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08-30-2007, 07:23 PM   #1
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Narked at UK Customs

The UK Customs and Excise people are getting


I recently purchased a camera - a really nice PENTAX MZ-S - for 550 US Dollars from a private seller in the US. It was purchased from the US because I was unable to acquire on in the UK as it had been discontinued some 18 months earlier and is extremely rare on the second hand market here. Despite having paid for the item in full at the time of purchase I was landed with a 60 pounds / 120 dollar customs charge for the item and had to pay it in full before the item would be released to me. This camera was SECOND HAND, i.e it had been used before and came without instructions or box.

I have now just purchased an accessory for this camera - the PENTAX BG-10 Grip - at a cost of approximately 60 pounds / 120 dollars. Once again it was purchased from a private seller in the US as I could not source one from a UK supplier due to it being discontinued and extremely rare on the second hand market. Once again, the item is SECOND HAND and to my dismay I have been charged 18 pounds / 36 dollars for this item.

I feel it is highly unfair to charge people import duty for goods that they have purchased out of the country and especially unfair when they are Second Hand items that are unavailable to purchase in this country. Charging VAT on these items is tantamount to daylight robbery.


I know there's nothing I can do about as the Customs & Excise people are a law unto themselves but if I could have bought it here I would have. These extra charges are crippling me and are unwanted as it's costly enough to buy the camera gear in the first place.

08-30-2007, 07:58 PM   #2
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I have no idea what the UK laws are for imports and duties but I know in Canada that if an item is marked as "used" then you can sometimes bypass paying taxes and if it is photography equipment it is excluded from duty. As much as duty sucks, it's a way of maintaining the economy as if everyone was able to purchase from outside their resident country how would it fuel the local economy to bring in new products etc. It sucks but it's a part of business I guess, though I don't agree with UK citizens getting screwed with higher prices on things than other countries.

-s
08-30-2007, 11:22 PM   #3
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Just a thought Trawlerman, but how about having it sent to you saying that it's a gift

I'm another Canadian, who buys camera gear from the US mail order companies.
However in my case, living in a border town I have it shipped to my US address and just run across bringing it back.
I get charged the taxes alone.
08-30-2007, 11:31 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by Trawlerman Quote
Despite having paid for the item in full at the time of purchase I was landed with a 60 pounds / 120 dollar customs charge for the item and had to pay it in full before the item would be released to me. This camera was SECOND HAND, i.e it had been used before and came without instructions or box.
Although I have been hit by this before and was as pissed off as you are now, there is nothing abnormal or sinister about paying duty and VAT on imports. There is no connection whatsoever to your having paid in full at the time of purchase or not, or the item being new or second hand. Any import into the EU of items over a certain minimum value from a so-called 3rd country, in this case the US, goes through Customs clearance. Probably the declared value was put on the package by the seller.

Camera's (non-digital SLR's) fall under tariff heading 90065100 and carry a 4.2% duty rate plus whatever the VAT rate is in the UK.

QuoteQuote:
I have now just purchased an accessory for this camera - the PENTAX BG-10 Grip - at a cost of approximately 60 pounds / 120 dollars. Once again it was purchased from a private seller in the US as I could not source one from a UK supplier due to it being discontinued and extremely rare on the second hand market. Once again, the item is SECOND HAND and to my dismay I have been charged 18 pounds / 36 dollars for this item.
Again, with sympathy to your plight, this is totally normal. Tariff heading here is 90069100 and the duty rate is slightly less at 3.7%

QuoteQuote:
I feel it is highly unfair to charge people import duty for goods that they have purchased out of the country and especially unfair when they are Second Hand items that are unavailable to purchase in this country. Charging VAT on these items is tantamount to daylight robbery.
Why is that so? Were you to buy a secondhand item from a Highstreet store in the UK, you would not think twice about the VAT appearing on the sales slip. VAT is not uniquely charged on imports. VAT is charged on every purchase of goods and/or services.

Whether you think VAT is better or worse than other sales tax systems is beside the point.

QuoteQuote:
I know there's nothing I can do about as the Customs & Excise people are a law unto themselves but if I could have bought it here I would have. These extra charges are crippling me and are unwanted as it's costly enough to buy the camera gear in the first place.
That is an unfair and unqualified statement if I ever saw one. I make a living out of proving the Customs wrong at times, making sure my company pays the "lowest legal rate". UK Customs are no different from the Dutch (where I live), Luxembourg (where I work) or other EU members (where I carry responsability. Come to think of it, just about any country I know by name, in- and outside the EU, is a signatory to the WCO. (World Customs Organization)

Apart from that, both the Tariff and the rules are on Internet. The UK tax authorities are known to have a particularly good, consumer-directed, website.

The Customs rules throughout the world are remarkably similar, if not identical, and differ only in tiny details.

When ordering from another country, one needs to take these charges into account and also include the handling and clearance charges which typically do not come from Customs, but from the Postal services or a forwarder/shipping company.

Mike

08-31-2007, 01:41 AM   #5
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I think this is why we yanks had the Boston Tea Party. I think all taxes are wrong, but then again if we didn't have them People wouldn't have jobs with the Govt.
08-31-2007, 08:03 AM   #6
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Taxes / VAT are a topic for flaming for sure. As other Canadians have mentioned (and we are one of the higher taxed Countries - but there are higher for sure ) - the last couple of items I have purchased online (from this forum) I got stung with a 6% GST (Our Goods and Services Tax - genius can you think of anything that is not a Goods or Service ?) - And a flat $5.00 admin fee.

I can live with this as usually the price is such that even with the taxes it makse it worth while. I just include it in my total cost. And As you have mentioned , sometimes it is the only place to find an item (internationally). I fully expect GST on new items - however it does annoy me on used goods.

However on the other side of the coin, I am an independent consultant so as such I charge 6% GST for my services to my Canadian clients - in the end I get to keep roughly 2% so I make 2% for my administrative efforts haha - some organizations (Hospitals ,etc) are GST exempt but by and large most everyone has to pay it.

For me personally my one man company offers me an opportunity to recover some of the taxes back - albeit a very very very small percentage.
09-02-2007, 07:08 PM   #7
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in the US, some people get around sales taxes in their states by buying from companies in other states. They think they're being smart. But if their state ever fully audits them they'll be in big trouble. I know in Massachusetts they require you to pay a "use" tax on any items purchased out-of-state which you didn't already pay a state tax on. The good thing is, if you bought a camera in NYC in person, for example, you'd be paying the NY State taxes on that, so you wouldn't have to claim it. But if you bought it from B&H through their website, you'd end up having to pay Massachusetts for the use tax on it.


Bottom line is they'll get you no matter what, it's just different places have different percentages, that's all.

09-03-2007, 02:18 PM   #8
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yep, in the states people try to purchase items from outside their state in order to circumvent any state sales taxes.

Gotta be careful though. Some states are beginning to crack down on it.
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