Play.Com - Custom Charges! is this right

pauld

I ordered a dvd boxset on Play.com (which I thought was a UK website). The postman has been and gone and left a note to say I owe €26 in custom charges.

I have spoken to Customs who advise that the parcel was sent from Jersey which is not part of the EU and has no reciprocal VAT arrangements with Ireland. He also advised the chargfe was €20 but An post stick on €6 handling fee!

This all makes sense but it is very disappointing to order from a website which gives the impresssion that it is in the UK and then goes and sends it deliveries from Jersey!!

Anybody had a similar experience?

I am seriously thinking of letting customs return to package to Play and get my refund.

Paul

dudara

True, Play do not make it very clear that they are technically located outside the EU, and that you therefore may be liable for duty/VAT.

I'd say the Revenue/Customs are getting stricter these days.

Try Amazon.co.uk in future - free shipping to Ireland with orders over £25 (approx) and a much fairer exchange rate than Play.

pauld

Dudara,

Thanks - I usually use Amazon but the particular boxset I was lookign for, Hosuse m.d. series1-5 was only available on Play. Never again say I !!

Paul

Sponge Bob

The €22 rule applies, you are not liable for duty/vat/handling if the contents of a package are worth less than €22 (or so) irrespective of origin.

Thereafter you are fully liable .

However PLAY should have told you that you COULD be liable before you bought it , bring it to the ECC in Dublin !

http://www.ecic.ie/

A NON EU service passed itself off as an EU service !

Paulw

Play.com have covered themselves.

http://www.play.com/HOME/HOME/6-/Help.html?page=playterms#jump-04

Item 36.

If your delivery address is outside of Jersey, you may be subject to import duties and taxes, which are levied once a shipment reaches your country. Any such additional charges for customs clearance must be borne by you. You should note that customs policies vary widely from country to country; Play.com advises each customer to contact their local customs office for further information.

The info is there.

Sponge Bob

Grand so, it is clearly explained in their T&Cs . Linkee there Paulw

pauld

Thanks guys for the responses. Teach me to read the small print in future! However Play.Com is off my Internet Shopping list for good!

I will chalk it down to experience and move onwards and upwards

jor el

pauld wrote: »

I am seriously thinking of letting customs return to package to Play and get my refund.

You may be charged a re-stocking fee for the returned product, so you may not get a full refund.

Question to ask yourself; is it still worth the price you paid plus the extra €26? If you can't get it cheaper than that, then why not pay and keep it?

pauld

Jor el, I have decided to keep it as the other half was promised that she would be getting it. It will be my last purchase from that website though!

rubadub

pauld wrote: »

This all makes sense but it is very disappointing to order from a website which gives the impresssion that it is in the UK and then goes and sends it deliveries from Jersey!!

I didn't really get much of an impression they are posting from the UK. I would say other sites do though, e.g. www.hmv.co.uk post from jersey, by using the .co.uk it does more likely to be presumed it is coming from the UK, and I am surprised such a big retailer like HMV would engage in such tactics, and I do presume they know exactly what they are at by doing this. Other companies like mymemory.co.uk ship from jersey too, but I would expect more honesty from the big boys, and the lack of warning lets me know it is intentional, since they obviously have had lots of complaints after the fact.

Many Hong Kong sellers on ebay use UK addresses too.

I always presume .com sellers are coming from jersey.

If you are unsure about the site then use the following syntax in google which will just search that site for the word jersey or jersey and channel islands (jersey on its own gets hits for various dvds.) Often this info is hidden deep in terms & conditions pages.

jersey channel islands site:play.com

First hit for that gets.

If your delivery address is outside of Jersey, you may be subject to import duties and taxes, which are levied once a shipment reaches your country. Any such additional charges for customs clearance must be borne by you. You should note that customs policies vary widely from country to country; Play.com advises each customer to contact their local customs office for further information.

jersey channel islands site:mymemory.co.uk

Customers
MyMemory Ltd.
FREEPOST 500
St Helier
Jersey
Channel Islands
JE1 1AF

Guy:Incognito

When you go to the log in screen en route to the checkout theres a blue box on the left with a European flag sayign people outside the UK will be charge customs in € . Just like bogus ebay auctions etc the signs are there if you dont rush through things and get excited.

Soundman

dudara wrote: »

Try Amazon.co.uk in future - free shipping to Ireland with orders over £25 (approx) and a much fairer exchange rate than Play.

Since when? I've ordered plenty from Amazon costing more than £25 and haven't got free shipping.

Amazon, Zavvi and HMV all have the House box set for the same price as Play though shipping isn't included in the price.

krudler

I've never been charged for customs on anything I've bought from play and I've ordered plenty of stuff worth more than €26 for one item like games and boxsets, strange

vestanpance

Soundman wrote: »

Since when? I've ordered plenty from Amazon costing more than £25 and haven't got free shipping.

Around the 6th of this month.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055702344

dudara

Soundman wrote: »

Since when? I've ordered plenty from Amazon costing more than £25 and haven't got free shipping.

Amazon, Zavvi and HMV all have the House box set for the same price as Play though shipping isn't included in the price.

It's only been available for the last week or two AND it's not automatically applied when you check out, you have to select Super Saver Delivery yourself.

jaffa20

I can't use amazon. It's just annoying that you go through a whole process of selecting goods and then find out they won't ship them to ireland. I would you could filter out what is sold by amazon only and not third parties but they don't have that option. Just too annoying.

Play.com is a pretty good site if you buying the odd dvd. Some good prices. I've never ordered anything too expensive so haven't been caught out by customs.

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

pauld wrote: »

Thanks guys for the responses. Teach me to read the small print in future! However Play.Com is off my Internet Shopping list for good!

I will chalk it down to experience and move onwards and upwards

The vast majority of the major online retailers are based in Jersey. It's one of the main reasons why goods are so much cheaper because they do not include vat. You will be striking off a lot more than play as you go along.

MagicMarker

I've ordered from Play dozens of times and never had any added charges!

ShooterSF

Just to add as a reminder for anyone purchasing off Play (or mymemory etc) in future (not applicable in the OPs case) but if you are buying small items less than €22 order them in separate orders as you don't get charged extra for shipping them separate but avoid paying customs.

cmsp.plumber

same ive order loads of dvd, books etc and never charged any extra!

Beano

ShooterSF wrote: »

Just to add as a reminder for anyone purchasing off Play (or mymemory etc) in future (not applicable in the OPs case) but if you are buying small items less than €22 order them in separate orders as you don't get charged extra for shipping them separate but avoid paying customs.

there is no need to do this for play.com. they always ship each item individually.

Sponge Bob

Box sets will be over €22 and that is where you will get caught !

ShooterSF

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Box sets will be over €22 and that is where you will get caught !

I got the first 5 seasons of Peep show from them for about €16. So sometimes...

TheDriver

at least this thread hasn't gone into the usual "who do revenue think they are stopping my tax free purchases and claiming what we as residences of the state give them a right to do, getting taxes etc"!! Waiting for it though............

bcirl03

.....who do revenue think they are stopping my tax free purchases and claiming what we as residences of the state give them a right to do, getting taxes etc.....

MOH

jor el wrote: »

You may be charged a re-stocking fee for the returned product, so you may not get a full refund.

Don't they have to accept returns without a penalty under distance selling regulations?

ktc1

MOH wrote: »

Don't they have to accept returns without a penalty under distance selling regulations?

Yes they do if you return within 7 of recipt days as per their terms and conditions. Customs tried to hit me with a bill for €66 for the Beatles Remastered Mono box set. Needless to say it's gone back. I did get a €29 blu ray Band of Brothers delivered this week; that must have slipped through the customs net.

jor el

MOH wrote: »

Don't they have to accept returns without a penalty under distance selling regulations?

You do indeed. If there's any postage to pay, that's up to you, but there should be no other penalty as long as it's within 7 days of receipt. Which begs the question; if you don't actually receive them, when does the 7 days end?

MOH

jor el wrote: »

You do indeed. If there's any postage to pay, that's up to you, but there should be no other penalty as long as it's within 7 days of receipt. Which begs the question; if you don't actually receive them, when does the 7 days end?

Well if you never receive them, and customs return them, then the seller has them back, it has to be within the 7 days, since you never received them at all, so everyone's happy. Except whoever paid for the return postage(customs?).

ShooterSF

MOH wrote: »

Well if you never receive them, and customs return them, then the seller has them back, it has to be within the 7 days, since you never received them at all, so everyone's happy. Except whoever paid for the return postage(customs?).

I'm pretty sure if a package can't be delivered the return postage is covered similar to if you send a letter and the person no longer lives at that address. Return to sender is covered in the original postage.
And as play offer "free" delivery then there should be no postage costs

lindtee

jaffa20 wrote: »

I can't use amazon. It's just annoying that you go through a whole process of selecting goods and then find out they won't ship them to ireland. I would you could filter out what is sold by amazon only and not third parties but they don't have that option. Just too annoying.

Play.com is a pretty good site if you buying the odd dvd. Some good prices. I've never ordered anything too expensive so haven't been caught out by customs.

They do have that option on the left hand side, you can specify amazon.co.uk as a seller and filter out the rest, since the free shipping came in, I've been using it on a daily basis:cool::cool:

gaz wac

Jees, glad I read this thread, was about to order the full box set of Only Fools and Horses for €50 from play.com but with all the bad feed back, think ill get it else where cheers

p.s would you all recommend Amazon for my purchase ?

royan

Stekelly wrote: »

When you go to the log in screen en route to the checkout theres a blue box on the left with a European flag sayign people outside the UK will be charge customs in €

What, this one? Mentions euros, but not customs. "Customers", yes



The States of Jersey has this explanation of its relationship with the European Union re tax/duty.

"Although the Channel Islands form part of the Customs territory of the EC, they are not full member states and are not part of the Single European Market for VAT purposes."
...
"Goods exported from the Channel Islands consigned to a member state of the EC are liable to VAT upon importation at the rate applicable in the country of destination."

... but you'd still need to know to check there.

I (or my wife, buying me a present) just got stung for €17 for a CD box set.

rubadub

pauld wrote: »

The postman has been and gone and left a note to say I owe €26 in custom charges.

krudler wrote: »

I've never been charged for customs on anything I've bought from play and I've ordered plenty of stuff worth more than €26 for one item like games and boxsets, strange

The OP was charged €26, so his item would have costed a lot more

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Box sets will be over €22 and that is where you will get caught !

Technically this is true, In practise customs seem to treat everything as a gift, i.e. the limit used is usually €45 which is the limit on gifts. I remember a customs lad on the news actually saying the limit was €45, and made no mention of the gift thing. It is not really worth the admin costs to collect on less than that.

However with the likes of play.com or cdwow (if from outside the EU) I expect they come in containers and it would be easier to process a big bundle of items. So they might go for the €22 limit more often.

rubadub

Eoinzzz wrote: »

I got hit last year with two boxsets for custom charges and swore I would never use them again! (And couldnt get a straight answer out of them)

A straight answer? what was the question? It would be like buying a dvd in HMV in dublin and then ranting at the staff "What the FU*K- you expect me to pay VAT, give me a reasonable reason why!"

Eoinzzz wrote: »

The only alternative was really CD Wow.

cdwow often ship from outside the EU so you have the same problems

Arciphel

Eoinzzz wrote: »

I got hit last year with two boxsets for custom charges and swore I would never use them again! (And couldnt get a straight answer out of them) The only alternative was really CD Wow but all there stuff takes forever and is graded stock from China.

I came across these guys which launched a couple of weeks ago set up for the Irish market www.bestnightin.com. I got a promotion code from a friend of mine for World at War complete collection and got it 60 euro cheaper than play and arrived after 2 days! Would like to find out a bit more about them though before going nuts with my hard earned cash LOL

Play.com and all the rest of the would want to stop treating people like cattle.

Check that user Eoinzzz's profile and you will see that all his posts are about how remarkably cheap that website is. It's also not an Irish website, they are based in the UK. Beware, shill alert!