That'll Teach Me...

[fatwoul]

Well, that'll teach me to try and buy cheap westerns from the US to practice on.

I bought a brown Resistol a while back, from a guy in California. The hat cost $20 (nobody else seemed interested, as is often the case with westerns on eBay), and the postage ended up being $40.

I felt a bit stiffed by that, but nevermind, It's still a fraction of the cost of a "proper" hat.

Today, I get a letter from Parcel Farce. They tell me that HM Customs have charged me duty on my parcel. £10.37. I get my calculator out. £10.37 is exactly 17.5% of £60 - they charged me VAT on a dollar amount as if it was pounds, and they included the cost of the shipping!

So now, I am lumbered with a £10.37 tax bill for a hat that only cost me £10 in the first place.

But it gets better...

Because the parcel is being held by Parcel Farce at their depot, and because they had to pay the customs duty, they are now charging me their own £8.00 "clearance fee". They didn't even hand-deliver the note to tell me they had the parcel - they just mailed it...2 days ago.

So my hat which cost me £10 will have cost me closer to £50 by the time it actually gets here.

I can contest the customs charge, of course, but that is going to take time, and I am stuck with the clearance fee anyway, because Parcel Farce charge that regardless how little the duty is.

So yeah, take heed all those UK eBayers thinking of doing what I did.

 

[Edward]

I'm always very careful where and what I buy from the US for that very reason. I hate Parcelforce and will go out of my way to avoid using them - unfortunately when it's coming into the UK you don't have much choice. My issue with Parcelforce goes back a couple of Christmases - I bought a bunch of stuff I couldn't afford to replace from the US (stuff that I couldn't afford over here, but like everything else was half thed price in the US...), and it didn't seem to arrive. Turns out the driver on the PF route had recently changed, and the new guy just wasn't bothering to notify me of attempted delivery, so my stuff was all sent back to the sender. And of course they do that by the cheapest and therefore slowest method possible. My seller received the items back three months after they had been posted. In fact, including stuff that was posted within the UK, i had no less that eight parcels go missing that year. some never turned up again (though I did get the money back from the sellers, both eBay and non). Dad had to wait until March for his Christmas present, as I couldn't afford to replace them. Bah. To be fair, Parcelforce did look into it when I complained and came back to me and told me what happened, but still. Delivery is always inconvenient.... regular post is great - I just pick stuff up from the office two minutes from home. anything else, though -parcelforce, any kind of courier - can be a nightmare, especially as most of them give you a timeslot of "8am - 6pm" or similar, then you have to wait in all day.... boo.

Anyhow.... your situation... I'm afraid that is correct, they do charge you VAT on the total including shipping. It always seems unfair to me - I know it's designed to penalise you for not buying within the UK, but at the rip off price of things here as opposed to the US, not to mention that so many things simply aren't available here (most of the time when I buy from the US it's because i can't find the item in the UK), it really is a kick in the teeth. What I'd have thought you can get back is something for the fact that they treated dollars as pounds - that they're not supposed to do. The handling charge you're stuck with, I'm afraid. I really think it's obscene they're allowed to do that - they've already been paid for international delivery, a handling fee is basically looking for being paid twice. Unfortunately we're stuck with it. It's an important thing to remember, though, that sometimes because of these additional taxes and charges, it really is cheaper to buy at the inflated store price here in Rip-Off Britain.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

My gracious! How much do you guys have to pay for a double cheeseburger at McDonalds?

 

[BellyTank]

Many US based eBay Punters add the Postal charge to the item value because they think it's correct. Especially when they insist on sending insured.
I've had the same problem before a few times.

There may be a valid reason for doing it though... tax reasons..?
If they're a business, or think they may have to pay tax on the sale.


B
T

 

[Edward]

My gracious! How much do you guys have to pay for a double cheeseburger at McDonalds?

Uhm.... it's a long time since I had one of those, but the general rule of thumb is that if you repalce the dollar sign with a ponud sign and keep the figures the same, you're not far off.

