Customs Tax - Help ?

[BiggieBig]

I purchased a GPS from a forum member who was located in Chaneel island.
He placed a value on the unit for £400 which is the insurance value also he declared it as a gift,

To my surprise I got post from RM saying customs wants £67 for the item.

I only paid £300

If there any way I can get the customs charge reduced?.

a bit late i think. The best way is to get the guy to put warranty repair on the parcel notes, but this only works before you get it!

[hufartd]

If you paid for it then it's not a gift is it.
what you paid for the item may be irrelevant the fact is it was valued at £400.

[edward]

Had one of those a few years ago when Customs asked for crazy money because the shipper valued it for what they considered was replacement cost. I still had to pay tax on the shipping charges but when I showed them the credit card statement, they agreed.

Still bloody annoying that you have to do this - time is also money.

[BiggieBig]

hi Edward i've paid it now....


would I still be able to get some kind of refund..
did u have to fill in forms etc after you paid


like u said time is money ...

[geeport]

There is usually a contact address / phone number and a reference number on the packages charge label.
I've had to pay a charge for some software- but I made a claim, sent them a copy of the invoice and the reference number and got a partial refund because the value had been overestimated.
You can't avoid paying the charge upfront because the carrier usually has to pay the customs charge before customs let the item into the country!