Avoiding dem Customs Fees (UK)

Hi again!

I have been doing some serious research into customs charges and whatnot and I just have a couple of questions. My first girl is also coming from Russia, so anyone with experiences ordering from Russia to England using EMS are welcome to share what happened and if everything went smoothly! ^^

 

Another note if my questions are the easiest thing in the world to answer, I have quite bad dyscalculia, so anything to do with numbers are quite hard for me to understand.

 

(1) I know that EMS often hand over to Parcel Force once inside the UK, but do Parcel Force charge an extra handling fee whatever the price is on the declaration form? I've heard it's usually about £13.50 + VAT, but this info came from someone who ordered a PS3 from Japan, so the weight and everything would make a big difference.

 

(2) What's the worst that could happen? My seller has already told me he will undervalue the parcel and mark it as a gift and I know that gifts under £36 aren't charged with VAT, but gifts over £9 are charged with a 2.5% handling fee. So on top of the handling from Parcel Force, in worst case scenario, how much in fees am I looking at?

 

(3) If any of you have had bad experiences I'd like to hear them to know how I can solve the problem if it arises. Or even better, stop the problem before

 

I have nearly finished the layaway on my girl, so I still have some time to talk with the seller about which method of delivery I want. He gave me the option between EMS and Russian Post, I would like to go with EMS, but if Russian Post takes a little longer, I don't mind.

 

And also, I'm very sorry if all these questions have already been answered somewhere on the forum. I did spend about half an hour looking but I couldn't find anything that answered these questions ^^/

 

Thanks!

 

- oreii

Can you find out exactly how much he is going to declare her at? that'd help!

Can you find out exactly how much he is going to declare her at? that'd help!

 

 

Oh and also how much your paying for shipping

$65 for shipping and I can ask him to declare any price I want really ^^//

Okay, you should get him to declare the value at $35, you don't want to go any lower or customs will be suspicious (like if it was declared at $10, as they'll wonder why you paid $65 shipping for something with so little value).

 

Customs is likely to be around £40-45 inc the fee if its declared at that amount, so have around that amount ready

Okiedokie then, thank you so much, deary!

 

So is the £40-£45 mark best case or worst case scenario?

Okiedokie then, thank you so much, deary!

 

So is the £40-£45 mark best case or worst case scenario?

 

 

Worst I expect it to be around £35 but best to prepare for the worst!

Ah thank god!

 

Thank you so much, you've been so much help to me!! * v *

just keep in mind that if they do lose your pacvkage. then insurnce is only paying the 35. so its all your own risk. it doesnt happen alot. but shiet still happens

Ah. Didn't think of that D:

Now I'm really stuck!

 

I wouldn't have minded risking not undervaluing it, but at the minute I'm on injury pay.

Hurr, what to do...

Ah. Didn't think of that D:

Now I'm really stuck!

 

I wouldn't have minded risking not undervaluing it, but at the minute I'm on injury pay.

Hurr, what to do...

 

 

undervalue it!! the amount of packages that go missing are so so so tiny! i've only ever had one go missing and that was eventually found, and i've probably had 1000+ packages over the years

Uah, really?

Phew that's a relief haha, thank you again!

I feel a lot more confident about it now

 

(1) I know that EMS often hand over to Parcel Force once inside the UK, but do Parcel Force charge an extra handling fee whatever the price is on the declaration form? I've heard it's usually about £13.50 + VAT, but this info came from someone who ordered a PS3 from Japan, so the weight and everything would make a big difference.

 

 

I have nearly finished the layaway on my girl, so I still have some time to talk with the seller about which method of delivery I want. He gave me the option between EMS and Russian Post, I would like to go with EMS, but if Russian Post takes a little longer, I don't mind.

 

And also, I'm very sorry if all these questions have already been answered somewhere on the forum. I did spend about half an hour looking but I couldn't find anything that answered these questions ^^/

 

Thanks!

 

- oreii

 

If you undervalue, you also undervalue the EMS insurance.

 

EMS is Russian Post. EMS is the priority express service which has been standardised internationally but it's usually administered and often handled by the postal service in the given country. It's the same government employees handling your item until it gets to the UK where EMS happens to be outsourced to some other semi-private company.

 

I'd suggest your seller write the description of the item clearly - so any thieves can see the item is a doll. I don't think thieves usually steal such.... with the exception of thieves with particular hobbies.

 

EMS is an international postal Express Mail Service, for dobleepents and merchandise, offered by postal operators of the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

 

The UPU is an inter-governmental organization and the primary forum for cooperation between governments, Posts and other stakeholders of the worldwide postal sector. It works to maintain the universal network, establish the rules for international mail exchanges among its 191 members and improves the quality of service for customers.

 

The EMS Cooperative was created in 1998 within the framework of the UPU. Its main objective is to promote cooperation between members to allow them to provide customers with a high quality, competitive EMS service worldwide.

 

http://www.ems.post/