 

[Fatdutchman]

Even when things go smoothly, it can be exhorbitantly expensive to ship things to and from England. Much more so than with other countries. I have decided to not even think about buying anything out of England, given how high shipping is. I've already had my episode of sending a Wested jacket back that didn't fit....

 

[deanglen]

We in the States can help our fellow Euro-Loungers. PM me and find out.


dean

 

[fatwoul]

Thanks all for your replies. It's nice to know people understand one's plight - makes it more bearable.

Ed - Yeah, I hate the Parcel Farce fee too. To add to it, the parcel actually arrived in Plymouth on the 26th, but rather than notifying me with one of their hand-delivered cards, they just posted me the letter to tell me. If they don't even bother to hand deliver the notice, what exactly do they think they are charging me for with their £8 fee?

I think they deliberately didn't notify me of the parcel's arrival with them on the 26th, and made sure I only found out about it today. Why? Because it's a Friday, and if I had been a regular 9-5er, I wouldn't have found the letter until I got home, too late to collect, but time enough to pay for it by phone. Why would they do that? Well, because for them to deliver the parcel on a Saturday would cost me ANOTHER £12!

:rage: lol

Ah well, I can't be too sour about it. Everything else I have bought from around the world in the last 3 years has slipped through unnoticed, so I was bound to get caught somewhere.

A certain popular Australian hat shop always marks their UK parcels "gift", so they hopefully won't get charged. They also don't list the price and don't include an invoice, precisely so that customs wouldn't know how much to charge even if they wanted to (and to make it look like a gift). I know this is a shonky way to do things, but any vendors reading this who are prepared to do the same thing will definitely win brownie points with me! Not that I am condoning this sort of behaviour, but right now I consider myself to have an £8.50 credit note with HM Customs.

DG - I will definitely keep this in mind. Thank you very much for mentioning it. Particularly, since some eBay sellers are unwilling to sell to the UK anyway.

On the plus side, the Resistol itself is a very nice rich reddy-brown, and is already stewing on my HatShaper as we speak.

I also picked up another fun little hat in Totnes today. I'll post pictures shortly.

Thanks guys

 

[Edward]

Sellers who are generous enough to send "gifts" are always popular with me. Shipping is often expensive - I've bought a few wigs from eBay (I'm a big costume person, so it's far from uncommon for me to need another wig for a speicific look...), and the norm is that I pay more for the shipping than the wig, though quite often that's still cheaper than the UK price in total. always a balance, I suppose - convenience of buying in the UK versus better US price....

Hope the Resistol turns out well after all that!

 

[dhermann1]

Looks like we've revived "Bundles for Britain"!

 

[dundeedavie]

being a DJ i buy a lot of my vinyl from the US (sometimes upwards of $1000) and i always ask for the packages to be labelled as a gift and because of that tax is not an option



Davie

 

[dhermann1]

Careful! Big brother may be watching!

 

[indycop]

Well, that'll teach me to try and buy cheap westerns from the US to practice on.

I bought a brown Resistol a while back, from a guy in California. The hat cost $20 (nobody else seemed interested, as is often the case with westerns on eBay), and the postage ended up being $40.

I felt a bit stiffed by that, but nevermind, It's still a fraction of the cost of a "proper" hat.

Today, I get a letter from Parcel Farce. They tell me that HM Customs have charged me duty on my parcel. £10.37. I get my calculator out. £10.37 is exactly 17.5% of £60 - they charged me VAT on a dollar amount as if it was pounds, and they included the cost of the shipping!

So now, I am lumbered with a £10.37 tax bill for a hat that only cost me £10 in the first place.

But it gets better...

Because the parcel is being held by Parcel Farce at their depot, and because they had to pay the customs duty, they are now charging me their own £8.00 "clearance fee". They didn't even hand-deliver the note to tell me they had the parcel - they just mailed it...2 days ago.

