custom duty on a pack of coils from China?!

[Mawsley]

I had over £20’s-worth of glass tanks, coil heads and other flotsam delivered on Saturday without issues, but I’m genuinely interested to discover if this is becoming a widespread issue. If it is it could knock the whole China thing out of the park...and I wonder who’s pushing that agenda?

 

[itscostingme]

Everything ive had from FT has been marked as "replacement electronic components" or words to that effect and marked as $20.

Thats in the 2 years i've been vaping.

 

[ianleeds]

For the last few years the UK Tax authorities must have lost millions in VAT and import duty on personal imports from China. The UK Government is not daft and they must have realised the enormity of under declared imports from China and the far East.
Maybe they are putting their house in order ready for the start of Brexit when under the latest ' plan' the UK will act as tax collector for both us and Europe.
At some point personal imports arriving under declared will end.....maybe this is just the beginning

 

[oldhippydude]

The op said "I opted for the registered tracked mail by Singapore post"

I suspect the fact that it was registered and tracked might have increased its chances of being inspected at customs.
So it turns out it was a low value order but registered and tracked might imply otherwise and make it more likely to get checked.

 

[Mutley1]

^^^^^ this if your opting for registered tracked using singapore its bound to make them curious..

 

[viper]

[QUl have high duty fees and charges to pay.

I’ve had 6 China orders through over the past three weeks from 3F and FT, two with mods, one big and bulky. Nothing.

What route did it take into the uk @viper ? Could have something to do with the particular customs unit that it passed through.

Edit: @crustyfolker has probably nailed it tbf with the Singapore vaping regulations.

I just checked my order again, sorry everyone but I didnt use singapore post on this order. It turns out it is Registered HongKong Post. I usually always use singapore post but I dont think it was available at the time during checkout. Maybe they have removed it because of the things everyone have mentioned and they have clocked on perhaps.

So the tracking is showing it shipped from Hong Kong.

Total that I paid for the order including the shipping is US $18.69 which works out to be £14.11 according to todays exchange rate. I have gone into my paypal to check the rate it was on the day that I paid and it was £14.59

I have raised a ticket with FT, so will update on here once I hear back from them.


Also to add further, I have ordered many things before from FT, GB etc just like everyone else on here. Sometimes 2 tanks or a mod etc and the value has been around £20-£40 or more and I never got stung on any of those.
Even the 2x TFV12 prince tanks I got a few months ago, was delivered without any issues.

I suspect we will start seeing more of these charges and will just have to order from vendors in the UK or use a non tracked shipping method that works.

 

[Simon G]

.... but if the value was only £14.59 then you shouldn't have been charged anyway. If they had put the correct value on the packed it shouldn't have mattered which shipping method was use.

 

[SirLugg]

[QUl have high duty fees and charges to pay.


I just checked my order again, sorry everyone but I didnt use singapore post on this order. It turns out it is Registered HongKong Post. I usually always use singapore post but I dont think it was available at the time during checkout. Maybe they have removed it because of the things everyone have mentioned and they have clocked on perhaps.

So the tracking is showing it shipped from Hong Kong.

Total that I paid for the order including the shipping is US $18.69 which works out to be £14.11 according to todays exchange rate. I have gone into my paypal to check the rate it was on the day that I paid and it was £14.59

I have raised a ticket with FT, so will update on here once I hear back from them.


Also to add further, I have ordered many things before from FT, GB etc just like everyone else on here. Sometimes 2 tanks or a mod etc and the value has been around £20-£40 or more and I never got stung on any of those.
Even the 2x TFV12 prince tanks I got a few months ago, was delivered without any issues.

I suspect we will start seeing more of these charges and will just have to order from vendors in the UK or use a non tracked shipping method that works.

Possibly. But the fact the declared value exceeds the $20 threshold as @Simon G highlighted is probably more the reason. Keep and eye on it I guess, but if the declared value is over the threshold, like yours was, or if it’s coming via Singapore like @crustyfolker said it stands far more of a chance of being pulled simply because it’s drawing more attention to itself.

Customs don’t check everything. They can’t. So it’ll still mostly be a rarity to get done unless it’s made fairly obvious you’re flouting the rules.

 

[crustyfolker]

There is always the option to refuse the package and it will get sent back to fasttech you can then get them resent, but use epacket speak to fasttech and they will sort it for you ie get you to pay the extra £ postage

 

[Chuck Norris]

Never had an issue in over 4 years (haven’t got the guts to check how much I’ve spent on FT!!) I used to use a mix of China/sing post but only use uk epacket now.

Gonna suck balls if they start clamping down