European Customs charges on american DVDs!

[Matty-Mouse]

In a kinda related topic to my last thread, I bought the flintstones from playusa.com and recieved my first custom charge. I knew this would happen sooner or later (my friend was charged back in September last year), but I didn't think it would annoy me as much as it has. It is actually rather annoying getting charged an extra £10 on an item just because its from the states.

I have a few questions for anyone who knows (James I'm looking in your direction)...
1.Now that this has happened once, will I always be getting charged?
2.Is there a better web shop that I can get my region one DVD's for around the same price that I wont get custom charges added on?

Thanks for anyone that can help me.

[2099net]

Brief Summary of custom charges:

On any item over £18.00 you need to pay import duty and VAT. For DVDs the duty is set at 2.5% (I think) and VAT is the normal 17.5%. If the actual item(s) in the package comes to over £18.00, you need to pay duty and VAT on the cost of the items plus the postage. If the item(s) are under £18.00 but the value of the postage pushes the total cost of the package to over £18.00 you shouldn't have to pay any customs charges.

Note: the value of the package is calculated using an official chart for currency conversions which is updated monthly (I think) so should the value of the dollar slide dramatically over a month, you still my be charged more than you were expecting as the chart won't have been updated.

While the limit for "Gifts" is £36, inspectors do not accept any package from a company to be a gift - even if a value of £0 is marked on the customs declaration.

What annoys me the most about customs (I don't mind paying the actual tax) is the fact the the Post Office charges £4.00 "admin" fee. This means that the minimum charge is,in effect £4.01 - and all those £4.00 add up over a few orders.

I don't think addresses are targeted by customs inspectors - basically I think they're far to busy for that. I think that they just get to know the format and typical packaging for the specific company and target that. I've been charged a few times for items from PlayUsa - I think customs have just realised here's something they can tax. Amazon.Com parcels are rarely let through customs unchecked.

I know of two places which ship inside the UK and thus do not attract charges:

http://www.loaded247.com - I have used these a few times, including 2 Hercules boxsets and the Lion King Gift Set and haven't been charged any time. However they are rather slow and (like PlayUsa which should be named PlayCanada) they source Canadian goods - which means bi-lingual packaging. Their selection is rather small. Do not use this company for UK releases - they are incredibly slow.

http://www.movietyme.com - I have had a bad expericnce with this company in the past, and have never used them since. But they have since got a new order management system, including order tracking on their website. They typically get goods 1-2 weeks before the US release (they are shipping Brother Bear from the UK now for example) and they offer a choice of US or Canadian covers in some cases (the former being more expensive most often). They have a wider selection than Loaded247. Check out the web in general for service reviews, but I think that the general agreement is the new ordering system is working and problems are fewer and quickly sorted out.

You may also want to try http://www.cdwow.com which are incredibly fast. Stock changes on their website constantly - when they run out of stocks the item is no longer listed and they tend to just go for the most popular products. I hear customer service is excellent and parcels run a 50/50 chance of detection (but they are cheaper).

I tend to stick with Amazon.Com as their customer service has never let me down once. I've found shipping big orders with a few books tends to avoid customs charges from them. I think the packages are picked up and the handler assumes the contents to be just books based on the weight so lets the parcel through - but this is not guarenteed. Either way, batching discs up into fewer packages means lets £4.00 charges - so you still save money on postage and "admin" fees.

[Matty-Mouse]

Thanks for all the info James, I'm really going to weigh up my chooses now a days, but I don't think I've got much choose. I want DVD's from america and so that means that I may be charged.

[ThiagoPE]

the charge don´t seem to be so expensive there in UK.

here in brazil our duty is always 60%! so if i buy 100 dollars in dvds, i need to pay 60 dollars for braziliam customs

[ddave]

When i got the LT box set play.usa wanted customs charges but fututreent.com didn,t. When i look for region 1 DVD's i tend to email the sites to see if they will charge tax's if it dosn't say anything on their terms & conditions page. I'm sure these sites pay customs charges - they just reduce the price of the item and include the charges in thier price so that it looks like your not paying any.

[quasi72]

That customs policy sucks. It is terrible that we are making even more barriers, specially commercial in the 21st century. Dammit.
Sorry that you had to pay so much for your American DVD. I would try to go to amazon.com in UK and get IMPORTS from the US. Maybe that's posible. Maybe not...

[2099net]

When i got the LT box set play.usa wanted customs charges but fututreent.com didn,t. When i look for region 1 DVD's i tend to email the sites to see if they will charge tax's if it dosn't say anything on their terms & conditions page. I'm sure these sites pay customs charges - they just reduce the price of the item and include the charges in thier price so that it looks like your not paying any.

Yeah, FutureEnt are now Loaded247, but both sites work. I think they pay the duty when importing into the UK, then remail within the UK (so the purchaser doesn't have to pay any duty). This is what makes them slower than certain other suppliers - they wait for the DVDs to come from Canada, then you need to add 2-3 days for them to package and post/deliver in the UK postal system.

Play do pay Duty themselves UK discs - if you get a disc over £18 from Play.com you'll see the Duty has been pre-paid (it says so on the customs declaration) because the Channel Islands (where Play are located) aren't part of the UK or Europe! I don't see why they just can't do the same for their American discs.