The Wholesale Forums

[Man_]

Hi

A while ago i bought some goods from HK which were valued at 150 GBP.

A few days after i got them a UPS agent came round to my home and took a total of 56.64 pounds!

Import VAT ; 45.64
Other Govt charges; 11

Total ; 56.64

Now is it just me or is there someting wrong? Thats nearly 30+% of the items value gone and most of the money i made on the items now lost.

I am not VAT registered or anything, can anyone advise me please - I will also be phoning them today.

Thanks you

[greedyboy]

30% - 40% seems about right on such a small order with UPS charges included in the £56.64 which could be 10% - 20% on a small order.

[Man_]

Just got off the phone, they said the Import VAT ; 45.64 is my 17.5% VAT and 11GBP charge they take.

45.64 out of 150 is no way near 17.5% is it? I'ts 30.426% VAT!

I thought it was always constant at 17.5? Or does it change with value of the goods?

Thanks

[greedyboy]

I presume the declared value is £150 ($290 inc delivery?).

Vat £26.25

Duty? £4

Their charge £11

Total £41.75

So not far off. You should have a UPS invoice with a breakdown of all the charges and the values of the declared goods including shiping?

[consultant]

the value of the goods bares no relevance to the shipping charge, just to VAT/Duty.

Shipping is charged at either physical weight/volumetric weight, whichever is the larger!

Also, if the goods are £150, what was the shipping cost? If you paid the supplier to organise shipping, you must get them to mark the incoterms as DDU, otherwise, UPS will calculate charges based on their UK courier cost (if you were paying in the UK, not at source), even if 'SHIPPING PREPAID' is platered over the invoice.

Yes, it is a bummer, however, it a cost you cannot rally get around!

Sorry to throw in a bit of preaching, but you have made an error that thousands have before you and will after and that is not understanding the whole picture - seeing a cheap price in China and think £'s, but not reallu undertsanding everything that is involved.

On a positive note, you have not made a loss and learnt the lesson at the begginning, which makes you sronger for the future!

[Man_]

Yea thanks a lot, realy good input from the guru's above

Yes it was declared as 150GBP ($290)

Postage was i believe ($140) (This must be sorted out as im sure 10KG wouldn't be that high? Came in a 25kg express box, but thats a different matter :P)

So they also told me VAT on WHOLE charge so 17.5% of $430 = 50 pounds. So i guess it was right.

Just forgot to add shipping costs. Yep got my invoice just wanted to know how numbers were calculated.

Thanks for all the input everyone!