So my hat which cost me £10 will have cost me closer to £50 by the time it actually gets here.

I can contest the customs charge, of course, but that is going to take time, and I am stuck with the clearance fee anyway, because Parcel Farce charge that regardless how little the duty is.

So yeah, take heed all those UK eBayers thinking of doing what I did.

RELEASE THE HOUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!:rage:

 

[Nigel]

I guess I've been lucky, I have bought numerous western hats OFAS and never got stiffed for duty and VAT. Always check to make sure the seller will ship USPS and check their shipping fees beforehand. Once I paid over the odds but I wanted the hat, that time I paid $40 but usually I pay $28 which is the going rate for a hat from the US. I buy all my pipe tobacco and chew from the US and never had a problem. Secret is persuade the shipper to label the parcel as a gift and preferably undervalue it and if you are prepared to take the risk don't take the insurance, it gets the revenue men interested. You pays your money and takes your chance.

 

[mingoslim]

What he meant to say was . . .

being a DJ i buy a lot of my vinyl from the US (sometimes upwards of $1000) and i always ask for the packages to be labelled as a gift and because of that tax is not an option
Davie

being a DJ i buy a lot of my vinyl from the US (sometimes upwards of $1000) and IF I WERE NOT AN HONEST TAX PAYING CITIZEN, WHICH I AM, i could always ask for the packages to be labeled as a gift and because of that tax is WOULD not BE an option

 

[dundeedavie]

being a DJ i buy a lot of my vinyl from the US (sometimes upwards of $1000) and IF I WERE NOT AN HONEST TAX PAYING CITIZEN, WHICH I AM, i could always ask for the packages to be labeled as a gift and because of that tax is WOULD not BE an option

hahaha is that what i should have said ?

 

[WideBrimm]

Just love that name "Parcel Farce"

Assuming the hat is a Used Hat, for customs purposes, wouldn't it be considered Used Clothing?; thus qualifying for a lower or no customs charge?

All in all, it does sound as if going postal is the best bet and least hassle when gifting oneself

 

[RBH]

Wow Fats!
The RBH hat you made did not cost me to post it what you originally paid for your western hat. It took less than $ 17 U.S.
I do know that box size makes a BIG difference in postage here.
If you recall the hat I sent you was in a somewhat small box.

 

[fatwoul]

Just love that name "Parcel Farce"

Oops did I accidentally type "farce"? How clumsy of me. Moreso to have done it three or four times. Probably best to disregard that. And please disregard every other time I make that mistake in the future.

Assuming the hat is a Used Hat, for customs purposes, wouldn't it be considered Used Clothing?; thus qualifying for a lower or no customs charge?...

You'd think so, and maybe that's normally how it works, but alas, this seller didn't clearly state that the hat was used, so I suppose they were within their rights to assume it was new.

The only issue I have with them is that they charged me based on what was clearly a dollar amount, but as if it was pounds.

...All in all, it does sound as if going postal is the best bet and least hassle when gifting oneself

Well, I prefer to think of this as a little game. I lost this one, but I've won plenty of others. lol

 

[fatwoul]

Wow Fats!
The RBH hat you made did not cost me to post it what you originally paid for your western hat. It took less than $ 17 U.S...

But that should in no way detract from the generosity of you sending it to me in the first place.

To be perfectly honest, I don't think I'd pay more than $20 for a western, but the aim of my getting them is to practice. I was keen to get this Resistol because the colour looked so nice, and that one fact has turned out to be correct. For that reason alone I am glad I got it, but it will be a while before I think about getting another.

The fact that the felt is very soft is a bonus.

I do know that box size makes a BIG difference in postage here.
If you recall the hat I sent you was in a somewhat small box.

Yes, and of course the hats being a little dented really doesn't matter in this case.

I should have suggested to this seller that he do the same, but I really didn't have to heart to explain to him that this perfectly respectable western was going to be stripped down and revamped the moment it arrived. lol