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Import duty charge after delivery
I ordered an item online last year from the US, and after the item was delivered I received a bill for import duty to be paid of 25.00.
The item was paid upfront, I took delivery and no mention was made at the time of any import duty charge.
As far as I was aware, normally an item will not be delivered to a customer if there is an import charge to be paid, and you would be notified of this and would usually be able to pay the charge either online or upon receipt of the item.
The company is FedEx.
I received a letter about the charge about a month ago, but it was not clear which item it referred to (I was ordering a lot of stuff online at the time), and as it seemed a bit unusual, I assumed it was some kind of glitch and ignored it, frankly.
Now I have been contacted by a debt collection company(control account...checked them out online and they seem legit) for the payment. Just called them for clarification, and now I know for which item the charge is for and what the carrier company is, and they explained that sometimes the carrier will pay charges on your behalf, and bill you later.
But in all the years I have been ordering online I have never come across this practise. As said earlier, carriers will usually not deliver an item until any charges are paid before or at the time of delivery. It raises the question of the fairness and legality of the issue, because surely such companies are liable to inform customers of al charges upfront.
Anyone able to advise on this?
The item was paid upfront, I took delivery and no mention was made at the time of any import duty charge.
As far as I was aware, normally an item will not be delivered to a customer if there is an import charge to be paid, and you would be notified of this and would usually be able to pay the charge either online or upon receipt of the item.
The company is FedEx.
I received a letter about the charge about a month ago, but it was not clear which item it referred to (I was ordering a lot of stuff online at the time), and as it seemed a bit unusual, I assumed it was some kind of glitch and ignored it, frankly.
Now I have been contacted by a debt collection company(control account...checked them out online and they seem legit) for the payment. Just called them for clarification, and now I know for which item the charge is for and what the carrier company is, and they explained that sometimes the carrier will pay charges on your behalf, and bill you later.
But in all the years I have been ordering online I have never come across this practise. As said earlier, carriers will usually not deliver an item until any charges are paid before or at the time of delivery. It raises the question of the fairness and legality of the issue, because surely such companies are liable to inform customers of al charges upfront.
Anyone able to advise on this?
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Comments
You have ordered and received this item, you would have known that duty was payable on the item, and you've now been billed for this duty. I can't see what the problem is, you just have to pay up!
Nobody likes paying duty on items ordered from abroad, but, I'm sorry to have to say, it does have to be paid.
Pay them.
You purchased and received the item, Now you must pay.
It is that simple
What annoyed me was that I bought the headphones at discount as a Kickstarter supporter but I was charged duty on the full retail price.
But with buying overseas the law is basically saying the courier is your responsibility, or your agents (the seller is your agent for import purposes)
And the courier has agreed with your agent that they can charge you a fee(+ the duty itself) and may deliver the item to you first and bill you later for the fee+duty.
So this is a confusion to many buyers, they don't realise that it's they who are importing an item. The seller is merely the buyers agent.
Buy anything from outside the EU over £15, and you will need to pay VAT 20%, import duty (usually 0-5% depending on type of item), and sometimes the delivery company will charge a fee (most don't, but Royal Mail charge a ridiculous EIGHT pounds)
But my point is that I was not informed either prior to or upon delivery of any charges to be paid.
I know most couriers and carriers will advise before delivery, and I actually prefer this. I know it can sometimes take a bit longer to deliver, but you can usually pay the fees online in most cases.
Can't say its a practise I agree with though...
but you ought to know that any personal imports above the relevant limit CAN attract import duties. This also applies to people going abroad. The limits are different, but you can't go outside the EU (to NY say), buy expensive jewellery and necessarily get it into the UK without paying import duties. If you don't declare, it's smuggling.
With regard to you not knowing, that's the point. There is a presumption that everyone knows the law.
The exporting company would not necessarily know, and often customs don't pick it up. But I think that's why there is a "value" declaration on the outside of packages to prevent customs opening stuff.
I don't think they should have declared a higher value than what you paid, if it was an arms-length transaction, though. That seems wrong.
HMV/Play etc used to have incomprehensible T&C about this. I never went over £15 just in case.