caught by revenue for item off Ebay

johnnyboy4711

HI all!
bought camera off ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290165161528
all well!
now today i get a letter from customs saying i have to send info on purchase
as it was sent from Hong kong and not the UK (as stated on ebay).
thus arousing the suspicion of the revenue!
got email from sender stating that he/she will pay the vat into my paypal account as he/she has checked the parcel track number and also found it to be held in portlaoise.
the reason the posted it from hong kong is because of lack of stock in UK(Yeah right!)then why post it from HK until they get stock into UK???
plus they sent apologies and etc .
so anyone have experiences with revenue???
worried johnnyboy!!!

Morbid.Angel

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Morbid.Angel

This post has been deleted.

johnnyboy4711

I would assume that when the seller states the item is in UK i would not expect the item to be shipped from HK thus making them work overtime in the customs office!
kinda p#ssed at this messing about though!
so you reckon i would have to bite the bullet on this evn though i assumed the vat on the item would have been paid in the UK,where i thought i bought it from in the 1st place.
price of item is the same in expansys.ie
the only difference is i got extra memory card nad bag etc.
Flippin typical!!!
any help
thanks
john

email from seller
But this camera is in the customhouse. I am sorry, this is a misunderstanding, All the item are shipping from uk. But here was no stock recently, so we shipped from USA or HK directly. Don't worry about it, you can fetch the camera, when you tell me the reference number and your paypal accounts, we will afford your tariffs. All right?
..thank you very much..
Bring this worries to you, I beg your pardon..

Mr. Presentable

johnnyboy4711 wrote:

HI all!
so anyone have experiences with revenue???
worried johnnyboy!!!

Yeah, they'll take what they're entitled to. It's not like they're stealing from you, you knew you might get caught for Duty and VAT, right, like any other importer?

johnnyboy4711

the camera is the same price on any website in ireland the only difference is that it came with extras bag memory card etc which made it cheaper.
also seller did state that it would be shipped from UK(never had a problem re:customs before and bought a heap of stuff!from all over the world)
and no !i didnt think i was doing a quick one over the revenue!
jesus whos side are you on anyway?
thanks for your help
j

johnnyboy4711

what i paid for the camera equates roughly to what its worth in Ireland as stated so if i have to add vat to it @21% why would i have to pay 21% more than its worth?
anyway the revenue have said that i have to forward them the paypal receipt and details on how much the item costs and they will add the appropriate fee.
should i try put my case forward or am i wasting my time?
thanks
john

Mr. Presentable

johnnyboy4711 wrote:

the camera is the same price on any website in ireland the only difference is that it came with extras bag memory card etc which made it cheaper.
also seller did state that it would be shipped from UK(never had a problem re:customs before and bought a heap of stuff!from all over the world)
and no !i didnt think i was doing a quick one over the revenue!
jesus whos side are you on anyway?
thanks for your help
j

Hey J, I'm not having a go. Maybe I need to use more smileys

parsi

Plenty of HK sellers regsiter via ebay.uk so seem to be from there. It's a mighty pain because you do expect to be receiving a UK shipment.

There are a number of sellers who do promise to refund customs - a few but they do exist.

In terms of customs - you don't have a case (other than the one from the camera). The item was shipped from HK (you can argue the toss with the seller) and is therefore liable.

johnnyboy4711

sorry just in a bummer of a mood after this and then to get a larger(double)than usual esb bill to put the tin hat on things!
THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS
this is what i will do!
j