Customs Fees?

[sj]

For customs from the UK or too the UK:-

FROM the UK

Always say what the ITEM is
Always put the PRICE /COST of the goods   NOT THE POSTAGE!!  Just Total PRICE
The Post Office puts the Weight on.
sign and Date it!

TO the UK

Same as above!

[dpaone]

Thanks for the tips.

Cath-The tariff chart was not of much help since I could not find the category my product (minis) would match.

Wendy-Yup the person implied about marking package with a lesser value or gift too.

 :-\

[wendysminiatures]

Diane,
This sounds like a similar dilemma to when a customer asks a seller to mark a package as a gift on the customs form when it is not, in an attempt to avoid the customer having to pay customs/import duty.

Most countries don't charge customs on low value imports so if the seller puts an artificially low value on the customs form the buyer hopes to avoid paying the fees.  Much as we all hate paying fees, taxes etc., my feeling is that the law is the law, and so I do not mark merchandise as a gift, or put an inaccurate value on a package.  I don't want to put myself and my business at risk of being caught for mail fraud.

As Cath says, different countries have different regulations.  One thing that I have done on a couple of occasions is to split a purchase into two packages, so that each package was legitimately of lower value.  The customer then paid for two lots of postage though but they calculated that they saved over having one heavier higher value package and customs duty.

Good luck, and congratulations on your sale :-)

Wendy S.

[Cath]

Any packages being sent Internationally require the recipient to pay a Customs Fee if the value of what they have purchased is over the alloted amount.  It varies from country to country.

See if this site helps:

http://www.export.gov/logistics/country_tariff_info.asp

[dpaone]

Can someone explain Customs fees? I want to sell some items (in US) to someone in the UK. They are asking if I can reduce my (invoice) price so that the customs fees remain in a low price range. How do I know what the customs fees are? Any recommendations? If this is inappropriate please email me privately.

I have purchased internationally and never had to pay customs fees before, the package just arrived as normally as does my regular mail.