Amazon.com import charges.

[johnhol]

Right, I've ordered the Matrix Trilogy HD DVD from Amazon.com which I thought was a bargain at £25.

Problem is now I'm paranoid I'm going to be charged import duty.

Has anyone else ordered from them and paid a charge and if so how much?

Cheers

[thelastboarder]

Its the same charges as anywhere else...I know amazon.com orders seem to be targeted by her Maj's finest atm.

It may get through = you pay nothing

If it gets nabbed then the cost is as follows...

£8 or £13.50 from the thieving post office
17.5% VAT
3.5% Duty on DVDs

This is charged on postage and the cost of the item.

If it is under £18 (without postage) you pay nothing
Over charged as above (including postage)

The Customs exchange rate for USA is about 1.94% atm

HTH

[johnhol]

Sounds like my bargain could end up being the same price as the UK.

[thelastboarder]

It wouldn't be so bad if it was just customs vat and duty...

its the Royal mails charges that get me...they step in and pay the duty and charge you for the privilege all without you even agreeing.

I emailed customs asking about how to pay vat but still haven't heard back

http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=351900

may be of some help quoting the various laws Royal mail seems to be in breach of if you do get stung.

It may at least bring the charges down to something more respectable.

The £18 limit is a joke. You get something like $1000 in Australia for personal imports (although they go after you if you bust this by spreading the cost over several orders in a short space of time)

Much more reasonable

[Garrett]

It’s annoying that the £18 limit has been there ages like the pensioners £10 Christmas bonus and not gone up with inflation yet the greedy sods can award themselves inflation busting wage rises year on year. The also charge you import duty and VAT on the postage if you goods are over £18.

[thelastboarder]

The other thing that really grates with me is that their exchange rates bare little resemblance to any others.

Every penny counts when trying to keep under £18 so Royal mail don't gouge you!

[HummerUK]

My copy is on order from amazon.com as well

Shipments from amazon.com seem to be sent in Germany so I assume they have a distribution centre somewhere in the fatherland.

I have found about 1 out of 5 on average of my amazon.com items over the customs limit get stung by customs charges which are dealt with by the Royal Mail.

I tried to argue once with the Royal Mail that as item was sent from Germany it was in the EU no charge should apply but they said the deceleration label said source was USA.

Interesting thing is the post office charge a fixed amount for the collection fee and this is normally higher than the actual duty on an item of this value thus one might as well have a big order and hope amazon send it all as one package. Sometimes they don't.

I still think even if stung the price will be lower than the current UK price.

Only time will tell

HummerUK

[thelastboarder]

That was my view when I ordered the Harry Potter and Oceans boxsets,
with I had chucked in Matrix Ultimate as well now.


Still hoping it will get through, but f it doesn't then Royal Mail can only charge you once!

[will16v]

Thieving B*****ds!
i just placed three orders the other day, with two HDDVD's in each order.
Two of them were less than £18.00, one was about £19.XX (without postage costs).

Hope these don't get stopped, but if they did, would i be paying an additional £8.00 or £13.50 + vat @ 17.5%?

[IAN P]

Originally Posted by will16v

Thieving B*****ds!
i just placed three orders the other day, with two HDDVD's in each order.
Two of them were less than £18.00, one was about £19.XX (without postage costs).

Hope these don't get stopped, but if they did, would i be paying an additional £8.00 or £13.50 + vat @ 17.5%?

Each packet has a 50/50 chance of getting stopped,and its £8.00 each +import duty.