Curse! Customs And F@£:{~g Excise

GODDAMN!

I can't believe this! I've been stung by Customs on two consecutive orders from HLJ!

The first was when I ordered a Fujimi BMW 635CSi + Studio 27 decal sheet. That was £9.00.

Now I ordered:

Tamiya Lotus 102B (1/20)
Fujimi ADVAN Altezza (1/24)
Sakatsu GT wheel centre bolts (1/24)
Sakatsu detail wire.

They have charged me another £9.00!!

Thing is I've got another order on it's way to me aswell. It consists of:

Fujimi Golf MkII (1/24)
Studio 27 decal sheet.

If they charge me again, I think I'll have to hold back from ordering from HLJ for a while. C&E are clearly on to me!!:mad: :angryfire

By the looks of it they're onto all of us! It wouldn't be so bad if ParcelForce didn't add their charges too :rolleyes:

C&E must be reading AF and have decided to put an end to our cheap japanese imports.

Ssh, they may be reading this thread :uhoh: :finger4:

Surely this is because of the way HLJ mark the packages. Every time I have ordered from them I get stung for duty, but never from ToyEast who mark the packet as a gift.

HLJ would clearly state that they are 'law abiding' and that taxes are a part of life.

It doesn't make paying them any easier. The problem in the UK as Focus 2000 stated, is that Parcel Force whack up their charges aswell!

All I can say is B!"£$%^D'S!

Interesting.. I've never had to pay any customs when ordering from HLJ. :confused:

Originally posted by Mikke
Interesting.. I've never had to pay any customs when ordering from HLJ. :confused:

You can order in the future then for the rest of Europe and send it customs free to us all then, right :D :D

j/k

Originally posted by Mikke
Interesting.. I've never had to pay any customs when ordering from HLJ. :confused:

It only seems to be a recent thing in the UK. My first 3 orders managed to come through with no charges, but on my last one I got stung for over £20 (30 euros). I think UK customs have been clamping down on this lately, possibly as a result of increased internet sales and the tax revenue that they're missing out on.

WOW I am glad I live in America land of GLuttons and obesity! :rolleyes: jk But I fell bad for you this hobby can get expensive without crap like that happening!

Sucks dude....glad we dont have to put up with that kind of crap here in NZ

Don't think I will ever order from there, I prefer hobby search.

Seems like they're a little cheaper and have more items in stock.

But that does suck.

I think the UK Customs have caught wind. I've ordered many times in the past without being stung.

Looks like I may have to give it a rest for a bit. Give some business to Hobby Search.

Originally posted by bah humbug
Don't think I will ever order from there, I prefer hobby search.

Seems like they're a little cheaper and have more items in stock.

But that does suck.

Unfortunately my last order that got picked out by customs was from HobbySearch. The label on it had lots more information than my previous order from them, such as cost of goods and shipping. Maybe that makes it easier for customs to spot the chargeable parcels.

Also, shipping at HS does seem quite a bit higher than HLJ. I paid nearly as much for shipping as I did for the kits :(

I agree. HS tend to have a few kits that are out of production and may be about 70 pence cheaper per kit, but their shipping is high and I finnd their service not as good as HLJ in terms of updates, etc.

Does Hobby Search accept PayPal? :confused:

God, I must be the unluckiest modeller here!!

Got home from work last night to find, not my latest HLJ order waiting for me, but another pick up card from the post office. On closer inspection, lo and behold, another Customs bloody charge!

It is so inconvenient that I have to wait until the weekend to enjoy my purchases as it is the only time I can pick them up.

Originally posted by exhaust smoke
God, I must be the unluckiest modeller here!!

Got home from work last night to find, not my latest HLJ order waiting for me, but another pick up card from the post office. On closer inspection, lo and behold, another Customs bloody charge!

It is so inconvenient that I have to wait until the weekend to enjoy my purchases as it is the only time I can pick them up.

Yep, me too again!!!:rolleyes: Just got back from the sorting office 5mins ago to pick up my latest order from HLJ which totaled £25 and got a £8.50 customs charge on top of that. They are F'ing Mo Fo's IMO:mad:

Originally posted by flyonthewall


Yep, me too again!!!:rolleyes: Just got back from the sorting office 5mins ago to pick up my latest order from HLJ which totaled £25 and got a £8.50 customs charge on top of that. They are F'ing Mo Fo's IMO:mad:

Rich guy like you complaining about a few quid:rolleyes: :p

*Mental Note* Exaggerate value of items in parcel for Chris *Mental Note*

:D

Just wondering is there custom and excise thingy for Australia?? cause i've never really brougth much from internet but i kinda want to.

