Custom taxes (1 Viewer)

[The Schnapper]

I will be recieving a delivery from the US that amounts to roughly 100 euro. It is being delivered by UPS express and I was wondering if I will be expected to pay any additional fees when coming into the country?

 

[nlgbbbblth]

I'd say yes.
Why?

Because it's UPS.
and the value is greater than €45.

They charged me €110 on a large order from Deep Discount DVD.
Import duty + VAT + "other"

Anything sent via a parcel / courier company like UPS or DHL seems far more likely to be nabbed.

 

[The Schnapper]

So does the UPS guy ask for it at the door or whats the story?

 

[jane]

UPS are fuckers. My folks used to try to send me stuff by UPS, but after 9/11 I'd get nabbed for tax every time, no matter what. I was told this was all to do with '9/11 and stuff', which was a bit surprising. My folks sent me something I'd left at home via UPS, but put a very unclear statement like "Used personal goods, value 75 bucks" or something on the package, which they said did not compute.

"How is my mammy sending me a jumper I already owned in any way related to the fact that the US -- another government -- is 'at orange'? And how exactly is this translated into monetary amounts?"

He was all, "That'll be 35 quid. You want it or not?"

I tried to give him 40 and he said he didn't have change. I offered to pay by credit card and he said he coudn't accept cards. Several yes or no questions later, it turned out he was just being a difficult dick.

So I said, "Fine, but this will take a while." I went upstairs and I counted out whatever the exact amount was (in addition to one of the 20s -- I wasn't trying to be THAT difficult) in coins, mostly coppers, which took about 20 minutes. Came down with a huge bag of coins and offered to count it all out in front of him. He declined.

And last time FedEx was used, to send me someting, it went through France, then was sent to Dubai, and took two weeks to arrive. I'm curious about the sort of calendar they use, since their slogan is, "When we say overnight, we MEAN overnight," which they obviously confused with Microsoft's "Where do you want to go today?"

Shipping companies are a universal pain in the hoo haa. Regular post is the least shit, and in my experience, it's cheaper and doesn't take a whole longer than using a shipping company.

 

[jane]

So does the UPS guy ask for it at the door or whats the story?

See my post above. But that was at least 5 years ago, they may have decided to have their drivers carry change by now. Or accept credit cards or online payments or something. Or the guy was just being a dick. It's also entirely possible he wasn't meant to charge me for 'used personal goods' and wanted just to get some money off me.

 

[killy kill]

I'd say yes.
Why?

Because it's UPS.
and the value is greater than €45.

They charged me €110 on a large order from Deep Discount DVD.
Import duty + VAT + "other"

Anything sent via a parcel / courier company like UPS or DHL seems far more likely to be nabbed.

This happened to me recently, cunts...any way around it? I won't pay the 102(in my case) quid and i got 'return to sender' warning today in the mail

 

[The Schnapper]

hmmm I thought I was doing myself a favour by paying the 40 dollars to have it delivered by UPS express:1-2 days. Hopefully it arrives no later than Tuesday so I can justify paying the extra few quid!

 

[Gambra]

For DVD's/music/games etc from the US go for regular airmail all the way, things usually never get nabbed for it. I bought a second hand video camera off Ebay last year and it ended up lost in the An Post sorting office for two weeks, after call after call after call someone eventually finds in a postal cage in the sorting office in Port Laiose.. They then charged me 45 quid for tax etc to add insult to injury.

 

[jane]

hmmm I thought I was doing myself a favour by paying the 40 dollars to have it delivered by UPS express:1-2 days. Hopefully it arrives no later than Tuesday so I can justify paying the extra few quid!

Well, depending on the kind of company you've ordered from, keep in mind that customer service *can be* (as in 'isn't necessarily and is sometimes totally shite, but has the tendency to be') better in the US. If the package arrives later than, say, Thursday evening, see if you can get the UPS shipping charge refunded. They probably wouldn't do it if it were just a day late, but it doesn't hurt to ask if it's later than that.

