AMAZON.COM Tax's??

[stevo1978]

Hi guys

Has anyone ordered anything from Amazon.com and had any probs with tax's / customs etc..

please could you let me know..

cheers..

[nametag]

If the order is over around £15 and you have the cheapest shipping option then it is likely you'll have to pay some customs fees. I think this is VAT + Royal Mail's 'handling fee', or something like that?

If you select their Expedited or Express delivery options, they will prompt you to pay an 'import fee deposit' which is an amount they will pay on your behalf, and if it isn't claimed then you get it refunded (I know this happened to me once ages after I'd received the item and assumed the whole deposit was used). I'm currently waiting on an item coming via this method, but I'm assuming it will bypass the 'royal mail handling fee' and so I won't get any extra charges for it!

If you want to avoid these for sure order from a site like axelmusic, movietyme or blubast ard as they ship to you only after they come into the UK and as such there are no extra fees.

[stevo1978]

Originally Posted by nametag

If the order is over around £15 and you have the cheapest shipping option then it is likely you'll have to pay some customs fees. I think this is VAT + Royal Mail's 'handling fee', or something like that?

If you select their Expedited or Express delivery options, they will prompt you to pay an 'import fee deposit' which is an amount they will pay on your behalf, and if it isn't claimed then you get it refunded (I know this happened to me once ages after I'd received the item and assumed the whole deposit was used). I'm currently waiting on an item coming via this method, but I'm assuming it will bypass the 'royal mail handling fee' and so I won't get any extra charges for it!

If you want to avoid these for sure order from a site like axelmusic, movietyme or blubast ard as they ship to you only after they come into the UK and as such there are no extra fees.

Excellent information my friend.. many thanks.. I will check out those other sites..

[Bleu]

Originally Posted by nametag

If the order is over around £15 and you have the cheapest shipping option then it is likely you'll have to pay some customs fees. I think this is VAT + Royal Mail's 'handling fee', or something like that?

If you select their Expedited or Express delivery options, they will prompt you to pay an 'import fee deposit' which is an amount they will pay on your behalf, and if it isn't claimed then you get it refunded (I know this happened to me once ages after I'd received the item and assumed the whole deposit was used). I'm currently waiting on an item coming via this method, but I'm assuming it will bypass the 'royal mail handling fee' and so I won't get any extra charges for it!

If you want to avoid these for sure order from a site like axelmusic, movietyme or blubast ard as they ship to you only after they come into the UK and as such there are no extra fees.

Originally Posted by stevo1978

Excellent information my friend.. many thanks.. I will check out those other sites..

+ 1 Thanks Nametag!

[Poshteh1]

Originally Posted by nametag

If the order is over around £15 and you have the cheapest shipping option then it is likely you'll have to pay some customs fees. I think this is VAT + Royal Mail's 'handling fee', or something like that?

If you select their Expedited or Express delivery options, they will prompt you to pay an 'import fee deposit' which is an amount they will pay on your behalf, and if it isn't claimed then you get it refunded (I know this happened to me once ages after I'd received the item and assumed the whole deposit was used). I'm currently waiting on an item coming via this method, but I'm assuming it will bypass the 'royal mail handling fee' and so I won't get any extra charges for it!

If you want to avoid these for sure order from a site like axelmusic, movietyme or blubast ard as they ship to you only after they come into the UK and as such there are no extra fees.

I order from Amazon.com frequently, but I've always kept my total under or on the import limit. But there are some Blus that I want to order which are over the limit. I'm aware of the expedited shipping option and the import fee deposit, but I wanted to know how it works? If your item goes through without charges, does Amazon inform you and refund you? If so, how long does it take them?

[ScarfaceJoker]

Originally Posted by Poshteh1

I order from Amazon.com frequently, but I've always kept my total under or on the import limit. But there are some Blus that I want to order which are over the limit. I'm aware of the expedited shipping option and the import fee deposit, but I wanted to know how it works? If your item goes through without charges, does Amazon inform you and refund you? If so, how long does it take them?

Normally takes about a month to refund the money - I think they must do a round-up on a certain day each month and refund all their customers in bulk.

I keep forgetting about it so it's nice to see the refund pop-up in my inbox for an order I've forgotten I've got already!

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Poshteh1

If your item goes through without charges, does Amazon inform you and refund you? If so, how long does it take them?

I think that's their policy but I think you're paying for faster shipping as well so you might not get loads back. I had the I Am Legend UCE the other day on normal shipping, it came pretty fast with normal shipping and came to over £15 with Postage & Packaging (Import Duties never crossed my mind until it turned up!).