Yep, i think they're onto us all those F*****G customs people !!! Even here in little (as far as the population goes anyway) Sweden. Ive ordered four times from HLJ, the first time my stuff came through without being touched by their sticky little fingers but the last three times i had to cough up the duty... Bastards !!! Just been looking through Hobby search's site as someone mentioned earlier, look's good...bit slow but i might just give it a go. Anything to avoid paying that extra duty.
Later, Mike.:smoker2:

I would be taking issue with the customs charges. They are perfectly legal if you import something for sale, that is with the purpose of making a profit by selling the imported goods. So the govt. wants a piece of that, and it's normal. But we don't sell the stuff or make money with it!!! Apart from Chris, but he's a special case :)

Anyway, you should also note that the HLJ price already includes the VAT for the Japanese govt (which is weird as exported goods should be exempt from VAT as I'm not a citizen of Japan, but never mind that, it's beyond the point), so again as you're importing the stuff for personal use ... I don't know, I would, if I were you guys, try to find out for sure what the legislation over there is. Personally, I have never had to pay ANYTHING at all for receiving the models/supplies from Japan other than what HLJ/HS/HW charged me. But maybe it's because Estonia is not a member of the EU yet? But then again, Finland, the last time I checked, is, and look at Mika. :confused:

Just make a couple of calls and ask questions.

Alex

On the same note of what Alex said....
Bringing unbuilt kits into the US is not subject to customs duties......that I know of....

When I look at the breakdown of the charge, Customs charge me around £3-4, but it's bloody Parcel Force who charge extra for saying:

"Here you are Mr Customs & Excise, more imported goods, let's rip the bugger off and split it down the middle, deal?"

I think there may be ap point about bringing in and selling. I just bring in for personal consumption!

Another thing was when I was charged for my last order, my spare part came at the same time, and they didn't charge me for that. Also, perhaps I'm being thick, but why does HLJ mark the value in $'s when we paid for it in Japanese Yen? Because the strength of the Deollar over the Yen, we have to pay more customs!

Originally posted by ales
I would be taking issue with the customs charges. They are perfectly legal if you import something for sale, that is with the purpose of making a profit by selling the imported goods. So the govt. wants a piece of that, and it's normal. But we don't sell the stuff or make money with it!!! Apart from Chris, but he's a special case :)

Anyway, you should also note that the HLJ price already includes the VAT for the Japanese govt (which is weird as exported goods should be exempt from VAT as I'm not a citizen of Japan, but never mind that, it's beyond the point), so again as you're importing the stuff for personal use ... I don't know, I would, if I were you guys, try to find out for sure what the legislation over there is. Personally, I have never had to pay ANYTHING at all for receiving the models/supplies from Japan other than what HLJ/HS/HW charged me. But maybe it's because Estonia is not a member of the EU yet? But then again, Finland, the last time I checked, is, and look at Mika. :confused:

Just make a couple of calls and ask questions.

Alex

Anything above the value of £18 is subject to customs fee. If its a gift, then this value is £32.

Here's a good example of how rediculous these charges are. A friend of mine lent someone in the US some picture CD's with 100's of car reference photos. When the guy returned them, he included some of his own as to return the favour but ticked the 'merchdise' box (he did actually sell his CD's) and put a value of $40 on it. When it arrived my friend had to fork out £9 customs fee to effectively get his own property back. Agreed that some of the blame goes to the sender but customs just ain't gonna care what it is, just as long as they fill their pockets.:mad: :devil:

Originally posted by flyonthewall


Anything above the value of £18 is subject to customs fee. If its a gift, then this value is £32.



£32? Oh really :devil:

can you get in england other rims etc.??
we cant get that stuff here in holland so we must order HLJ everytime we want something like other rims etc. etc.:zx11pisse

Rims, Fujimi, Aoshima...you name it, it's all hard to come by here in England, that's why i have to shop online. It's only Tamiya that is fairly fliud, even then the older stuff is still hard to get hold of. Hobby Company Ltd (the UK Importer) are crap! The same goes for Amerang, the Fujimi/Hasegawa, etc importer