Quick customs question..

Whats the general respons to asking if sellers will put gift or a low price on an item from the US? Are most receptive or do you get some frosty replies and threats of reports to ebay etc!

Theres not much on offer on ebay UK that I'm after at the moment but I'm loathed to pay the stupid customs charges that I've been collared with in the past. (I don't see why memorabilia gets levied, its a very specific market and its not as if charging Ã'£30 on a ESB luke bespin is going to protect the domestic 'Luke Bespin Market' and keep people in jobs!).

Oh and a Question I will keep asking every 6 months until the end of time...any news on a UK/EU based AFA office? I've heard theres been talk of one in the past :?:

all us sellers I've dealt with have been happy to put a low value on whatever they send. I don't normally buy anything over Ã'£100 though - that might make a difference

Cheers Spoons, any idea what established sellers like Cloud City and Brians Toys' Policy is? I'd imagine they'd be more strict... If so what would be the customs charge on a $300 item roughly?

I know I don't have any problems with it. I hate to see you guys get screwed so badly.

Todd

I think Dom said in another thread that Brians toys would put a lower value on it, I think Cloudcity have done it for me as well.

No harm in asking, in the unlikely event they come back threatening you just apologise and chances are they won't do anything, after all if they do they will loose a sale!

OK cheers all, I have made a few enquires across the pond...

You will have to be careful as some sellers refuse to put a lower value on the package as they can be hammered into a claim where buyers say they haven't received the item andof course they did but theres no insurance so the sellers have to fork out.

With Brians Toys in the past i have had indifferent responses for lower valued packages, think it depends on who responds to your email.

On a $300 purchase thats roughly Ã'£150+ near enough, so Import Duty is roughly 4.7% (Ã'£7.05) (i don't know how much the starting value has to be for Import Duty to be added on, sometimes you get away with it) + Ã'£150 = Ã'£157.05 and VAT is 17.5% (Ã'£27.50) and then your parcelforce fee ontop!

So thats about Ã'£192 depending if the the Import Duty is included, if not then a bit less.

I do it all the time now as sick of custom fees I know its always a risk but its very rare for an item to go missing

Cloudcity are the best to do it with as they use the third party insurer so even if it gets lost and low gift price on parcel its still fully insured

Well I asked the seller (uthservices) and he had no problem with it, he says he declares it as low value as a matter of course. So thats a 12 back Leia (a little discoloured on the figure) and a 20 back AFA 70 (C70 B80 F90) R5d4 on the way for just over Ã'£200... made for a productive day at work

Would be usefull to know if any forum members run into regular sellers ruling out declaring a figure low price for future reference.

I've never had a problem getting a US seller to put a low value on the package but you must remember if it gets lost or damaged it's your problem not theirs !! :wink:

craignwo4life said:

I've never had a problem getting a US seller to put a low value on the package but you must remember if it gets lost or damaged it's your problem not theirs !! :wink:

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Yup thats the risk you take, for something less than Ã'£50 then theres no point really but something that you'd regard as either expensive or rare then definately worth it.