In a happy shipping/customer service story, though one from within the US, I bought a coat from a shop in Maryland about two years ago. There was no coat in my size and in the colour I wanted in stock, and they couldn't get it before I was leaving, so they said they would have it shipped to me from another store, and to our house in Rhode Island via Fed Ex. The woman called the next day to make sure it had arrived. We hadn't even arrived ourselves yet, but me da said it wasn't there. We said there wasn't any worry if it didn't arrive on time to the minute, but she insisted that because the coat was, in the end, about FOUR HOURS late, the store would refund the FedEx charge voluntarily.

Seriously. I wanted to hug her.

Most businesses don't take customer service that far (this was Nordstrom, whose entire business success is based on being really, really nice to customers, which also means people almost never have a reason to make complaints about them), and the situation isn't as clear-cut for international stuff, but do keep in mind that while UPS are dicks and don't care about your business, the people you ordered from might feel differently.

They probably wouldn't be able to refund the customs money (because that really isn't anything to do with them), but it's not impossible that they'd refund the extra you paid to have it shipped quickly.

 

[Ferox13]

UPS are fuckers. My folks used to try to send me stuff by UPS, but after 9/11 I'd get nabbed for tax every time, no matter what.

I have about 3 things stopped ever and each time it was delivered by UPS. They stung me badly on my MP3 player :-(

 

[The Schnapper]

Well i've recieved my UPS tracking number that doesn't work so thats a good start anyway

 

[RSJ]

Whatever about the customs charges it's the €15/20 that they charge you as fees for collecting the customs charge off you that really pisses me off. I've had huge arguments with these cunts numerous times. Fuck the lot of 'em, i never go for courier any more.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

This happened to me recently, cunts...any way around it? I won't pay the 102(in my case) quid and i got 'return to sender' warning today in the mail

No way around it.
The UPS guy called to my workplace and someone from downstairs rang me saying
'There's a guy from UPS with a box for you. He wants €110 before he'll hand it over'.

I paid him by cheque as I wanted the DVDs. There had been a 20% sale on the site so that mostly covered the charges.

For DVD's/music/games etc from the US go for regular airmail all the way, things usually never get nabbed for it. I bought a second hand video camera off Ebay last year and it ended up lost in the An Post sorting office for two weeks, after call after call after call someone eventually finds in a postal cage in the sorting office in Port Laiose.. They then charged me 45 quid for tax etc to add insult to injury.

Yes, regular airmail doesn't seem to be an issue.
In my case I was unaware that Deep Discount automatically send all large international orders by UPS - so by the time I found out it was too late. Will stick to Amazon or PlayUSA in future.

 

[Mormon Nailer]

Yes, regular airmail doesn't seem to be an issue.

It can be its a matter of luck but generally if the order is small you are 95% likely not to be charged.

There is a bit of aggro between the Irish gov and the EU. The EU want vat collected at the point of import for ALL non-EU shipment however here there is a unnofficial threshold where an Post feel it's just not worth the hassle.

I suspect over the next few years we'll be made tighten up on all this stuff coming in and you wont be as likely to get away without paying.

 

[The Schnapper]

My tracking number is finally working and here is the status..

PHILADELPHIA,
PA, US 09/13/2007 1:59 A.M. EXPORT SCAN
09/13/2007 12:32 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

I reckon it's looking good for a delivery tomorrow

 

[The Schnapper]

So the fucking thing arrives 15 minutes ago with 53 euros worth of taxes on a 100 euro order and i'm not there to pay it so they take it away. What a load of bollox.

pack of cunts

 

[magicbastarder]

to be fair, what are they meant to do?

 

[The Schnapper]

Inform me of the 53% tax before it arrives

 

[RSJ]

Actually it's 24% tax, the other €29 is their fee for paying the tax and getting you to reemburse them.

 

[The Schnapper]

I'll never bother with that express postage again. Lesson learned the hard way!