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UPS theiving basts!

harry potterharry potter
edited January 2010 in Chit chat
just a rant and a warning I suppose, made a purchase on a US web site totalling $35, they charged $30 for express delivery from UPS, UPS turn up at the door, hit me for a 21% VAT bill (Im in ireland) for the total (item+shiiping, ?12.18) then slap on a ?13.50 charge for some duty handling fee. Really felt like telling the fanny to F off. Well I suppose you live and learn, what looked like being a good deal turned out to cost a flippin fortune, ebay next time me thinks!!

UPS basts!
Post edited by harry potter on

Comments

  • Dave FountainDave Fountain
    edited January 2010
    A wary tale indeed. I bought something from Canada for ?64 and ended up having to pay ?35 import duty.... bloody eBay that was.
  • grey keygrey key
    edited January 2010
    I have bought from Canada and have had no problems with extra import taxes, in fact I have refused to buy cassette cases from America, even though it would have been cheaper to import them, than to buy from England, but that is just me ?
    Every time I read that the oldest person in the world has died, I have to do a quick check to see it isn't ME..........
  • GrunakiGrunaki
    edited January 2010
    I've lived in Canada for a few years now, but back in 2004 before I moved from the UK I used to get lots of stuff from Amazon and eBay on import from North America (Mostly DVDs that weren't released in Europe).

    Back then (not so sure now) you could import anything from anywhere that cost up to ?17 in value and not have to pay any duty on it. (?35 if it was a gift.)

    I bought a North American PS2 on eBay as there were some games I wanted to play on it that were never released in the UK.

    The seller shipped it and I never saw or heard anything for the better part of a month. I was in touch with the guy via e-mail and we were about to file an insurance claim when this ParcelForce driver turned up with it and asked for about ?30 in import taxes before he could release it to me.

    Apparently they routinely put things like this on hold until they've figured out how much they can screw out of you in tax. They go off the price on the shipping tag. The DVDs I bought were usually single movies and the exchange rate meant they usually only cost about ?8 or so, so they arrived within a week.

    Only other thing this ever happened with was a DVD box set of a series that I ordered that came in around ?18. They never charged me the duty (not worth their while for so little) but it got held for assessment for a few weeks, which was a wind up.

    eBay sellers are usually pretty good with things like this though.. If you're not that bothered about insurance, ask them to mark the package as a gift with a value of around ?30 and you should be OK.
  • ccowleyccowley
    edited January 2010
    In fairness, the thread title is a bit misleading as it's not UPS that are making the money, it's your government that UPS are collecting the taxes for... not a penny of the VAT or import duty you're paying goes to UPS, unless they're fiddling their accounts (which is fairly unlikely, as it'd be obvious to detect).
  • fogfog
    edited January 2010
    the thing is ... it is on the BUYER to pay any duty / tax on things..

    most US etc companies will do that for ya, but different with individuals..

    I do look on ebay for atari things, BUT the shipping from US is like hhm 5 times the cost of the thing, so I don't bother.

    I get hammered when I buy US music equipment .e.g. mackie or cakewalk etc... from UK companies.. e.g. dv247

    when they messed up the prices.. instead of ?155 for something, now it's ?280 for same thing. .thankfully I got it when it was ?155
  • psj3809psj3809
    edited January 2010
    I once ordered a mug off ebay (It was a special one, shaped like an american football helmet), anyway the mug was 10 dollars if i remember rightly. I went to the post office to get it and it had about a 15 or 20 quid customs charge ! I thought sod it and paid it.

    What happened was the woman in the US put down a value of $100 ! I asked her why and she said she just does that by default in case the item gets lost, she didnt realise that bumps up the customs charge the silly mare !

    Want to get this mini laptop from the US, its about 350 quid but i cant see the company putting 'gift' on it for me !

    But nothing to do with UPS at all, theyre not the thieving gits
  • harry potterharry potter
    edited January 2010
    @ CCOWLEY, UPS charged me ?13.50 for calculating the bloody duty!! thats my gripe, I was expecting to pay duty on the item cost @ $35, instead I paid duty on item and shipping?? and then UPS hit with a second charge for calculating the duty (they charge 2% if item costs > $1000 or a flat ?13.50 if below on top of customs duty) all in I paid ?26 charges for an item costing $35 (bout ?28). Anyhow wont be using them again.
  • harry potterharry potter
    edited January 2010
    that should be ?28 where the smiley is...
  • fogfog
    edited January 2010
    harry potter wrote: »
    Anyhow wont be using them again.

    normally thats out of your control.. besides, it's whoever you bought it's off fault for over valuing it.. so regardless of the courier , same result, they could have refused to pay and it'd got binned..

    I mean from the US, other than the state mail, it's normally either UPS or FedEx.
  • xc8xc8
    edited January 2010
    freakin customs tax... I usually ask sellers (if buy from ebay) if they can 'declare' a small price of the item , this has some drawback if its lost, but things shipped via UPS etc are very rare to be lost..

    I remember I got a Sun SPARCStation LX from the States, the guy agreed to declare a low-ridiculous price, but HE forgot it and put the invoice on the package.. I paid 2x the price of the system!! (fscking Greek customs)

    chris
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