Calling the UK people who have ordered ES
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free skin care · Fri Nov 12, 2004 7:03 am

Have any of you been charged by Customs???

I just got my second order and they want over £12 off me.....HUH Not talking

Maybe they think, bloody hell this girl gets so much skin care through the post she must have her own shop!! Rolling Eyes

free skin care · Fri Nov 12, 2004 7:12 am

I got charged on my first order I cant remember how much. They are nasty, nasty little men. I wouldnt spit on one if he was on fire.
I ordered some stuff for my son for his birthday they charged me £65 ooh I tell you I said a lot of bad words.

free skin care · Fri Nov 12, 2004 8:38 am

£65...OMG...and I'm complaining for £12....

Did you get the goods then have to pay later??, get invoiced or something?

free skin care · Fri Nov 12, 2004 8:48 am

I've not ordered any stuff from ES but I have been charged by the lovely customs people for other items I've ordered from the US. I usually end up having to pay anything between £12-£18 depending on the value of the item. I have had to stump up the money before they will let me have my package. Mad

free skin care · Fri Nov 12, 2004 9:33 am

Mmmmmm maybe I slipped through the net then. I've never been charged before, but the package was delivered this morning with stickers all over it, Customs £8.91 and royal mail charge £4.00.....The postie didnt ask Mum for any money and gave her the package...I thought maybe I'd get invoiced for it.....

free skin care · Fri Nov 12, 2004 9:53 am

Interesting. hmm

I've always had to pay at the delivery depot before they would hand it over. Maybe they changed their minds and decided not to charge you. That would be great!

free skin care · Fri Nov 12, 2004 11:16 am

You lucky thing. They wont bring my parcels with charges round they drop a card through door and I have to go pay and pick up.
The one I got charged 65 on was delivered by UPS and they rang. I had to pay with credit card before they would deliver.

free skin care · Fri Nov 12, 2004 4:01 pm

Hi....

First, I'm so sorry that you have to go through paying extra customs charges for the same product that people in the U.S. get without customs charges.

Second, I just wanted to post what our policies are on those charges to people out of the U.S. We charge the same thing for shipping outside the U.S. that we do inside the U.S. However, we have no control over what the recieving country decides to charge.

One ray of hope, we are planning to open offices in the U.K. in the future, and I'm assuming that will fix the situation. Have no idea for sure of the date on that.

Also, wanted to clarify a point. The $65 that Lori paid was NOT Esthers Secret! Laughing

I nearly fell off my chair when I first read that post, fearing that anyone had been charged more for customs than the product had cost. Confused

I wish with all my heart I could offer a solution, but it seems that sometimes they do charge and sometimes they don't, and the amount seems to vary with each time.

One consolation is that even with extra customers charges, the price is still reasonable. I know that doesn't help much, if any at all, but just know that I sympathize with all of you!

JUDY

free skin care · Fri Nov 12, 2004 4:45 pm

I'd like to give my experience or what I think it is. I've only order from one company but have ordered 3 times. And this is coming to USA from other country. My concern too was the custom duties however, I was surprised they (USA) didn't, the mere fact that it was noted that its for "PERSONAL" or 'GIFT' something to that effect.

Again, just like what Judy says, it depends too with the receiving country. The courier were DHL and FEDEX. Hope this helps!

free skin care · Sat Nov 13, 2004 4:10 am

It is just luck of the draw with English customs apparently they just go round depo and pick like 20 parcels out of every 100 or so and put charges on them. Its just the way our system is.
Basically in this country we pay tax on everything.
wages before you get them, then if you spend them they tax you on what you buy. If you put money in bank to save they tax you on it. Us Brits are ripped of by our government left, right and centre.
Judy was right I didnt pay £65 on Esthers secret. If I had I would have phoned customs and got the money back because I think you are only supposed to pay 17.5% on actual cost of parcel contents the same as our VAT charge.
Sorry to waffle on

free skin care · Mon Nov 15, 2004 5:30 am

Well I saw the postie this morning...he asked if I got my parcel and winked at me!!...I could of kissed him! ( but he has got really long greasy hair) put me off a bit! but I did say thank you!

Judy dont worry!, I've never been charged before in all the years I've been ordering from abroad, its bound to happen one day! although I hope it isnt £65!!!!

free skin care · Mon Nov 15, 2004 10:02 am

usually anything over £20.00 they pick up and it doesn't matter if it says gift. I've had things over that amount get through now and again but I've also been stung, I had to pay £9.83 this weekend on a package from amazon.com I don't mind paying the VAT I do object to the royal mail taking a big portion of the total cost.

