e-bay. what!

bigjim

Am I wrong? Bought a camera from e-bay for £51 + £10 postage. Postie turns up not with camera but a bill for £17! I bought from a guy in Guernsey and customs were charging vat + post office handling fee of £9. Not got the camera as post office holding it to ransom. Seller not interested says it is my responsibility. Talk about a ripoff. Be warned. Anybody know if the seller is in the right. Robbing customs, post office b......s.

Jim

nwallace

Guernsey being outside the EU Vat and Customs area means that on importing it to the UK you are liable for VAT and Customs duties.

redvee

Caveat emptor. You should have checked out the possibility of import duty on the purchase. You are charged on goods imported ver the value of £18.

bigjim

Thats me told then. fair enough but a warning to all about buying outside E.U. Still a ripoff though. handling charge! Whats all that about?

Jim

nwallace

Paper work and shelf usage costs money as does the postmasters time in dealing with it all. If it was charged for at an hourly rate like some other services it could be well over 9 quid even if it only takes 10 mins.

ademort

Yep, i bought a Ferrari F20 pc monitor from the U.S a real bargain off ebay, when it arrived i had to pay DHL another €161 VAT and import tax, qiute a surprise that was. Greetings Ademort

bigjim

Yes but I paid £10 postage fee for delivery to my front door. But I had to go and pick it up. So they didn't handle it enough!

Jim

Random Vince

my camera came from jersey and i don't remember paying tax on it. twas sent by jessops too!

either mine slipped through, or it can be marked as a gift and is exempt from tax to a certain extent.

nwallace

If it is marked as a gift and it's not then its tax evasion on your part :?
A fair number of companies will do that by default.
Misstating values is another one, £100 quid of DVDs suddenly become £18 on postal insurance and customs declaration. hrm!

Strangely the mail from the US significantly slowed down recently as Customs upped their action on checking declared mail was what it claimed to be.

Living in a country where taxes are used to directly fund services that keep people alive, pays for roads, etc etc etc.
Tax evasion is conning your self as well, it would be a sick end for someone to have a evaded tax all their life, then to die because their cureable condition couldnt' be paid for because of a lack of funds. Though the worst for it probably convicne them selves that the money they save on taxes by evasion is fine as they aren't using public services.

mercsport

I suspect nwallace might be serving out his time on this sod as a bureaucrat .
There are many reasons where it's justifiable to avoid paying taxes . Depends perhaps on how deeply ingrained your sense of justice is , as so much tax is immoral , or whether you're born a nitpicker and stickler for 'rules is rules '. Regrettably -to me - I see this country becoming a 'state' and the prodnose amongst us on a mighty roll nowadays . Avoiding taxes is a given in most countries , here too to an extent , and good accountants earn their crust by dredging up the loopholes whereby the wealthy pay relatively bugger all whilst we serfs are shook down for whatever might remain in loose change at the bottom of our pockets .
There is so much that is good that tax pays for of course , but - I'm guessing here - it always seems to outweighed by the shameless squandering of our money on unwinnable wars ; nonsensensical armaments ; lining the pockets on the Westminster / Euro gravy train ; paying out for the gross blunders of the private / public sector ; the preposterous benefits system and so on . Essentially 'pick'n'mix' whatever pisses you off today will fill the bill . Why everyone singles out health as an example to illustrate what'd happen if we aren't all good model citizens defeats me . Personally , as a fatalist , I couldn't give a toss if I croak it tomorrow with a cureable condition and the funds weren't there to cure it . So what ? What further good to humankind is it that I stutter on for a few more years , or months ?
No , in my book the skills of tax avoidance ought to be on the curriculum of every comp. in the country - although mine was a minor it likely is at the better pub.schools .
Incidentally , but more to the point here ( excuse my mini-rant ), that 'handling charge' is without a doubt a rip-off whereby the handling authority here excuse themselves to lighten your pocket further for some indefinable and unaccountable service - where they've already been paid by the postal service of the foreign country to handle the goods sent - and arbitarily charge you whatever it is that they think everyone can stand ( being British we stoically stand a heck of a lot ) .
Rant over . I'm fagged out now !
P.S. Oh yes , I did manage to get a decent ride in today as the weather was super . Don't quite know where this well of sedition has surfaced from though . :?

carlstone

I must admit I would have been pee'd off if I'd had to pay duty and handling for something from Guernsey. If the seller did'nt make this clear I would leave negative or at least neutral feedback, as I would imagine the majority of UK and EU buyers wouldn't be aware of this. However if they did make this clear in the listing then its a case of taking it on the chin!

popette

carlstone wrote:

I must admit I would have been pee'd off if I'd had to pay duty and handling for something from Guernsey. If the seller did'nt make this clear I would leave negative or at least neutral feedback, as I would imagine the majority of UK and EU buyers wouldn't be aware of this. However if they did make this clear in the listing then its a case of taking it on the chin!

Agree with you Carlstone. If they didn't make it clear then I would have been really annoyed and probably writing a thread on here as well.

top_bhoy

Disagree....its the buyers responsibility. Its not for the seller to know every country's stance on import duties and its taxation system. Caveat emptor.

I think the big issue here is the relatively large handling charge by Royal Mail. I would think they would be paid a fee by customs for collecting the duty and then they get even more by charging again for a service they had already been paid for. Re. storage, so what, non-delivered domestic Parcels get left on shelves every day and no charge is placed on them.

mercsport

" I think the big issue here is the relatively large handling charge by Royal Mail. I would think they would be paid a fee by customs for collecting the duty and then they get even more by charging again for a service they had already been paid for. Re. storage, so what, non-delivered domestic Parcels get left on shelves every day and no charge is placed on them."

I wholly agree . It's what I meant to say in as few words before I got 'carried away' in previous post . The Royal Mail and ParcelForce regard us as here to be mulcted for whatever we are able to be shook down for . And , as hostages , we stand for it !
:evil: