Question about customs

rob180

Hi , i recently brought an item ( car dash cam ) from Hong Kong on ebay. The item was sent by FedEx with a tracking number. All was well until it reach Shannon on the 21st Feb where it was seized by custom. So FedEx rang me that day and say that i had to send them my paypal receipt of the item so custom can check the value of my item ( €165 ) and add excise duty and vat. Rang FedEx today about the item and they say custom still haven't release it yet.Does anyone here knows why customs taking so bleeding long to release it? I had other items bought before (value much more than this item) and normally it takes a few days to clear custom. Iam abit miff and confused.

Paulw

Have you tried contacting the Revenue to ask?

http://www.revenue.ie/en/contact/customs-division.html

rob180

Have thought about it, but rang FedEx instead. Might give them a buzz tomorrow now. Have a funny feeling they lost the item. I've brought many other items,some over €1000 before and it never taken this long to clear custom. Just abit annoyed cos i paid extra for express delivery.

dudara

Moved to Online Buying & Auctions

dudara

rob180

Paulw wrote: »

Have you tried contacting the Revenue to ask?

http://www.revenue.ie/en/contact/customs-division.html

Wow, now which number will i chose. Decision,decision.

rob180

Update : Finally arrived today, spent 11 days at customs. Have yet to get bill from them. Moaning over

rob180

Just got a letter from FedEx and saw the bill - €80.20 :eek: wow wasn't expecting that now. Feck it anyway.

TMC99

How much was the duty on it ? (As opposed to FedEx charges)

rob180

Here's the info TMC99
Duty €24.68

VAT €46.22

Ad Min Fee €10

rob180

Actually here's the final total amount :
Disbursements out of scope of EU VAT €70.90
Clearance Admin Charges Vatable @ 23% €10.00
VAT @ 23% € 2.30.


Total Amount Due €83.20

PresidentMike

It's mad that you paid €83.20 for an item that costs €165!

Was there any way you could have predicted this?

Does anybody knows if there is a schedule of fees or something where one could check these fees before buying stuff overseas?

TMC99

By my calculations (Item price includes item price + cost of transport)

Item Price 176.27
Duty @ 14% 24.68

Total for VAT 200.95
VAT @ 23% 46.22


A duty rate of 14% is very high - I would have thought 3.7% or 4.9% based on classification would be closer to the mark. Did they give you the classification / HS code used ?

TMC99

PresidentMike wrote: »

It's mad that you paid €83.20 for an item that costs €165!

Was there any way you could have predicted this?

Does anybody knows if there is a schedule of fees or something where one could check these fees before buying stuff overseas?

You can use this http://www.dutycalculator.com/ but ultimately it comes down to having the correct classification for the goods. Its a pet hate of mine - these companies do the declaration to customs on your behalf and are not too concerned with what data they use (high rates / lower rate) - but you have to foot the bill for it. And they have the goods until you pay. Its difficult to argue with them as its always 'after the fact' when you become aware of what they have declared - and then it gets into a long process of trying to get the money back if applicable. It addition, they make you chase the refund from customs, rather than accepting the onus is on them to do a correct declaration in the first place (for which you have paid them €10 anyway). Most people just accept it or give up trying - which of course means it continues to happen.

Anyway rant over

rob180

I was surprise at the cost of duty and vat. I bought an iPad( 64G Wi-FI 3G ) from the State awhile back for about $700 on ebay and I only had to pay about €90 on duty and vat. But it still worked out cheaper if i were to buy it here.

rob180

Sorry for bringing this old thread up again folks, but yesterday i got a letter from FedEx saying i still owed them the €83.20.Strange, I could have sworn I've paid it already. So I went to check my credit card statement and yes I did paid that €83.20. Not only did I pay but on closer inspection they charged me €101.68. They actually charged me £83.20. So I rang them this morning about that and now they want me to fax them my cc statement as prove that I've paid the fee. Great now I have to drive into town to fax it. Thanks FedEx, not!!:mad:

jor el

I wouldn't fax them anything. You have paid, and you don't have to prove it to them.

You should also contact your bank and make a complaint against FedEx for charging you in Sterling when the invoice was in Euro. They've over charged you there, so you should reverse that payment.

Check your invoice to make sure the original bill amount was in Euro, and not Sterling.

rob180

Yup, it deffo says euros on the invoice. Afraid i've just faxed the docs to FedEx, cost me €3 for 3 pages. UK fax number though . What a bunch of idiots, if they didn't send me that letter yesterday I wouldn't have known about the over charging. Better check my credit card statements in future.