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Another got screwed on customs thread ....

aj_del

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Hi

Long story short ...

Ordered a pair of shoes from UK, 120 GBP plus 15 GBP Royal Mail shipping. The store told me it was shipped by UPS. UPS India calls me, asks me for duty of 55 GBP. I balk at the duty since max duty is 30% in India. Turns out the value is marked as 150 GBP on customs form plus 50 GBP UPS shipping. So customs has been charged on 200 GBP.

What to do ? Who to blame, UPS or the store ? Should I refuse delivery ? What happens if I refuse ?

AJ
 

Harold falcon

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Customs form would have been filled out by the store, yes?

It appears the store entered the wrong value in the customs form. They are to blame.

I have no idea what would happen if you refuse shipment. Can you cancel the order and receive a refund?
 

Mac

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This is the store's fault. If you refuse delivery, they will be shipped back to the seller and they will most likely refund you. You could then order them again and ask them to put the correct value on the package so you aren't hit with £55 customs charge.
 

ajmanouk

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I once refused an order and it was returned to the vendor who refunded me my purchase less the shipping.
 

Maccimus

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Originally Posted by ajmanouk
I once refused an order and it was returned to the vendor who refunded me my purchase less the shipping.

Shouldn't they refund at full provided it was their mistake?
 

Nicola

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Originally Posted by aj_del
Hi

Long story short ...

Ordered a pair of shoes from UK, 120 GBP plus 15 GBP Royal Mail shipping. The store told me it was shipped by UPS. UPS India calls me, asks me for duty of 55 GBP. I balk at the duty since max duty is 30% in India. Turns out the value is marked as 150 GBP on customs form plus 50 GBP UPS shipping. So customs has been charged on 200 GBP.


Are they asking for £55 for duty? Or in total? UPS is famous for tacking on fees.

In India you get billed in £?
 

ajmanouk

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Originally Posted by Maccimus
Shouldn't they refund at full provided it was their mistake?

Yes, but it was my mistake. Being the excited teenager I am, my first online purchase was a vast quantity of tobacco online at a steep discount. Little did I know that UPS + Canadian border = 400$ customs. I was more than willing to lose fifteen bucks in shipping.
 

aj_del

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Originally Posted by Nicola
Are they asking for £55 for duty? Or in total? UPS is famous for tacking on fees. In India you get billed in £?
UPS clearance charges are around 3 gbp here. Rest all will be duty. I am using gbp as to avoid using 2 currencies. We use indian rupees.
 

aj_del

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The problem I foresee is that ups has already deposited the tax with the authorities so they will be very reluctant to take it back.

When they come on monday, I will ask for the customs receipt and the customs form filled by the store. Will then take it up with store / ups.

They generally call in advance so that there is someone available to pay the customs plus charges in cash
 

aj_del

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Originally Posted by srivats
Definitely the store's fault, but I doubt you'll get anything back. Next time you order anything from UK, request them to send by Royal Mail ... that's the best way to not get screwed by UPS. Customs in India is a different story altogether though.
They have 3 options for shipping, I chose royal mail, which is also the cheapest. Why sent it by ups which must have cost them more than the fifteen gbp they charged me is beyond me
 

Tidybeard

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Yep, UPS international deliveries are a lot of fun. I recently bought something from the US (I'm in the UK) and the overall UPS bill came to more than 40% of the purchase price.

Turns out that the overall cost was:

Item cost x.
Shipping cost y.
Import duty approx 15% on item cost plus shipping cost added together (x + y * 15%) total z.
VAT on total z at 20% (yes, a tax on a tax on an item bought with money that had already been taxed....).
UPS handling charge of around 10% of the overall total.

When questioned, the answer was "do you want it or not?".

So that was nice.
 

888style

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Find yourself an American local who forwards it on marked as:

*gift
*returned from repair
*product sample, no commercial value
*declares value under the customs threshold

Simple as that.
 

aj_del

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^^ Not if you are buying from a store, anyways, I haven't had to pay any duty for items received through Royal mail. India Post (the govt post service) handles the packages in India an they are delivered with a 10 cent (5 rupees) delivery surcharge. Nothing else
 

alexanduh

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from what i see. you asked for royal mail. store gave you ups which is now charging you.

stores fault.
 

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