Post here if you are living outside US and have got the Set.

[Double Espresso]

17.5% of the cost of the DVD, but in pounds, not dollars.
That's VAT, oh and Parcel Force charge you for presenting it to customs. I'd guess at somewhere between £10 and £15.

[ab]

Well, my set arrived from Amazon on Friday. For some reason UPS didn't demand any money at the door. Does anyone know if they invoice later for VAT?

Still waiting for a refund from AU though.

[Double Espresso]

My Amazon ordered set arrived today £12.15 customs duty, you might have been lucky, it does happen like that.

[theandygrant]

I'm in the uk and got my tracking number on Friday so fingers crossed! Does anyone in the UK have an idea how steep the customs duty might Be?

excise duty on DVDs is 3%
VAT of 17.5 % is then due on the cost of goods, the excise, and the cost of shipping.

So assuming its got say ten quid's worth of stamps on it

excise = (3% of 100 quid) = 3 quid
VAT = (17.5% of (100 + 3 + 10)) = 19.78

Total charge = 22.78

If it was parcelforce there'd be a 13 quid clearance fee stuck on top.
UPS will have their own system of charges for this.
Sometimes UPS insist on Insurance and charge you for that too.

In my experience UPS always clear parcels through customs,
so the Charge *will* happen.

You're probably looking at roughly 35 quid all said and done.
They take cash or a cheque, no credit cards.

Andy

[Double Espresso]

but it's not 100 quid is it, it's 100 dollars, so it should be a bit less than that.

My charge from Amazon was £12.15, the AU package is of course, more expensive so you would pay more for that.

[henrik]

I got my dvds today. I ordered from amazon.com, but since the box was sent from amazon in Germany (although I orderd from amazon.com) I didn't have to pay any customs fees

I guess I was lucky.

[zedhead]

I got my dvds today. I ordered from amazon.com, but since the box was sent from amazon in Germany (although I ordered from amazon.com) I didn't have to pay any customs fees

I got mine too this morning, had to pay £12.15 down the post office parcel place but who cares! Still cheaper than AU and arrived earier I took the normal shpping option and it still only took 6 days to arrive...

Strange about your set shipping from Germany...they don't even have a listing - odd.

Happy happy joy joy! I have 19 episodes of MSCL on DVD. Who would have thought that was ever going to happen.

[Concettina]

I also paid customs of £12.15 when I received the box set from Amazon. Still worked out cheaper than buying from AU in any case.

But customs is really hit and miss. I've had about 5-6 packages come through over the past few months that I should have been charged customs on, but wasn't. You win some you lose some.

BTW, unless it's sent by FedEx or DHL, they'll always ask you for any custom payments up front before they release the package to you. As Amazon only send things via Air Mail (unless you request the super fast international shipping with the ridiculous price!), then you're safe from FedEx or DHL.

With FedEx and DHL, they bill you for it afterwards - sometimes a month or two later, after you thought you'd escaped! Their policy is that they pay the duties on your behalf and THEN seek reimbursement plus an extortionate 'administration' fee - WITHOUT giving you any choice in the matter. VERY wrong. Everyone should have the choice of whether or not to pay customs charges before accepting a package.

Concetta

[KrokRos]

My status today says: Exception.
FORMAL ENTRY REQUIRD FOR HIGH VALUE SHPT

Is it still about AU waiting for the set and then sending delievery-info to UPS?

[rujia]

when do you pay the charge?When they deliver it? what if your not home...? it seems well out of order that we have to pay a customs charge, when we've paid for delivery and stuff. ive ordered stuff from the US before, and never been charged a customs charge... i cant believe how difficult, and stressfull this whole dvd thing has been..

[Concettina]

If you're not at home (usually even when you are at home!) they leave a card for you telling you the amount you have to pay in customs and for you to go pick it up at your local sorting office with payment. Parcel Force seem to deliver the package and ask for the fee when you answer the door, but in my experience regular Royal Mail always leave you a card to pick it up, even if you're in.

Anything above £18 (asides from books I believe?!) is liable for customs, and you always need to take that into consideration when ordering something outside of the EU, unfortunately.

Concetta

[so-called customer]

Amazon.ca delivered mine today. No additional charges, $101CAN delivered.

[Concettina]

Does the Canadian Amazon use regular Air Mail or DHL? I have a feeling that the default postage is surface mail, and the one up from that which only costs a few $ more ships by DHL. If it was shipped by DHL, they normally always send you a bill afterwards, so hopefully it wasn't that!

Concetta

[starbug]

Got mine through Royal Mail this morning - £12.15 customs charge and they left me a little card to say how much I was to pay.

Happy happy

[zero]

Got mine through Royal Mail this morning

As did I, tho I suppose technicaly you win since you posted first!

3 days before I move house - talk about cutting it fine... tho my DVD player is all packed up so it's not all good news!