DM500 customs charge

[halau]

They have now dropped the vat charge and say its a tax charge but cant give me a breakdown of how they came to the figure..... I await

[thered]

good luck m8

[uczmeg]

Basically if you lie about value or mark things as a gift when clearly they aren't it does give customs and excise the excuse to value it themselves.

What they then use to decide a value is anybody's guess. But if you think how much a non subsidised Sky/Virgin box must be it's probably a couple of hundred quid and they could use that as a guide.

The person receiving the goods is also liable if the figures on the package are incorrect (to try and stop us all getting things marked as a gift with low values). So I'm not sure what would happen if you turn up with your real invoice of a different amount to the one listed (which is obviously less than their guess).

On any import you should be paying VAT, import duty (a percentage that varies on what the item is classed as) and then a processing charge. When I have been charged on electricals I find it adds up to roughly 22% of the total (including postage)

[Bonesy]

Get an invoice from your seller. Take that along when you go to pick them up. The invoice will prove what you what paid for them and that taxes due is nothing like ?220
tell seller to price them at $20 or somthing.