Customs? USA to UK

[Hitman]

Hi, just been reading... do you have to pay custom charges on something worth £80(ish) (in this case a watch) if it's from the USA entering the UK? I paid the ebay seller $32 for the shipping fees, which is with USPS (United States Postal Service).

If so, how much, and who do they bill? The person sending the item or receiving?

Thanks.

EDIT: Just read the USPS site, it says something about the sender printing off customs forms or something... so I guess the sender would pay (if need be), right?

[5,5]

Im pretty sure they would bill the sender, but im not positive.

[Hitman]

Hmm okay thanks. I just don't want to receive the item and then get a bill for extra.

[Coheed&Cambria]

Yeah but your best of checking just in case.

[Hitman]

From what I can gather, items marked as gifts don't have to pay VAT. Order under $100 (not sure about £100) don't have to either. VAT is 17.5% of the items price/value, I think. One site said 99% of post gets through without interference anyway.

The watch itself was £77 and 17.5% of that is £4, so if I do need to pay VAT it's not much. The seller didn't say anything about customs, so I guess he sorts it out (some other auctions say "You sort out customs blah blah...".

I'll leave it for now - if it's £4 extra then it doesn't matter.

Once I bought walkie talkies from the USA, they cost around $90. I didn't have to pay any VAT for them I don't think.

[Jordy]

From what I can gather, items marked as gifts don't have to pay VAT. Order under $100 (not sure about £100) don't have to either. VAT is 17.5% of the items price/value, I think. One site said 99% of post gets through without interference anyway.

The watch itself was £77 and 17.5% of that is £4, so if I do need to pay VAT it's not much. The seller didn't say anything about customs, so I guess he sorts it out (some other auctions say "You sort out customs blah blah...".

I'll leave it for now - if it's £4 extra then it doesn't matter.

Once I bought walkie talkies from the USA, they cost around $90. I didn't have to pay any VAT for them I don't think.

You should be fine and as he's not a business you should be able to claim 'Gift' if the problem does arrive.

btw VAT is now 15% where have you been these past few months?

[Hitman]

You should be fine and as he's not a business you should be able to claim 'Gift' if the problem does arrive.

btw VAT is now 15% where have you been these past few months?

He's kind of a business... but I think he'll mark it as gift, hopefully.

Ah that's nice to hear. I've been in Spain.

Just noticed I did the calculations wrong, it's because I have a maths test tomorrow!

[Andeeh]

Haha good luck in test.

should be ok

[Hitman]

Thanks.

I've just found this on the Royal Mail website:

As of the 1st of December 2008 you will no longer be required to pay customs duty for goods up to the value of £105, however you will still be required to pay import VAT and excise duty where applicable.

The watch only cost £77. It's all so very confusing.

[kurtis5561]

Hi, just been reading... do you have to pay custom charges on something worth £80(ish) (in this case a watch) if it's from the USA entering the UK? I paid the ebay seller $32 for the shipping fees, which is with USPS (United States Postal Service).

If customs do check the package you will have to pay as it is over the threshold. You would have to pay £4.32 duty and £17.56 VAT plus £8 fee from royal mail as they pay it on your behalf then bill you.

If so, how much, and who do they bill? The person sending the item or receiving?

Thanks.

EDIT: Just read the USPS site, it says something about the sender printing off customs forms or something... so I guess the sender would pay (if need be), right?

No you pay being the importer, these forms you read about are the CN22 customs declarations to the contents of the package.