[Poshteh1]

Originally Posted by chip75

I think that's their policy but I think you're paying for faster shipping as well so you might not get loads back. I had the I Am Legend UCE the other day on normal shipping, it came pretty fast with normal shipping and came to over £15 with Postage & Packaging (Import Duties never crossed my mind until it turned up!).

I also ordered the I Am Legend set, arrived in 2 days with UPS with regular shipping. I think Amazon.com are shipping out orders with faster postage methods to make sure customers get there items in time for Christmas. Another order also came within a few days with standard shipping.

Did you have to pay import fees for the set? As it was under £15, shipping costs aren't included.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Poshteh1

I also ordered the I Am Legend set, arrived in 2 days with UPS with regular shipping. I think Amazon.com are shipping out orders with faster postage methods to make sure customers get there items in time for Christmas. Another order also came within a few days with standard shipping.

Did you have to pay import fees for the set? As it was under £15, shipping costs aren't included.

No thankfully. The BD itself was under £15 so it was under the limit and I don't think Postage & Packaging factor in to import duties unless the goods themselves are over the limit (then the percentage is taken out of both goods and services?). I think it (without checking the invoice) was less than 50p over. I would have been really p'd off if I'd been hit with a charge!

[Jaspar]

I have ordered numerous times with the expedited shipping option and paying the import fees deposit, all my orders were under £40. then 3 week ago one order was £42 , amazon sent it very slow, came through royal mail. was charged customs off £12 and £8 RM fee, i complained to amazon said they would look into it still not heard, sent a claim to customs , doubt i will get anything back. be careful

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by Jaspar

I have ordered numerous times with the expedited shipping option and paying the import fees deposit, all my orders were under £40. then 3 week ago one order was £42 , amazon sent it very slow, came through royal mail. was charged customs off £12 and £8 RM fee, i complained to amazon said they would look into it still not heard, sent a claim to customs , doubt i will get anything back. be careful

If you paid for expedited shipping and the extra for the import fees then they should refund you, keep at them.

If it was sent normal mail then customs had every right to charge you so they won't give you anything back.

[Sky_Captain]

My last two orders were bumped up to expedited shipping, even though I chose standard.

[yeslek]

the £15 limit seems rather vauge as I've noticed that anything below £20 seems to mostly slip through the net.
My last three N.American order's were, 2 at £17/£18 and one that was £31...this last one I had DHL customs charge which sounded much fairer than the crappy RM fee+customs thraping I 'could' have gotten.

so basically, order a single blu an you probably wont get charged by customs. Order any higher and its almost certain. based on my experience at least

[yeslek]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

My last two orders were bumped up to expedited shipping, even though I chose standard.

amazon.ca seem to have sped up their shipping lately as well.
I've had two orders with them last month. One was a pre order and arrived within 2 days of dispatch despite me having chosen the cheapest, 18-32 week shipping method and the second, arrived within 4 days of ordering via the same shipment method.

not wanting to complain but how long will this be going on for. I rather like it

[whedon]

I'm in Ireland and I think that I may have had my first import stopped, ordered 10 Blu's over two weeks ago and amazon US shipped them in tow boxes, the first had two Blu's and arrived less than a week after it was posted but the bigger order which was posted the day after the first has yet to arrive and still no word from customs or anyone.

[Jaspar]

well regardless of how it was shipped if i pre paid import fees i shouldnt have been charged by customs ?

i have noticed its hit and miss with the expedited shipping, sometimes sent by DHL / UPS and arrives in a few days no customs, sometimes sent via slow mail via sweden ?? mostly no charges but like i mentioned charged once

i dont so much mind paying import fee (vat) (well kinda grudge having to pay if i dont need to) but what i object to is the vile £8 !!!! fee i have to pay royal mail for doing frig all

[Indiana Jones]

If you pre-paid the fee's then Amazon should have handled everything and it should never have been stopped but if they took your money and sent it the regular delivery method then its Amazon at blame and not customs as they were just doing their job.

You might just want to double check you did select the correct option when ordering.

[Jaspar]

yea doubled checked i did select Expedited International Shipping. i agree with you on the fact customs only did their job was actually £48 i spent it was a gift btw so threshold is £40

[Indiana Jones]

The gift option doesn't apply when buying from a business.

To qualify as a gift:

- the customs declaration must be completed correctly
- the gift must be sent from a private person outside the EU to a private person(s) in this country
- there is no commercial or trade element and the gift has not been paid for either directly or indirectly
- the gift is of an occasional nature only, for example, for a birthday or anniversary

Pretty sure they would notice the Amazon branded plastered all over the packaging and figure out its not from your friend or relative in the US lol

[Sky_Captain]

That would explain why certain expensive items,(£120+), I've bought from the US recently, were marked as gifts,(and marked down to $50), and had the name and address of one person on them, as opposed to the store I bought them from.