Customs Charges

[stormcab]

Iv'e just paid £20.50 for a MOC that cost me £77 because the seller decided at the last minute not to send it as a gift like they said they would, because and I quote "I found out it's illegal to send it as a gift"...... gotta watch out for that SWAT team smashing into your house because of your 'gift' package I suppose lol.

And to top it off when I examined the bubble I found a split in it which the seller told me they actually knew about but couldn't be arsed to describe in the listing.

What a bloody winner they were!

[subzero]

Iv'e just paid £20.50 for a MOC that cost me £77 because the seller decided at the last minute not to send it as a gift like they said they would, because and I quote "I found out it's illegal to send it as a gift"...... gotta watch out for that SWAT team smashing into your house because of your 'gift' package I suppose lol.

And to top it off when I examined the bubble I found a split in it which the seller told me they actually knew about but couldn't be arsed to describe in the listing.

What a bloody winner they were!

The other moron comment they told me in response to the bubble was "the listing did say the bubble was in used condition"...

Bit of a difference between the words 'used' and 'split' ( damaged ).

[weasel]

Iv'e just paid £20.50 for a MOC that cost me £77 because the seller decided at the last minute not to send it as a gift like they said they would, because and I quote "I found out it's illegal to send it as a gift"...... gotta watch out for that SWAT team smashing into your house because of your 'gift' package I suppose lol.

If the package was coming from the States then it is true that it's illegal to mark something as a gift when it isn't. Sellers do seem to be quite reluctant to do it as well. I don't quite know why, as you say the SWAT team is unlikely to raid their homes. I have heard of a lot of sellers over the years who refuse to do it, as is their right of course, we are asking someone to break the law. Even if it is a stupid trivial law it is still illegal.

[subzero]

Iv'e just paid £20.50 for a MOC that cost me £77 because the seller decided at the last minute not to send it as a gift like they said they would, because and I quote "I found out it's illegal to send it as a gift"...... gotta watch out for that SWAT team smashing into your house because of your 'gift' package I suppose lol.

If the package was coming from the States then it is true that it's illegal to mark something as a gift when it isn't. Sellers do seem to be quite reluctant to do it as well. I don't quite know why, as you say the SWAT team is unlikely to raid their homes. I have heard of a lot of sellers over the years who refuse to do it, as is their right of course, we are asking someone to break the law. Even if it is a stupid trivial law it is still illegal.

Ah yeah I do understand that to be fair, i'm all with it being their right to choose to do it or not. It just slightly annoyed me when the seller said they will happily do it which was the only reason why I bought it from them, then they decided to do a u turn on it and not tell me and let me find out when I got the VAT demand weeks later. Apparently not a single person has ever been prosecuted or fined for sending something as a gift, but like you say it is their choice which is true.

[weasel]

Yeah, understandable. Common courtesy dictates he could at least drop you mail to say he hadn't marked it as a gift.
Though given it has a cracked bubble, I assume you're sending it back, or looking for a partial refund. If it's the latter, I'd be looking for a little more than normal given he has cost you a few extra quid in customs charges.

[subzero]

Yeah, understandable. Common courtesy dictates he could at least drop you mail to say he hadn't marked it as a gift.
Though given it has a cracked bubble, I assume you're sending it back, or looking for a partial refund. If it's the latter, I'd be looking for a little more than normal given he has cost you a few extra quid in customs charges.

Yeah I couldn't be arsed with the entire returning process since it was overseas and a fairly cheap MOC, if it was a lot more money or a UK seller then I would have, but this time I got a partial refund, I let the VAT cost slide on this one but he tried to haggle the refund amount down too much and no way was that happening. I don't think he realised just how much a split devalues a MOC, or maybe he did.

[weasel]

I don't think he realised just how much a split devalues a MOC, or maybe he did.

Ohhh I bet he did!

[TWOFOOT]

I'm probably in the minority here then. Although I absolutely HATE customs charges, If its a valuable item I either ask them to ship it via DHL (they use there own planes ect and don't display the value on the outside so you rarely if ever get customs charges) or If they are using usps I ask them to put the full value on the outside. The reason for this is that you are only insured to the value of declared goods. So say it was a moc that was squashed then you would only get compensation upto the value declared. Make sense? Lol

[plantman]

You could always get it shipped to one of the guys on here instead to forward on but can be a hassle adding address etc.

[pmsbull]

Y'all need to check this out guys

http://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopi ... =1&t=36617

[spoons]

Y'all need to check this out guys

http://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopi ... =1&t=36617

and you need to read the first page

There’s a form to download and send off - a bit hit and miss but 90% success rate. What annoys me is the randomness of the charge.

You should have been charged 20% by their rules - they just make it up as they go along, and you can’t claim the parcelforce holding fees back

As you have only been charged around 5% I would leave it as you may get charged more, but for future reference here’s a good link

http://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopi ... =1&t=19613

[tigerham]

Hi all, I've been tracking a parcel coming from the US and now custom charges have been raised and then revised ones been raised when it's been valued at $22. How on earth is this possible? Any ideas as I have to wait until it gets to the depot to find out the details and the lady said all she knew is that they were raised because of the value of the item?

[tigerham]

Didn't realise it had changed as it's anything over the value of £15 will have charges. Hmm, $22 = £15.97. This was the last MOC I am purchasing for a while so will take it on the chin. I should have done a bit more research although strangely I have had several MOC's with a value of $25 and they went straight through. Go figure.