TEIN coil overs! :)

Thought you were on the Rock n Roll?

Do customs charge for secondhand goods as VAT generally goes onto new goods.

------------------------------------------------ "We are all individuals" "I'm not!"

read on the customs site and the tossers do sadly :(

Yep.

Have a read of the Customs & Excise site - there's a handy "this is how it works" thing somewhere.

A friend of mine got charge customs on something he bought from the states off Ebay. Not only did he have to pay the customs but it was at the items new price. He wasn't happy.

Thanks satpal

The customs centre is in Coventry. In a bizarre small-world scenario, one of my GF's friends works there and it's her job so snare any ebay stuff that ships from abroad. I was quite drunk and had a go at her when I found out about this! But she said that they tend to go for stuff that has familiar looking packaging - stuff that the same companies are regularly sending out.

You have to pay the duty on the brand-new UK price. It's often hard to distinguish if something is new or used, so they slap the full charge on everything.

Why wasn't he happy ?

He'd have had to pay the same VAT and Import Duty if he'd bought the item from a UK store - buying from abroad is no different !

If you manage to escape the customs levies (which don't exist on goods with a value (including shipping) of less than £18 or bona-fide gifts with a value (including shipping) of less than £36) then you've got a free bonus. It isn't something to be expected !!!

Maybe because he was paying "tax" on the full price of an item that wasn't worth what customs charged him for ? Either that, or paying tax on something which has already been taxed, which I'd be less than happy about...

Both are standard practice - if he didn't like the procedure, he shouldn't have bought from abroad :)

All this information is freely available on the C&E website - it would have taken him five minutes to check beforehand...