Tue Nov 16, 2004 4:29 am

From what I understand the UK is *very* thorough with calculating tax on incoming parcels. I'm not sure if it also applies to ones marked gift. I would suggest that when you buy something you ask for the invoice to be taken out - that way they don't know the cost of it plus it doesn't look like a purchase.

In Australia I have only got taxed once - when I bought a digital camera from the USA. Everything else goes through but we are able to import up to Au$250 without any duties. So any larger orders I make I ask to be split up into multiple parcels. Here when you have to pay the tax they won't give you the parcel unless you pay (so you get the little slip telling you how much you need to pay). I have heard of people getting parcels with a tax amount written on them but no invoice. For us that means that the parcel was assessed but that it was not worth it for customs to collect the charges (they generally don't bother here unless it's over $50 in tax).

free skin care · Tue Nov 16, 2004 5:02 pm

Mabsy wrote:

From what I understand the UK is *very* thorough with calculating tax on incoming parcels. I'm not sure if it also applies to ones marked gift. I would suggest that when you buy something you ask for the invoice to be taken out - that way they don't know the cost of it plus it doesn't look like a purchase.

There is a problem from the companies' point of view. Not just our company, but all companies. That is that there are certain requirements made on the company for the "privilege" of shipping into other countries and there are legal penalties for not meeting those requirements. Shock

To be honest, I don't know the exact limits, etc., becuase I've not been involved in that end of the business, but I'm going to ask some questions and see what I can find out.

I do know that I read an article a couple months ago, warning companies about shipping into countries where they were not fully authorized to do business and that there were some severe penalites that could accrue. My guess is that it's much like Mabsy says and there are limits and so long as you stay under those limits, it's not a problem and it's more trouble for customs to mess with it than they want to go through for small purchases. But, customs is there for a purpose and I suspect that they handle it the way they do in some ways to discourage their citizens from doing business outside their own country, as it takes business away from companies in their country who have to pay taxes on the business they do. So, in other words, if their citizens do a lot of business with companies from other countries, they lose tax money... and we all know that no government wants to lose tax money! Confused

I'll do some checking around and tell everyone what I learn.

JUDY

free skin care · Tue Nov 16, 2004 6:43 pm

when i order stuff across the border I always try to have them do one of 2 things:

1.) Declare that there's a small $ amount and the posties don't bother

2.) Get them to mark it as a gift. Some places will, others won't.

free skin care · Tue Nov 16, 2004 8:06 pm

lianne wrote:

when i order stuff across the border I always try to have them do one of 2 things:

1.) Declare that there's a small $ amount and the posties don't bother

2.) Get them to mark it as a gift. Some places will, others won't.

How do they actually "declare" that it's a small $ amount and how small does it have to be?

JUDY

free skin care · Wed Nov 17, 2004 11:16 am

when shipping into canada you have to put one of those green stickers on the package declaring what's in it and how much value it is. usually if you put $20 canada post won't bother with cahrging tax or duties. The only prob is it can mess up if you get insurance and something happens. I doubt you'd get the true value.

free skin care · Wed Nov 17, 2004 11:43 am

The biggest problem for a company is that they really need to be honest to stay within the law. It's a two-edged sword. While the company truly wants to get their product to people in other countries, they also can get in a lot of trouble for misrepresenting the value of the product.

We have a warehouse in Canada, and I know that has helped our Canadian customers. I know we paid up front about $200,000 for the privilege. I think the best, but sometimes difficult for companies, is when they have gone through that process for at least the countries that they ship a lot of product to.

Part of the problem for reps is that with the internet, they have the ability to get their word out worldwide, and often they find a significant number of people who like the product and want to continue ordering, as in the case of Esthers Secret. But, until we pay the big bucks to U.K., there will likely continue to be occasional situations with customs, resulting in charges to the customer. Sad

JUDY

free skin care · Wed Nov 17, 2004 12:46 pm

I find that usually it's the people with the small at home business that will do the favours.

I had one lady send me $100 in pet supplies and marked it for $15 without being asked...what a sweetie..

I understand why some people are not willing to do it. I accept when someone tells me that are unable to...

free skin care · Wed Nov 17, 2004 9:05 pm

lianne wrote:

I find that usually it's the people with the small at home business that will do the favours.

I had one lady send me $100 in pet supplies and marked it for $15 without being asked...what a sweetie..

I understand why some people are not willing to do it. I accept when someone tells me that are unable to...

It's usually a bit easier for very small businesses that don't ship a lot to "fly under the radar." Larger companies that the customs agents see a lot of seem to get scrutinized a bit more closely.

Also, larger companies usually have labels that are machine printed, while very small companies may use hand addressed labels, etc. That makes the package look more like it's personal and not business.

JUDY

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