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I must either have just gotten lucky in the past or never ordered above £135, either way my gob was smacked when I got a message from UPS requesting £67.45 on delivery of my £145 package.
UPS charge £13 'brokerage' so I'm not entirely sure where the remaining £54 comes from, have emailed seller.
Can I just refuse and let them return to sender? Or will they charge me something anyway?
Check with the seller first - sometimes any costs are already included in their price and its the courier that's mucked up the paperwork and adding additional fees that have actually been pre-paid
I had this with a wet suit we bought from Germany - it swapped courier mid journey and the courier doing UK leg of the journey was unaware that everything was already paid for and was refusing to hand the package over at the door without further payment
I have had issues with UPS international deliveries in the past. In both cases it was the seller providing the wrong information on the invoice which UPS then interpreted as extra costs. The first was because the seller hadn’t made it clear that the postage was ‘free’ and put a standard amount on top to add to the VAT cost, the second because the tariff code was wrong so what should have been 0% was put at 3% ( on a £750 item)
In both cases dealing with UPS when I had the correct invoices sent to me was an absolute nightmare. All I can say is good luck…
TLDR: check the sellers paperwork as a starting point
Yeah, do we even have tarrifs between EU and UK? Or should it just be 20% VAT?
Either way, on top of UPS's brokerage fee it's a bit of an expensive mistake on my part ☹️
All depends on the origin of the goods. Shipped from the EU doesn’t mean made in the EU.
I have had issues with UPS international deliveries in the past. In both cases it was the seller providing the wrong information on the invoice which UPS then interpreted as extra costs. The first was because the seller hadn’t made it clear that the postage was ‘free’ and put a standard amount on top to add to the VAT cost, the second because the tariff code was wrong so what should have been 0% was put at 3% ( on a £750 item)
In both cases dealing with UPS when I had the correct invoices sent to me was an absolute nightmare. All I can say is good luck…
TLDR: check the sellers paperwork as a starting point
Seller just shrugged their shoulders and blamed Brexit without attempting to explain why fees were so high. I can refuse to accept but they did mention that UPS would return the package 'without urgency', slowing down the refund process. Hope there isn't an implied threat there...
Lesson learned, I'm not paying £212 for two short sleeved tops, no matter how much I liked the colours! 🙄
jeez, what a faff. FWIW, and not immediately helpful to you, but ordering, and even returning stuff, I've found to be generally easier, faster and better value to and from the US than the EU. **** Brexit, and **** trump, but whadya gonna do?
(this was recent experience buying 2 short sleeved shirts from Handup, where returning was, with an additional £1.50 paid at checkout, free!)
You don't want to hear this but recently spent around £600 on an item from Europe & was fully expecting to be stung by customs but delivery came with no extra charges, wasn't until I thumbed through the 18 pages of paperwork that I spotted the manufacturer had stated the value as being 50 euros....
Freeeeeeedumb
I’ve had this from UPS a few times, but never with any other carrier. I always assumed it was a grift, and as I didn’t want to lose the package I just paid up.
I'm currently having my first experience with a UPS delivery. I cannot say it's an experience I'm in much of a hurry to repeat.
You don't want to hear this but recently spent around £600 on an item from Europe & was fully expecting to be stung by customs but delivery came with no extra charges, wasn't until I thumbed through the 18 pages of paperwork that I spotted the manufacturer had stated the value as being 50 euros....
In fairness I've been lucky of late, probably why I let my guard down.
I’ve had this from UPS a few times, but never with any other carrier. I always assumed it was a grift, and as I didn’t want to lose the package I just paid up.
It did feel a bit like that, I wonder if the delivery driver will 'revise' the total once I refuse to accept the package. Unfortunately for them I was already experiencing a bit of buyer's remorse after spending more than I really meant to on some new jerseys so I think I'll have to take my chances with rejecting and waiting months for a refund...
I had a shipment split into two packages with the same invoice value put on both labels so I paid the extortionate fees twice. DHL this was but not their fault. Never ordered from that seller again.
I had a shipment split into two packages with the same invoice value put on both labels so I paid the extortionate fees twice
I once upon a time curated a film festival with an open call for submissions from all aroind the world.... and a not insignificant number of people sending in submissions put the full production budget of the film on the customs declaration rather than the value of the VHS tape they had posted
You don't want to hear this but recently spent around £600 on an item from Europe & was fully expecting to be stung by customs but delivery came with no extra charges, wasn't until I thumbed through the 18 pages of paperwork that I spotted the manufacturer had stated the value as being 50 euros....
TBH it doesn’t matter what the values stated, if it was properly inspected you’d probably have been taxed on it at the real value.
Trouble is it’s easy to leave the eu but hard to apply all these additional inspections (if at all)
Does anyone remember what used to happen before the UK was in the EU? I remember that we never got charged the crazy admin fee but was the tax paid by the person sending or receiving?
I'd guess it was just like ordering from outside the EU while we were in the EU. Tax was always paid by the recipient/importer. But the systems were terrible. You'd only get hit by taxes 1 time in 20. And the admin fee was only a couple of quid when i started importing from china/US/etc (early 90s). Now they are all digitally tracked and the volume of cross border shipping by private individuals must be at least 2 orders of magnitude higher as well, so there's a lot of money to be made and more legislation (everyone wants their cut!).Does anyone remember what used to happen before the UK was in the EU? I remember that we never got charged the crazy admin fee but was the tax paid by the person sending or receiving?
