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-   -   Avoiding customs (https://www.cult-labs.com/forums/general-horror-chat/1133-avoiding-customs.html)

Killer Meteor 19th March 2009 11:40 AM

Avoiding customs
 
Is there a legal way to avoid being stuck with a customs bill when ordering from overseas. The difference of one pound in the price of a set adds nearly a tenner overall!

NossB 19th March 2009 11:53 AM

I find hiding the DVDs up my tradesman's entrance when going through customs helps avoid any extra tax, of course I can only get a few into the country this way.


Otherwise buy your good through a reseller or have the items marked as a gift.

siccoyote 19th March 2009 12:31 PM

The only thing you can do is ask the seller to mark the value as something like $22 regardless of the actual cost, obviously this only works on 'some' ebay sellers, and the customs & excise website says you are liable if it's found that the value has been misrepresented.


The other option is write to your MP, lol.

R-T-C Tim 19th March 2009 02:46 PM

I just ended up paying out £30 to the post office in the last few weeks. Trying to buy the rest of the BCI Spanish horror titles before they go OOP.

I usually buy R1 discs via http://www.axelmusic.com/ - since they are based in Denmark, packages they send can avoid customs. The costs are slightly higher than buying direct, but at least you know exactly how much it is going to cost and don't have to lumber down the post office to get your DVDs.

The Reaper Man@Cult Labs 20th March 2009 09:48 PM

Tony at xploited cinema was the man for this.You sent him a message saying 'No customs charges please Tony' and he'd stick a value of ten Dollars on 4 dvds worth eighty dollars.....:rofl:

R-T-C Tim 21st March 2009 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reaper72 (Post 24052)
Tony at xploited cinema was the man for this.You sent him a message saying 'No customs charges please Tony' and he'd stick a value of ten Dollars on 4 dvds worth eighty dollars.....:rofl:

Ah yes, all those "commercial samples" he used to send out. Wonderful.

Pity he wasn't able to sell the business on, its closing will leave a big gap in the cult cinema world.

PaulD 29th February 2012 02:28 PM

<bumpity bump of a very old thread>


I was just thinking about the old customs charges issue after a recent purchase and was wondering what experience you all have with this. I rarely order from sites where this would be a problem but was wondering if out of those of you who do how often you've been stung with these charges? Is there anything that makes a package more susceptible to incurring these or is it just down to bad luck?

dream demon 29th February 2012 02:51 PM

One thing I know that doesn't work at least when ordering from Amazon - whether they have changed the rules, or if it was only an old wives tail in the first place - is marking parcels as 'gift'. I bought three digibook BDs last year and got stung for £18 even though I sent them to my parents' address as 'gifts'. In effect it would have cost the same to just have bought them from Amazon UK Marketplace. :mmph: To be honest, I don't mind paying the VAT as even taking that into consideration you can often save a quite a bit on buying the same through UK importers or ebay, it's just the massive 'handling fees' that RM charge you. On the rare occasions that I have been charged customs, RM's fees are usually 3-4 times what the VAT charge was. :censored:

R-T-C Tim 19th March 2012 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulD (Post 220839)
Is there anything that makes a package more susceptible to incurring these or is it just down to bad luck?

It used to be a lot of luck, imported a lot of sets like the BU Mondo Cane set which cost about £60 new and did not get stung, but then a couple of years back they became more effective and everything coming through was getting stopped if it was over the limit.

bdc 19th March 2012 10:58 AM

For the more expensive US releases (or a big order) I just use Axel,for HK releases I have another favourite but I guess not many people order those? ;)

Axel recently lowered their shipping/handling charges again btw.

Daemonia 19th March 2012 11:13 AM

And don't forget that under current Customs regulations it's up to you to ensure that the sender quotes the correct value on the package. If they fail to do so, it's us, the buyer, that lands in hot water, not them.

Stephen@Cult Labs 19th March 2012 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daemonia (Post 224918)
And don't forget that under current Customs regulations it's up to you to ensure that the sender quotes the correct value on the package. If they fail to do so, it's us, the buyer, that lands in hot water, not them.

Only if they find out the correct value! Don't think I've ever had a package that's had the correct value on it.

Daemonia 19th March 2012 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen@Cult Labs (Post 224933)
Don't think I've ever had a package that's had the correct value on it.

Nor me. :lol:

Baseball Fury 19th March 2012 01:47 PM

Well never order one from Amazon then. Just got done for VAT (no issue) and an £8 handling fee. Obscene amount to charge.

sjconstable 19th March 2012 02:30 PM

For Criterion Blu-rays I usually use 'MovieMars New Releases' on eBay as they reship it from Surrey, thus avoiding customs charges. Otherwise I sometimes ask sellers if they'll mark it as a Gift for me. (I think a previous poster might be confusing that with Amazon's gift-wrapping service? Two different things).

Delirium 26th March 2012 08:24 PM

Anyone have any experience of Amazon Japan? I want to order something rather expensive off there, so am I right in thinking I'd be charged 20% VAT plus a handling fee?

The item's expensive enough! Wish I had a friend in Japan.

Baseball Fury 27th March 2012 07:47 AM

I've bought records from there with no problems, but that was before they lowered the threshold

doolahrock 27th March 2012 07:58 AM

The worst hit I ever had was when I bought two t shirts from the states. T shirts cost around £25-30 and was kindly asked for £18 upon delivery.

Xploited cinema were good for marking the package with a favourable value or 'gift'. Customs used to love opening parcels from them though. However, they just seemed to be checking for dodgy material as I never got hit with a charge even though there was always about 4-6 DVDs in there. I believe packages from Xploited were a favourite target for customs and there were plenty of stories about discs being seized, especially in Australia if I remember correctly. Luckily they didn't open the one order I got with questionable content.

mark meakin 27th March 2012 09:56 AM

I've ordered the M.R James set for £49.00 from AmazonUK (New Zealand seller).I'm dreading how much will be added if it falls foul of customs:pray:.Last time it happened on Amazon was with my Dolemite boxset:mmph:.Having said that the M.R James set was going for about £100.00 bidding on Ebay.

Baseball Fury 27th March 2012 12:27 PM

£17.80 would be my bet!

£9.80 VAT at 20% plus the lovely £8 handling fee from Royal Mail.

the blob 27th March 2012 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delirium (Post 226833)
Anyone have any experience of Amazon Japan? I want to order something rather expensive off there, so am I right in thinking I'd be charged 20% VAT plus a handling fee?

The item's expensive enough! Wish I had a friend in Japan.

Haven't used them for a while but for some reason I never used to get hit even with £40+ items. I wouldn't trust it now though to be honest as HMCE seem to have tightened up. Back then a lot of stuff used to get through.

mark meakin 27th March 2012 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baseball Fury (Post 226899)
£17.80 would be my bet!

£9.80 VAT at 20% plus the lovely £8 handling fee from Royal Mail.

You've made my day.........NOT !:eek:

the blob 27th March 2012 03:24 PM

I wonder if the RM handling fee goes up along with postal prices next month. Wouldn't surprise me.

mark meakin 27th March 2012 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the blob (Post 226925)
I wonder if the RM handling fee goes up along with postal prices next month. Wouldn't surprise me.

That's it rub it in !:pound:

nekromantik 27th March 2012 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the blob (Post 226925)
I wonder if the RM handling fee goes up along with postal prices next month. Wouldn't surprise me.

I think it will go to £10.
:censored:

mark meakin 31st March 2012 05:52 PM

Well the M.R James Collection set arrived today with no customs hassle :woot:.The NZ seller had put $10.00 as the total cost on the top bless em.:rockon:.Could've backfired but fortunately didn't.


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