Customs Charges For PA Merch?

Jim Sharkmagic

Hi guys,

Just got a note through my door saying that I need to pay £14 to collect my PA shirt/pins at my local sorting office (at least, I'm 99.9% certain that's what the parcel is, I can't think of anything else this could be) which is slightly annoying. I'm not looking for a refund or anything (I know this isn't Penny Arcade's problem, the shipping costs only cover the cost of actually getting it to the UK) but I was wondering why I was charged this time? I've ordered a few PA prints before and never had any custom charges, so I was wondering if maybe labelling it as a different item might be the cause? Was just wondering if anyone knew. Thanks in advance

Psykoma

Might just be a difference in importing art(prints) below a certain value = no customs/duties while importing shirts = customs/duties.

You should ask at the post office which items in your order are sugject to duties.

Grislo

It's very likely simply because your shipment happened to be searched / checked this time, which most shipments like that won't be. It shouldn't have anything to do with labelling, etc.

Jim Sharkmagic

Thanks for the help, I hadn't thought that it might just be random.

Will ask tomorrow just to check. Thanks again!

Cambiata

I'm curious about this, last year during secret santa I shipped some items to a PAer in the UK and they ended up having to pay a fee to pick up the item (and the shipping amount I paid was not cheap) and it really pissed me off. Is there some way people shipping to the UK can help our UK friends not to have to pay a fee?

TychoCelchuuu

If you label it a gift that gets around the issue I believe.

Grislo

In some countries it might still be randomly opened, and there'll be a fee that's less about import tax and basically a 'yeah, we had to spend time opening this' fee.

That'll run you 15-20$ here, for example, before any tax related expenses, if any apply, are added.

PedroAsani

UK customs charges based on the value of item declared. For items sent from the PA store, that's the price you bought it at. For something somebody sends you, it's the value they write on it for insurance purposes.

Royal Mail wrote:

Any goods imported into the UK over the value of £15 are liable to import VAT. Gifts between private individuals over the value of £36 are also liable for VAT. Goods and gifts over these values may also be liable for customs duty. You no longer have to pay customs duty for goods up to the value of £135, however you will still be required to pay import VAT and excise duty where applicable.

What sucks is that the VAT is usually negligible. The Royal Mail handling charge is flat rate. So for a £3.82 VAT charge, they add £8 on. As happened with my Twisp and Catsby Pin sets.

Whilst random inspections happen to ensure that nobody is smuggling in diamonds as packing peanuts, and that nobody declares a Caravaggio is worth £20, most of the time they just look at the declared value and do a calculation.

I suggest you make friends with someone in the US and have them receive all your PA orders, and then box them up as a gift. It will save shipping at the PA store and get you through customs mostly unscathed.

PedroAsani

Cambiata wrote: »

I'm curious about this, last year during secret santa I shipped some items to a PAer in the UK and they ended up having to pay a fee to pick up the item (and the shipping amount I paid was not cheap) and it really pissed me off. Is there some way people shipping to the UK can help our UK friends not to have to pay a fee?

Mark it as a gift, and keep the declared value below £36. With exchange rates changing a lot lately, I would suggest you aim for £30. The easiest way to do this is write £30 on the customs declaration rather than $48.

Jim Sharkmagic

Thanks for all the comments~ Just picked up my parcel this morning. Apparently I was charged £6 VAT and £8 for a "Royal Mail International Handling Fee". After doing some searching, this is supposedly the fee that they charge for Royal Mail to collect the parcel from HM Customs.