The system is doing its job which is to make it less appealing to import stuff from the EU.
This would all make sense if we had thriving industry of stuff we made ourselves but that was bolloxed off years ago.
That said I have used UPS for EU or go between DJI and also for Gore - and it's little extra paper work but mostly okay. There was one time when the shop wouldn't released the product for some obscure reason.
The system is doing its job which is to make it less appealing to import stuff from the EU.
This would all make sense if we had thriving industry of stuff we made ourselves but that was bolloxed off years ago.
That said I have used UPS for EU or go between DJI and also for Gore - and it's little extra paper work but mostly okay. There was one time when the shop wouldn't released the product for some obscure reason.
Modern governments are brainless in this regard. Imports are a net benefit - you are using your currency (created out of nothing) for some other countries resources, skill and products.
The irony is I just got itchy trigger finger when ordering the jersey I wanted and thought I'd treat myself to a second one in a different colour. If I'd have been more restrained I would have avoided all this. Or worse, I could just have placed two individual orders, both under £135, since it's free postage anyway! 😭
They're a Belgian brand so all the more reason to visit next year and actually try the stuff on in store...
Can I just refuse and let them return to sender? Or will they charge me something anyway?
Yeah, that's what I've done in the past. UPS tried to charge me £131 duty on an item costing $175. No amount of speaking with them could convince them they were wrong so I just stopped communication and the item got sent back.
The system is doing its job which is to make it less appealing to import stuff from the EU.
This is true, I didn't NEED to order from EU, I just did so because I liked this particular brand, cut, colour etc. Unfortunately though my 'local' brand is Endura and I'm not prepared to go around looking like a colour-blind lumberjack in oddly sized haphazard quality clothing! 🤣 (joke! just ref. the Endura thread...)
Does anyone remember what used to happen before the UK was in the EU? I remember that we never got charged the crazy admin fee but was the tax paid by the person sending or receiving?
How often did consumers order directly from abroad before the EU, it is mainly a trade that has boomed with the internet in the past 10 years or so, I was an early adopter due to having size 15 feet scouring the internet for shoes that would fit and I don't think I ordered anything from another country before 2010, chainreactioncycles for bike stuff were dominant for a while with wiggle coming a distant 2nd, and it was probably the mid to late 2010's when some European bike shops became known to UK consumers. And I think that bike stuff was probably an early outlier in consumers ordering from abroad, other than that short lived CD & DVD seller based in Jersey (was it play,com) who could sell cheap as there was a tax advantage but had a short shelf life as streaming took over.
So I don't think there is a realistic comparison to be made from pre EU to post EU.
I've not seen your query about where the extra came from answered yet
Assuming it was marked up as sports clothing it would be 12% import duty and VAT on top. Based on rudimentary calculations that may not be correct...
You pay £145 and you get charged 17.40 in import duty and £13 for the privilege of UPS paying VAT and duty on your behalf. Then all that is (I think) vat-able costs so you pay VAT on everything. £210.48 total which comes to £65.48 extra.
But that is based on you paying in sterling which you won't have done, so there could be exchange rate nuances that send it a couple of quid each way.
The customs duty and VAT has already been paid by UPS so even if you did return it there would almost certainly be a cost attached.
UPS will be able to provide a breakdown of the costs, but unfortunately you probably just need to suck it up.
This would all make sense if we had thriving industry of stuff we made ourselves but that was bolloxed off years ago.This is one thing that was thrown into sharp relief when i was in the UK over the summer. There *are* empty shelves, there *is* a reduction in choice. It's all a bit sad and stupid.
I bought a fatbike from Alaska. As the duty was much cheaper for "bike parts" than for "bikes" the supplier sent the wheels separately.
You pay £145 and you get charged 17.40 in import duty and £13 for the privilege of UPS paying VAT and duty on your behalf. Then all that is (I think) vat-able costs so you pay VAT on everything. £210.48 total which comes to £65.48 extra.
Thanks SeriousRik, that pretty much all adds up and I guess I should have known UPS weren't 'at it'.
Looks like the seller has already instigated a return to sender according to UPS's parcel tracker, so it's out of my hands now, no mention of paying anything but I guess worst case is it gets deducted from my final refund. Arguably better to pay the ~£30 and learn my lesson than upwards of £210 for two cycling tops I didn't exactly NEED 🙄
out of pure curiosity, can you share a link to the tops please.
Not on my work computer, damn firewall!
Bioracer Epic (Thyme colour) and Bioracer Icon (Rusty ochre). I like their Epic range as it's quite compressive and has good leg/arm grippers so wrinkle free sleeves! (can you tell I'm getting in to TTs... 🙄).
The Epic shorts are also brilliant although limited stock (I think they have some with Belgian Team logos on them). I would swear Bioracer had some input into the really really posh Rapha 'powerweave' shorts, but don't quote me on that.
This is one thing that was thrown into sharp relief when i was in the UK over the summer. There *are* empty shelves, there *is* a reduction in choice
Where in the UK was this? I've just not seen any difference whatsoever.