Highly recommend you stay away from user 'snakeriverdance'. I paid $88.00 for a Kenner Death Star Space Station set with $30.00+ postage and packaging. The item arrived in Britain after a month but I got a letter from Parcelforce saying I had to pay £23.49 for it to go through customs! So I messaged the bloke on eBay and he said "I pay too much money to afford extra customs charges" ....I was stunned.... Absolutely fuming! So I had to pay the charges in the end, but only for now, as I've opened a case on eBay to try and get my money back. I just couldn't believe it... He never even said anything about extra charges in the description but why should I have to pay two lots of postage anyway? Just because he can't afford it?! Why is he in the business then?!

I do have my Death Star now and I love it, but you know... I wish it hadn't cost so much damn money!

Never mind now, was down to my own ignorance. It's HMRC's fault!

ouch, sorry you got stung by the charges Here's a previous thread about customs charges you might find interesting. Most times it seems random how they decide what has to go through a customs charge - I don't think it's really the sellers fault and often sellers will have a disclaimer on their page saying they're not responsible for charges. And if the seller marks the item down as a lower value and their package gets opened then they get busted. The UK customs business is a minefield unfortunately.

http://www.imperialgunneryforum.com/t1855-i-guess-it-happens-to-the-best-of-us-god-dam-custom-charges?highlight=custom+charges

Why is this the seller's fault? It's your customs charges? If I shipped something to you I would have no idea what charges you would incur (let alone warn you about them) I've said it before- "I'm glad we don't have import tax here"

In Denmark we have import tax if the packet comes from outside EU. Just because EU is worried about loosing jobs in EU.

I just hate this stupid rule. I have contacted a danish member in EU about it. But I don't think they will change it.

But again who in EU would loose his job if I buy a Vintage piece of Star Wars in USA or Australia and not in a EU country

Sorry mate, maybe I just don't understand what you are writing, but if I understand it correct then this is not the sellers fault. But EU.

But if you live in Uk and buy in USA you have to pay taxes if you buy for more than about $10 and that includes the cost for the mail. This is a EU rule, so you can thank EU for this

I got charged £25.00 on a loose figure!!

Now I always ask the seller if they will mark the package as gift to avoid charges

Never realised these charges even existed. I've been buying stuff from eBay for about eight or nine years now and never come across this... Thing is I've looked at the guy's feedback and people have said the same things that they were charged extra when the parcels came into the country, though he still hasn't made any sort of disclaimer or note in the description nor on his page about these charges? Maybe it isn't the guy's fault but I don't know why I'm expected to just know this? I've been buying from the US for years, never has this happened.

Thanks for the tip on marking it as a gift and/or marking it as a lower value. I'll be sure to ask sellers this in the future. *Sigh* at least I know now.

When I lived in England I bought quite a lot of stuff from the states and never got hit with a charge however I remember other collectors being charged who lived in London (which was quite close to me..)

I *think* a few years ago it was rather random as not everyone in England was charged and those that were charged seemed to get the slips frequently.

Now however it seems they charge everywhere and on anything.

The guys on SWF worked out how to claim some back - it's a bit long winded and involves letters + calls but fuck paying £100 extra on some toys - where does that extra money go? Is there a tax on displaying 30 year old toys in the UK because they attract dust that is bad for our health? Jeez!

http://starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8373 - useful info thread.

I want to apologize then, if you didn't know on the fees. I figure that most UK collectors know about them and usually do their best to try and avoid them.

However, I personally don't think it warrants bad feedback on the sellers part. How are they supposed to know all the fees for every country they ship to? and why should they be expected to pay them when you get hit with them? Quite a few U.S. sellers refuse to ship overseas as it is, because of the higher shipping costs for a trackable method that is required by ebay/paypal for seller protection. This would give them another reason not to and limit even further what is available on ebay.

I get it I just think its retarded.

A dealer friend of mine regularly gets stung on customs charges on 'new' items entering the UK e.g. the latest Hasbro releases, which I can understand. But why should they apply to 'used' items?
I have also heard that requesting sellers to send items as a 'gift' can avoid additional customs charges, but I have never put this to the test.