Comments UK Customs Charges explained for figure collectors

So not had any charges for a long time, just found out today that my Chiaki scale has been hit with a customs charge, not sure why as she is 16,000 yen, works out at about £100 so wondering why they picked her out. Looks like she is with Parcel force, was EMS shipping.
Lets see how much the charge is.

I actually don't think about the customs charge anymore. I've bought so much stuff from Japan mostly figures that the total cost including what charges I did pay is still cheaper than buying in the UK. Only the one time did PF not charge me and that was for a £90 figure. Either it got overlooked or maybe whoever was reading the label got confused by the Yen.

Nothing worse then paying the £13.50 for a service, which should be paid for by the shipping charge in my opinion. I honestly don't mind paying the 20% VAT, but what annoys me so much is that unjustified fee from PF. I really wish there would be a way to import these yourself. I gladly fill in some forms and declare the import to get around that. I usually avoid EMS (and SAL Parcel), as not to get them imported/delivered via PF. But with the size of ITEM #367290, it was unavoidable. >_<

UK customs - more here as well: club/533/discus...

I just got a letter from ParcelForce asking for payment and the total overall is... £60.11!!!! Good bye money.

I've managed to avoid customs on all of my purchases and most werent devalued. Using SAL is generally the best option since you often skip past customs with ease normally. The fixed fee is just disgusting though. £13.5 is absurd and I want to know why they demand so much.

I'd recommend using a proxy to devalue your EMS items from amiami and such. I plan on doing that for Nozomi at least. Hopefully it's a good idea?

KyokoHunter • 7 years ago • #10231487I wonder if certain types of SAL packages come via Parcel Force? As for the handling fee, I agree that it's far too expensive - I think it should be proportional, so that you don't get stuck with a £13.50 fee when the VAT charge is only a few pounds!
Oh yeah that's the worst. 5£ tax and then the fee just makes it ridiculous... I wish more companies would underdeclare...for at least the small stuff... In the bjd hobby pretty much all shops underdeclare without you even having to ask *sighs* but I do get that it's illegal etc oh well

KyokoHunter • 7 years ago • #10231641Thanks for the additional info, top advice! I haven't taken out additional insurance before but I don't think my purchases have ever been very expensive per package. It's really handy to have the rates as well, I think that differs from the 'standard rate' the Government site mentions of 2.5%.

If you double check the wording that's for Gifts between £135 and £630, as most shops won't mark as gift you get charged duty at differing rates dependant on item type. These rates are hard to find but from my notes I have figures as being either tariff 9503002110 or 9503002190.

I've never taken out additional insurance, however AmiAmi did when they sent my item, I got taxed based on what they paid. In fact my dispute with customs came about because AmiAmi declared the total value of my parcel as 30500 Yen with 5000 Yen shipping and 1000 Insurance when in actual fact that 30500 already included the shipping I'd paid.

"Say you've bought a chibi-style action figure for ¥3500 and you have paid ¥1000 for shipping by SAL. That gives us a declared value of ¥4500" This is technically wrong as the shipping should not be put in the declared value box. This should only be the "intrinsic value" (HMRC term meaning 'the value of the goods before shipping, insurance, etc') of the item. Stores should not be adding the shipping cost to the item's declared value as this is not correct (and overvaluing is as illegal as undervaluing). Once your item is over £15, however, you will be taxed on the cost of shipping (if this is declared).

It's important to note (because I've seen a lot of people and customs/mail people confused by this), the shipping cost does NOT count to the £15 maximum unless you are using EMS/Priority (then it does). The shipping cost should be declared elsewhere on the box - normally on the postage label - though I do not believe it is a legal requirement to declare the cost of postage.

I find RSAL/USAL is either a 9/10 chance of being caught to 5/5 depending on the time of year. I've had two taxable parcels in the last 6 months and neither were charged.

Kuromii • 7 years ago • #10230224AKA UK customs are gigantic bastards.

I'd blame the Government, as they set the taxes and rules in the first place. I'm more annoyed at the handling fee that Royal Mail and Parcel Firce charge, since that's often more expensive than the actual customs charge itself!

Gandalf • 7 years ago • #10230321Couple of things, they also count value of insurance when calculating the VAT/Duty. Though from experience only Parcelforce do this, Royal Mail actually ignore both the insurance and the shipping costs and charge VAT based solely on the goods (which is technically wrong).
Figures have a duty rate of 4.7%, Cotton T-Shirts have a rate of 12% (these being the two items in a parcel I filed a dispute over, that's how I know insurance is added in)
When calculating duty they split the shipping and insurance costs proportionally over the value of the goods. So if the shipping is 4000 Yen and Insurance is 1000 Yen (total 5000 combined) and you have a 60/40 split on figures and clothing they'd add 3000 to the value of the figures and 2000 to the value of the clothing when working out the total duty due.

Thanks for the additional info, top advice! I haven't taken out additional insurance before but I don't think my purchases have ever been very expensive per package. It's really handy to have the rates as well, I think that differs from the 'standard rate' the Government site mentions of 2.5%.