Customs tax

Do not pay without double checking - I have ordered several items from abroad - and have had to pay tax BEFORE the items were delivered. Sounds like a scam to me - unfortunately the scammers are very clever at getting enough info to convince you to pay!

I would have thought you would need to pay any tax before the item was delivered by Fedex. Bit suspicious for me.

Contact Etsy and explain the situation. Who took your money, Etsy ?

I would have thought that all courier companies acted the same way. DHL will definitely not hand over any goods until you have paid your customs duties. So I would definitely contact Fedex, but not using any numbers, or contact details given in the letter. When you get through to Fedex tell them to contact the seller to get their money.

No, you pay the sellers direct. The seller told me that it was clear on the listing that customs tax might be payable. I asked him to point me to the relevant clause and he said it is part of Etsy’s T&Cs.

He may be right, but as the bags are on EtsyUk and priced in sterling I don’t think it is too much to ask for charges to be made clear. Particularly as the listing says ‘free delivery’.

Doodledog

Hmmm.

The general Etsy T&Cs say that customs duty may apply and will be charged on delivery to the country (UK in my case). The seller's listing says that delivery is free (I must have misremembered paying shipping) and that delivery is usually 3-5 days. There is no mention of additional charges.

I have messaged the seller and will see what they reply, but it's looking as though I'll have to pay, isn't it?

@#£%&%£#@

While it is beginning to sound genuine, I would baulk I at the words "Customs tax" as it is.not a tax; it is a duty, which is albeit nominally, a different kettle of fish. Also, as has already been said, you should have been asked to pay before you could take possession of the goods. FedEx may have dealt with that for you and are now charging administration fees. They should be able to provide you with the paperwork.

The seller can't do anything about it as they don't have anything to do with the customs requirements of the importing country.

A friend of mine (in the UK)had this problem as the seller of merch for her son's rap group. Someone in Germany had ordered some items and refused to pick it up because they were charging customs duty. She had no idea this would be an issue when she sent it off.

As Fed-ex is an American firm and the bag was sent from Italy, a EU country, which you are not, I doubt this is a scam. To me it sounds like legitimate import tax.

However, that said, the supplier or Fed-ex, or both should clearly have stated that you would be liable for this tax, so a complaint to both is in order.

You could check with the British Customs authorities whether this is a legitimate charge or not, they should know.

I think it probably is a legitimate tax/duty. My beef is that it wasn’t made clear at the time of ordering, and I had no right to refuse delivery as the bill came a week later, so I am posting to warn others, more than anything.

If this is a legitimate request, then the seller is surely responsible to explain this at the point of sale at the very least.

I would have thought so, yes.

You would not have received the goods until custom charges had been paid.

It is a scam.

It does soumd like a scam, you'd usually have to pay it before delivery.

I send ‘Nanny made’ jumpers etc to my grandchildren in France and even after declaring what’s in the package and its value etc and paying import duties in advance my son still has to pay customs duties on receipt of the package
‘Viva la Brexit!’ 😡

I agree sounds like a scam

The FedEx website says that you'll usually have to pay duties before your goods are released from customs in the destination country. But it also says your carrier may be able to pay on your behalf to ensure your goods are released quickly – and then invoice you for the charges.

My guess is that the vendor put the VAT inclusive amount on the customs declaration instead of the value of the goods.

It should be easy to do a rough calculation at least of what any charges should be based on FedEx believing that the good were worth say £150. A leather bag worth that would attact customs duty and VAT totalling £33.60. FedEx add an admin fee up to £12.50 so the amount being demanded is in the ball park.

If the vendor has charged you say £150 including VAT then the value of the bag was £125 and they charged you £25 VAT. The vendor will have been correct to charge VAT and there would be no customs duty as the value of the goods was not more than £135.

Ask the vendor to provide confirmation of the value of the goods before VAT was added and submit to FedEx as proof that you paid VAT at the point of sale and that the value of the item was not more than £135 assuming it was and no customs duty is due.

There is a setting at the bottom of Etsy's Home page, where you can choose UK. Not sure whether that would help us to be certain that we are buying locally, with no customs charges.

Well done silverbrooks - you explained it better than I did.

I was caught in a similar way. I purchased some of my favourite label clothes from an online store sale. At the time I was unaware that the store was based in Northern Ireland. I was notified of despatch by the store, but a few days before delivery I was contacted by the courier to say that I had to pay £43 in customs tax before they could deliver. I googled customs tax and realised that I had to pay a percentage of the value of the items. To add insult to injury, I had to return an item and it cost me again for the store to 'import' from me. I wished that I had kept the item, it would have been cheaper. A lesson learned.

About 12 years ago I had to replace two Noritake soup bowls. I ordered them online and, like the OP got a bill from FedEx several weeks later. So nothing to do with Brexit, but equally infuriating.

I paid taxes/important duties and fees on a bottle of wine after receiving it.
I challenged everything but found they had overcharged me just pennies!
The charges were more than the (fairly expensive) wine would have cost to buy here.
It was bought from Italy by my son in America.

It was, however, a pretty lush wine!

I'm sure you will have to pay.
Sorry.

Azalea - isn't Noritake American though?

NotSpaghetti

Azalea - isn't Noritake American though?

Isn't Noritake a Japanese company?

The rules for buying goods from Europe did change on 1 January 2021 as result of leaving the EU.

From 1 January 2021 following the end of the transition period with the EU the VAT rules applying to movements of goods from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) to the EU, or from the EU to Great Britain will be the same as those currently for transactions with countries outside the EU (with some exceptions).

www.gov.uk/government/publications/accounting-for-vat-on-goods-moving-between-great-britain-and-northern-ireland-from-1-january-2021/goods-moved-between-great-britain-and-the-eu-from-1-january-2021

There were already customs duties on goods imported from non-EU countries.

Before Brexit, buying goods from Europe as a UK resident meant you could purchase items from any EU country without incurring additional import duties or customs charges. That has now been lost.

Ha ha. Yes. Allira just googled it.
I've only ever noticed it in America and assumed it was developed in America.

Apologies.
I assumed you were buying from America where import duties etc have always applied.

I have a very tiny Noritake dish inherited from my MIL.
Probably only worth a fiver, but you never know 😀