Paying customs charges/tax on overseas items you bought ... Do customs get into you?

B.A._Baracus

To make a long story short.
Was talking to a friend earlier and we just randomly got into talking about buying things from overseas and the charges/taxes that come about from irish customs.

We both talked about several costly examples. One that I personally remember was that I once bought a playstation 2 game in late 2004 from canada (It was MGS3 for those gamers among us) It worked out that not only was I getting the game slightly cheaper but getting the game a full 4 months before european shops would sell it. Grand I thought. But when it came to being delivered I was forced to pay an extra 20 euro for "customs" which made paying for the game much more costly than just waiting for it. My friend also mentioned about just buying simple clothing from the states and getting hit big time by customs.


WHICH .... comes to the thread why do customs charge so much?
It feels like they get their 'hooks' into you. if you dont pay, you dont get your package. But its never a small amount such as 5 euro or there other. Its always a significant amount to the price you paid.


Am I alone in thinking custom taxes are just another way for the government to get into you? (might as well add a poll. why not :pac: )

sceptre

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Am I alone in thinking custom taxes are just another way for the government to get into you?

Erm, what's that now?

B.A._Baracus

sceptre wrote: »

Erm, what's that now?

Oh, perhaps you thought that sentence was a type of rorschach test and all you saw was "another way to get into you" :pac: .....

OnTheCounter

Whats all this about "getting into you"?

OnTheCounter

Instead of supporting Irish jobs you supported Canadian jobs so your extra charge goes towards the countries dole bill.

B.A._Baracus

OnTheCounter wrote: »

Instead of supporting Irish jobs you supported Canadian jobs so your extra charge goes towards the countries dole bill.

.... :pac:

TPD

Customs caught a couple of packages coming my way from China, luckily the two they caught were both under 22 euro in value. Bringing stuff back in a suitcase from America tomorrow, hopefully I won't have any bother.

CRM Ireland

OnTheCounter wrote: »

Instead of supporting Irish jobs you supported Canadian jobs so your extra charge goes towards the countries dole bill.

Im so sick of all this "buy Irish" drivel. Whats so great about Ireland and its produce? Over-priced most of it.

In fact, Im so sick of being force fed crap about buying Irish, that Im going to actively seek alternative produce.

MadsL

I sent a mobile phone for the purposes of my daughter having a mobile on her trip over the US. Poxy thing was a freebie phone and not even staying in the country. All explained on the customs form.

Revenue charged €56!! :eek:

Cheeky bastards charge duty on the cost of shipping too. Much like the double whack when you pay VRT on the open market value of a car that already includes the VRT.

Shameless.

Grayson

I'm always scared of ordering anything from abroad. It's a bit of a lottery. You don't know if they'll charge you or how much they'll charge.

mitosis

Do customs get into to you ... and charge you well too much more?

What the F?


Customs and Revenue have fixed rates you can check on their websites. You also got caught for a courier handling charge - they acted on your behalf with Customs/Revenue - this is where a lot of the charges originate. Again, this is a fixed rate available on their websites. I have shipped hundreds of items from around the world and never been "stung" by Revenue.

Wibbs

Buy locally or within the EU, problem solved. 9 times outa 10 I've rarely found large savings beyond the EU anyway. YMMV

Grayson

mitosis wrote: »

Do customs get into to you ... and charge you well too much more?

What the F?


Customs and Revenue have fixed rates you can check on their websites. You also got caught for a courier handling charge - they acted on your behalf with Customs/Revenue - this is where a lot of the charges originate. Again, this is a fixed rate available on their websites. I have shipped hundreds of items from around the world and never been "stung" by Revenue.

It's not the % rates as much as how they determine the value of the item that is confusing.

danniemcq

i remember i got 2 bottles of perfume for the GF, came in 2 boxes one had extra customs charges, the other didn't.

and AFAIK i had used an Irish website (they just shipped it from the states and i got landed with the extra)

donegal_road

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

To make a long story short.
Was talking to a friend earlier and we just randomly got into talking about buying things from overseas and the charges/taxes that come about from irish customs.

We both talked about several costly examples. One that I personally remember was that I once bought a playstation 2 game in late 2004 from canada (It was MGS3 for those gamers among us) It worked out that not only was I getting the game slightly cheaper but getting the game a full 4 months before european shops would sell it. Grand I thought. But when it came to being delivered I was forced to pay an extra 20 euro for "customs" which made paying for the game much more costly than just waiting for it. My friend also mentioned about just buying simple clothing from the states and getting hit big time by customs.


WHICH .... comes to the thread why do customs charge so much?
It feels like they get their 'hooks' into you. if you dont pay, you dont get your package. But its never a small amount such as 5 euro or there other. Its always a significant amount to the price you paid.


Am I alone in thinking custom taxes are just another way for the government to get into you? (might as well add a poll. why not :pac: )

in 2004 I took 3 new laptops through customs on the way back from Canada. I bought them in Canada so this meant I was eligible to claim 15% tax back from Canadian customs. I wasn't charged anything at customs in Dublin (I didn't declare of course)

Capt'n Midnight

MadsL wrote: »

I sent a mobile phone for the purposes of my daughter having a mobile on her trip over the US. Poxy thing was a freebie phone and not even staying in the country. All explained on the customs form.

Revenue charged €56!! :eek:

Cheeky bastards charge duty on the cost of shipping too. Much like the double whack when you pay VRT on the open market value of a car that already includes the VRT.

Shameless.

Did you mark it as a gift ?

Thing is customs have draconian powers. Unlike the guards they don't need a warrant to pay you a visit. Unlike the guards they can seize your vehicle for trivialities. Unlike the guards you are guilty until proven innocent.

With customs the rules are simple, they tell you what it's worth on the open market and you have to prove otherwise and/or that you've already paid enough duty on it by showing the receipts.

The only legal ways around are keeping costs below €22 including postage, fees, exchange rate changes etc. Even then it's more a case of "more trouble than it's worth to collect" loophole. Or making the article look so old and decrepit that it has minimal commercial value, in the case of importing second hand vehicles.


And yes the €6 handling fee also sucks.

yes China is dirt cheap for electronics, BUT a lot of the stuff is fake, the CE marking are fake so not really worth spending real money there anyway especially when places in the EU like http://satsklep.pl offer real kit at real prices.