as a % of the item value including postage. For those charging a % it is in their interest to knowingly apply fake high values even though they know fine well it is very likely you paid less. I expect there are codes on the dockets so they could easily find out what was paid too, it is their own system after all.

For those charging a fixed rate I do not understand it, as it will put people off using them again.

ohnonotgmail · 11-04-2016 1:28pm

realeoin wrote: »

Hi thanks for this info

This was indeed the case. The shipper did not included the shipping charges on the outside of the package. UPS thus charged me Import based on what their standard fee is (about €75)

So the value of my parcel was escalated from €40 (incl postage) to €100 (incl postage)

I have since emailed the invoice to UPS who said they will re-calculate the charge and re-send the package for delivery tomorrow

Still doesn't sit right with me though

They are 100% aware of all this both before and at the time they first deliver the package.
Could they not have sent a quick notification either to myself or the merchant ???

Could have avoided all the hassle and package would have been delivered on first run rather than on the second.

Anyways thanks for the replies

To be fair it is the shipper you should be pissed at not UPS. It is not their responsibility to ensure that sellers include the correct documentation.

realeoin · 11-04-2016 1:35pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

To be fair it is the shipper you should be pissed at not UPS. It is not their responsibility to ensure that sellers include the correct documentation.

True. I have sent an email to the merchant. I paid for quick postage because I need these things quickly. This has been delayed by 1 day as a result of them not declaring the proper cost of the goods. If they have any sense they will offer a partial refund or some store credit. Both of which I would be quite happy with

mad muffin · 11-04-2016 2:30pm

I just want to query a customs charge.

Ok so here's the situation.

A few months a go my grandmother died. She had made many tapestries over the years, and I was to choose two.

I was back in Perth and chose two. All the tapestries were mounted in glass and framed. I decided the best thing to do was to pack them and post them back to myself in Ireland.

Postage was Aus$246. The lady at post office in Perth said I need to declare the item and its value. If I was to under value it could be seized. I told her that they have no monitory value. Just sentimental value. Regardless I was to put down a value.

I decided to put down $50 for materials. Today they arrived with a customs charge of €78 :eek:

Is there a way I could have the charge waved? Or just tough luck?

Thanks.

Allyall · 11-04-2016 2:38pm

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

To be fair it is the shipper you should be pissed at not UPS. It is not their responsibility to ensure that sellers include the correct documentation.

The seller should have an account with UPS, and when something is blank it shouldn't be too hard for UPS to contact them and find what it should say. Especially conisdering that they would probably have a couple of days to do it while it's in transit.
Ridiculous to expect the end customer to be have to deal with all of that nonsense and pay the extra charges.
If UPS don't want to contact the seller, they can charge them for their mistake. It makes zero sense the current way.

Allyall · 11-04-2016 2:47pm

mad muffin wrote: »

Postage was Aus$246.
I decided to put down $50 for materials.
Today they arrived with a customs charge of €78 :eek:

Is there a way I could have the charge waved? Or just tough luck?

Thanks.

The shipping is the main charge there.
23% of Aus$246 = Aus$56
+ 23% of Aus$50 = Aus$11.50
+ (DHL?) Handling = €12.50

You could see if you're eligible for anything here - http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/refunds/index.html

I think (not sure) you could have declared it as a gift. You could argue your case..

New Import Duty/VAT Thread. Read Post #1 for Rules

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