Late week I ordered a replica speedo and tacho for my BSA,eBay listing,from a seller in India. Yes,I know they are very unlikely to be good quality but there are several UK British bike parts dealers that are selling the same items,and I only want them to see if any of the parts can be used to recondition my originals. I digress: The total cost as listed is £24.99 + £4.00 delivery,(via Royal Mail),plus any duty/VAT payable in this country. Virtually as soon as I placed the order I started getting text messages from DHL,asking for £15.00,"Duty/VAT Charge",payable before delivery. FIFTEEN BLOODY QUID? FOR AN ITEM ONLY £29.99 INC.DELIVERY? I quickly found a duty calculator online ( www.dutycalculator.com ) ,which informed me that there was NO DUTY PAYABLE as the item was under £135.00 FOB,(Free On Board),and that the VAT charge was £5.80. Rang DHL,who,after some argy bargy,finally admitted that there was a DHL "HANDLING CHARGE" included,of almost NINE QUID! BLOODY CHARLATANS! I cancelled the sale,but the seller said the item had been despatched. Called Ebay,they said refuse to accept the item and PayPal will refund me all my costs as this is a blatant rip-off. As it happens the delivery guy called today and put a card through the door as no one was home,and it clearly states,DUTY/VAT CHARGE £15.00. No mention of any handling fees whatsoever Now,I can afford the extra,no problem. And if the cost had been shown in the listing,I probably would have gone for the item anyway. But what about the poor buggers who are on a really tight budget,and are buying their bits and bobs on ebay because they can just about afford the stuff,and they get a financial hiding from a not-disclosed,"handling charge"? Well, I'm not being legged over...not by anyone,especially not by a multi-national conglomerate. At the moment,I see this this as a blatant misrepresentation. Multiply that £9.00 by the thousands of items they import from abroad,and suddenly it's a big bucks addition to their bottom line. I've emailed the DHL complaints department,and await a response...
What really p*sses me off, is that sellers add the postage charge to the item cost; then add VAT to the whole lot..........not just the item; yet stamps and up to 'medium parcel' size are exempt from VAT.
Similar experience with Parcel Force, £80 parcel from America, Parcel Force wanted £15 which included there handling charge, isn't the postage we pay supposed to be the handling charge? Steve
Got stung the same with RoadRacing bits from eBay America that cost about twenty quid Parcelforce charged me £8 for charging me £3 for HMRC. A joke on a second hand item that's been taxed once already. Biggest wind up the depot couldn't handle card payments in 2016
Well, it should be stated as such. A handling fee is not "Duty & VAT",it's a cost charged by the transporter for handling the goods,and should be included in the delivery charge that is stated. At the very least it should be listed separately. You don't put stamps on a letter and then pay the people at the sorting office an additional fee,it's all included. I'm not having it. DHL can bear the cost of returning the item to India,f*ck them. FYI I recently bought a 24v Bluetooth stereo off an Australian ebay seller for £18.99 + £1.50 delivery. Stereo is fantastic but the seller fibbed about the postage...it actually came from Malaysia LOL...all for £1.50,and delivered in 3 days. Thats what you call service.
If it's an import,its HMRC that charge you the VAT. It's VAT on the FOB cost...delivery,the item,everything. Also,if a business is VAT registered and has bought and,"sold",the stamps,I imagine they have to charge you the VAT.
Oh yes! I had the same experience. Went down there all grumpy and pissed off at having to pay a 'handling charge'. Presumably for the useless tossers to sit on it for 10 x the length of time it took to cross the Atlantic. Only to find they didn't take flippin' cards! Turn around and head to the nearest cash point!
Hi,I've got this brand new Rev counter I bought a couple of years ago for my much missed Bonny cafe racer but never fitted in the end as I prefer the minimalist look! Any good?
Parcelforce are by far the worst for this. Nothing gets through without them taking their exorbitant "handling fee". I cringe when ordering from abroad. If a seller in the USA use USPS, it automatically transfers over to Parcelforce on arrival in the UK. You could e-mail any seller and ask them to put a derisory value on the customs declaration. I've never done this obviously. UPS on the other hand seem to let everything through in my experience. I haven't been charged yet.
I look for the few eBay sellers that you can "pre pay" import duty and vat on at least then you know then how much you're paying and DHL/UPS/Royal Snail don't get a piece.
I got charged £22 for something that cost me £26 inc postage from the US. Thanks Parcelforce. Won't be doing it again.
Depends on the drive ratio,( and the price of course LOL) Tbh I wasn't going to fit a rev counter at all,(it's a Thunderbolt,single carb),and I'm not going to be revving the testes off it LOL But the price of the pair of clocks from India was too good to pass up...until DHL got their greedy snouts in the trough
Indeed. A VAT registered business is legally obliged to charge VAT at the relevant rate on all vatable goods and services they supply, and hand the money over to HMRC. Even if they don't charge you, they still have to pass the money to HMRC anyway. And if they don't account correctly for their transactions, they can be liable to a financial penalty. It's no use blaming anyone for that. What they are not obliged to do is to levy a "handling charge" in addition to whatever price has already been paid, and then lie about it. Blame them as much as you like.
You were blatantly ripped off,as there is no duty payable on single items valued under £135.00 You should have only been charged the VAT on your £26.00 payment,(£5.20). And they don't even charge VAT if the item is worth less than £15.00... Just because they all do it doesn't make it right. This is a bloody scam,I'm fuming,and the delivery bloke,(they are going to try and foist it on me again today),is unlikely to walk away without me emptying both metaphorical barrels at his DHL fleece
There is a higher charge for items over £135. Frankly a few more items from usa & I'm giving up purchasing stuff as it sometimes adds double the cost as stated above & we have no redress when these scum 'agencies' do it.
