One small step for man, one huge win for international buys

[Frunkstar]

remember I keep getting screwed over by the customs?, well I made a claim with them regarding the 5% import tax issues & sent them the commodity code & a breakdown of what where's & why's & blow me, I have just had a conformation letter from them saying I am right & they will be issuing me a refund to the tune of £22.40 from the initial payment of £29.74.

I am pleased as punch & I hope this will open the flood gates for others to buy things internationally & get a fair deal rather than being hung over & barrel & getting a large portion from HMRC.

VICTORY is mine mine mine :twisted:

So all that pain in the ass research & phoning them paid off in the end - Par-Tay!

 

[Joe]

I have just had a conformation letter from them saying I am right & they will be issuing me a refund to the tune of £22.40 from the initial payment of £29.74.

See...this is what I don't get.

If they are making mistakes on the charges my first question is ...WHY? But what is even more worrying is that many people don't contest the charge so that money is taken in error from them and they are none the wiser!!!

I think this should be taken higher to be honest, not just case by case, 9 out of every 10 collectors probably just cough up and never realise they can appeal the decision.

Good for you Frank but I think it's about time this was looked into and the whole thing scrapped to be honest, they are just leaching funds off of honest people for no reason at all and in the majority of cases the charge is not even warranted

 

[timbo72]

Can you imagine how much cash they have taken that they shouldnt have???
Bet they are making a fortune for ripping people off !!!!!!

 

[weasel]

Can you imagine how much cash they have taken that they shouldnt have???
Bet they are making a fortune for ripping people off !!!!!!

Are we talking about just import taxes here, or taxes IN GENERAL!? :wink:

 

[timbo72]

Well import taxes and in this case they are over charging quite a bit. So i wonder how many people have over paid and not known that they have. Makes you think (or it made me think anyway......not something i like to do on a weekend) :?

 

[phantom]

Customs in Norway are pretty bad aswell..

Package 199,- Norwegian Crowns (22GBP) = 0,- in tax and fees
Package 201,- Norwegian Crowns (22,2GBP) = 140,- fee + 201 * 0,25 = 190,50 (21GBP) in tax and fees

 

[Dark Sith Lord]

A Huge Congrats Frank

This is HUGE News and I agree with Joe it should be taken further tbh.
At least all that time and effort was worth it :wink:

 

[tundra9]

Great news Frank!
Just got a package from the US worth 226.09 NOK(£25) and got stung 189.8 NOK(£20.98)!!!
Normally, if it was a MOC or some figures I wouldn't care that much, but this was a package of 9 cardbacks........

I wonder if there is a similar rule about collectors items in Norway....

Edit: Just got home from the post office to collect the cardbacks, apparently the taxes was because the ****tards at starzonetoys on ebay marked the
purchase value on the package as £30!!!!!(actual purchase: £25) who the hell marks the package with a value that's over the actual purchase costs????
On a sidenote, should I neg them?? Really want to..... :evil:
Edit 2: been talking to seller, everything worked out.

 

[Grant_C]

:shock:


Im getting screwed!

 

[weasel]

:shock:


Im getting screwed!

Browny round with you is he!? :lol:

 

[Frunkstar]

Thanks guys, its nice to get a result after all this time, TBH I had given up hopes & have been having items sent over marked as gift with a $35 value as I was just so sick of getting hit with the fees as I figured if I loose one delivery in 20 I would still bloody well be ahead.

TBH I can not be bothered to take it further as HMRC as with all official bodies are a right PITA to deal with at the best of times & trying to convince them in to changing procedures which will lead to a deduction in there profit margins is not something I feel would go down that well, may as well ask the government to be honest :lol: :lol: :|

But if we all do it this way in future for things where buyers are not willing to ship as gift or low value we should be a hell of a lot better off & be able to buy from outside the EU without loosing nights sleep waiting to get that bloody "pay us now" envelope through the door.

 

[ODB]

I have just had a conformation letter from them saying I am right & they will be issuing me a refund to the tune of £22.40 from the initial payment of £29.74.

See...this is what I don't get.

If they are making mistakes on the charges my first question is ...WHY? But what is even more worrying is that many people don't contest the charge so that money is taken in error from them and they are none the wiser!!!

I think this should be taken higher to be honest, not just case by case, 9 out of every 10 collectors probably just cough up and never realise they can appeal the decision.

Because its enshrined in law that it is upto the individual to be responsible for paying the right amount of tax. If you pay too much its your fault, pay too little again your fault. The end result is that HMRC are wholly unaccountable and are borderline incompetent, all because we have no comeback.

 

[maniac79]

Hey Frank! Glad you had a victory there.
But I didn't understand the whole story. They charged more for COLLECTIBLES than they should? Is that the point, that for collectibles they cannot charge as much as they do? Wonder if it's the same for German customs...

 

[sith-smith]

Congrats on the victory.

I remember years ago I had a massive load of figures arrive from Brian's toys and UPS phoned me up to double check what the items were. When I explained that they were my items, rare collectibles for my own use and not for resale they said they would try and get them through for me on 5%. Which they succeeded in doing.

Later that year I had two more shipments arrive but they failed to get the 5% I contacted UPS I think, stated the same thing about being my own items etc and got a refund!

Customs is a funny thing to say the least!

 

[Starzone]

Great news Frank!
Just got a package from the US worth 226.09 NOK(£25) and got stung 189.8 NOK(£20.98)!!!
Normally, if it was a MOC or some figures I wouldn't care that much, but this was a package of 9 cardbacks........

I wonder if there is a similar rule about collectors items in Norway....

Edit: Just got home from the post office to collect the cardbacks, apparently the taxes was because the ****tards at starzonetoys on ebay marked the
purchase value on the package as £30!!!!!(actual purchase: £25) who the hell marks the package with a value that's over the actual purchase costs????
On a sidenote, should I neg them?? Really want to..... :evil:
Edit 2: been talking to seller, everything worked out.

"****tards" well that's a new one I have not heard that before.

For anyone reading this let me explain, the purchase price was £25 but the transaction cost was £33 and I marked the package at £30 and as a gift so this was not unfair. If there had been a problem with the transaction, loss, damage etc and a Paypal dispute opened against me then automatically I would have £33 deducted from my account and any claim I file is based on the price on the customs form.

I can't believe I came close to a negative for that. No wonder more and more sellers are selling away from Ebay.

I am always happy to mark items as a gift and declare lower values on items if I am notified.

Darren

 

[itfciain]

In fairness, I think a lot of sellers (Ebay and on here) do not realise that Norway has customs issues similar to ours. I am never sure what customs levels are in any country so I always mark my items as gifts with a low value as there is no direct correlation between insurance and customs form declaration

 

[Grant_C]

I've bought a few items off starzonetoys and have always been super happy.

 

[tundra9]

"****tards" well that's a new one I have not heard that before.

For anyone reading this let me explain, the purchase price was £25 but the transaction cost was £33 and I marked the package at £30 and as a gift so this was not unfair. If there had been a problem with the transaction, loss, damage etc and a Paypal dispute opened against me then automatically I would have £33 deducted from my account and any claim I file is based on the price on the customs form.

I can't believe I came close to a negative for that. No wonder more and more sellers are selling away from Ebay.

I am always happy to mark items as a gift and declare lower values on items if I am notified.

Darren

Hi Darren! In my defense, this was my initial reaction when I collected the package...
When I calmed myself down I sent you the messages on ebay, and when everything was sorted out, I edited my post, but figured it was no need to
explain everything here though...
Hope this didn't put you off selling stuff to Norway, your package arrived very quickly and the items were perfect.
No hard feelings?
Tundra9