Customs

[Gazereths]

I've had similar experiences, last one was some t-shirts from America. About half the cost of the shirts in taxes. There's VAT, import duty and the Royal Mail charge which I believe is a set rate of £13.50 or £8.50 IIRC....Some bullshit like that anyway.

Used to be able to get round it by marking it as a gift, though that tends not to be an option any more at least in my recent experience

[Vlad]

Originally Posted by Gazereths

There's VAT, import duty and the Royal Mail charge which I believe is a set rate of £13.50 or £8.50 IIRC....Some bullshit like that anyway.

The handling charge being a flat rate really pisses me off sometimes. It's been the case more than once for me where it ends up something silly like only a quid or two of actual VAT/duty and then the Royal Mail fee is still stuck at ~£8 but then something with way more still has that flat fee attached and so whilst I happily accept the reality that RM do have costs, it does feel like a bit of a rip off when your item is being held hostage by it.