Import Charges?

besty

im gonna order some clothes from american eagle which come to around €225 (incl. shipping). i was wondering, if i get caught by customs, does anyone have any idea how much i will have to pay?

thanks for any help

tSubh Dearg

well when I got caught for victoria secret stuff of $100 (incl shipping) it cost me around €50 in duties/taxes and "miscellanious"!

tinkerbell

For something over the 200 mark, you are gonna get screwed for AT LEAST €100. So be prepared to fork out. Stupid Irish country, taxing us on everything. Maybe if they actually had decent stuff here, then we wouldn't have to import stuff in from the US. :mad: And yes, I did get screwed for stuff I ordered from Victoria's Secret, customs scumbags!!

Bri

Would it be worth ordering a few different times to have seperate packaging? Potentially lower the overall costs...Could end up paying more but I doubt you'll get by scott free.

Attol

If it's shipped by a proper company I seriously doubt it. They'll use couriers like DHL or FedEx who pay the tax for you at first then pass on the bill about a month later. ****. I didn't know about income tax because I was an ignorant fool until I got the bill after ordering my boyfriend's xmas pressie from the States.

tk123

If it's coming from American Eagle you'll get import tax on it cos they use the US postal service and that's going to end up in the hands of GLS...I think I paid €40 on $120 worth of stuff...

Drummer

How can they get you for tax - they would have to open your parcels, thats illegal. Anyway, it's a personal item, it's not like you are selling it on to anyone or importing in bulk. Besides, why not just order something from Europe if you are that bothered.

Bri

No offence, but use your head. To start with:
Because it's the rules.
Because it's their job.
Oh and because the items and their value will be declared on the outside.

Attol

There's a lot of good stuff you can't get in Europe.

cgf

I'm not an expert on this but.....

I believe it should by 21% VAT and the import duty as defined in the TARIC codes

(seehttp://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/dds/cgi-bin/tarchap?Lang=EN)

Have fun trying to locate whatever you are looking to import in the TARIC Database - not the most user friendly.

I dunno how people reckon on 50% in taxes unless the import duties are 20%+

voxpop

its item cost + import duty (check out the revenue website for the duty on particular items) * 21 %. Some items dont have any import duty.
You could always ask the company to mark the parcel as a gift,for repair,prototype,etc to try and dodge import duty or just get them to lie about the cost of the goods - you are allowed to import a gift work 47e (i think)

Sangre

besty wrote:

im gonna order some clothes from american eagle which come to around €225 (incl. shipping). i was wondering, if i get caught by customs, does anyone have any idea how much i will have to pay?

thanks for any help

Would you just not wait until you go away for the summer?

besty

yea maybe. dont know if im going to canada anymore though sangre.ps i know who you are, i presume the opposite is true due to my unimaginative alias

tinkerbell

It's import duty and "administration costs" which actually have costed me more than the actual duty itself! I think the courier was DHL. I ordered stuff for just over €200, and had to pay about €100.

Attol

That's weird. How can it be so much for DHL in Ireland compared to England? I think you guys are exaggerating or mixing up the shipping costs and taxes. I bought a blanket from thinkgeek.com. $60(incl. shipping) and got charged £10 Sterling taxes.

tSubh Dearg

well I'm not exaggerating! The bill that came with my package detailing the costs of the extra money was divided into:

VAT
Import Duty
Miscellanious

The last being the most expensive at about €20. Now personally I would love to know what miscellanious was and why it cost €20!
The delivery company used for this was UPS.

Attol

Some sites show prices withough VAT. Make sure to check to see whether advertised prices are with tax, or without. It might not be as cheap as you think.

Import duty will be about 21% of the full cost. I got charged about 25%.


Miscellaneous could just be UPS' way of skimming a little extra for themselves off the top, or maybe there were problems on the way with your package. You should have called and asked what the charges were for.

Sangre

besty wrote:

yea maybe. dont know if im going to canada anymore though sangre.ps i know who you are, i presume the opposite is true due to my unimaginative alias

It was the Dr Evil avatar that gave it away :P

besty

thanks, thanks alot

lady jaffacake

Yes, you will get hit for customs on anything over Eur43.00. The big companies like American Eagle and Victoria's Secret can't/won't do anything to help you out when it comes to packing and customs forms. You're better off dealing with private individuals selling things on Ebay. They might be more willing to package things in such a way as to avoid customs charges including taking off the original tags. Otherwise, like someone else suggested, make multiple small purchases on separate days. :eek: