Marconcini Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Has anyone had any experience of having to unexpectedly pay import tax in order to receive parcels of leotards in U.K. ordered online from EU? Specifically I’d like to order some Yumiko leotards and want to be forewarned. Only asking as I’ve heard of several horror stories of as much as £300 custom fees being slapped on parcels of clothes with a much lower value than the fee! Also just had to post a very old mobile phone to a relative in EU after she left it here on a recent visit: she has just been charged 28euros tax to receive the parcel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanangra Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Hi, not from the EU but I ordered a leotard from Lucky Leo in the US to be shipped to my daughter in the UK, it attracted £8.95 customs plus £10 processing fee, that was more than half the cost of the leotard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lusodancer Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 As someone living on the other, EU , side, we have to fill out a customs form to send anything bigger than a letter or 'small packet', and list the items and value if we are sending to Britain, just as we would to send or receive from China or the U.S.A. So I will not be sending any Christmas , birthday presents and will probably be usisng an online greeting card service and Interflora type transactions. Everyone here that buys on Amazon( and personally I have no intention of making Mr. Bezos any richer) has had to swap to the German or Spanish branches not UK. So leotard -wise and shoes, my DD will buy UK stuff in the Uk , and European in Europe. Brexit, the gift that just keeps giving. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 I've heard these horror stories from colleagues of mine who interact more with Europe than I do. Apparently the threshold for triggering the charges is pretty low, so yes, I would be cautious. Not sure someone should have been charged customs duties to receive a non-purchased item, though? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlexyNexy Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 The way I order from US or EU is to have it shipped to my friends residing in the country and they post it to be as a gift. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neverdancedjustamum Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 In the past, when I used to get charges/fees for parcels from the US or Australia, the customs charge can be as much as a third of the value of the products inside the parcels! It also tended to be quite random, sometimes I'd get charged a customs fee, sometimes not. I couldn't predict when I would get charged so I just assume that I will get charged for parcels outside the EU (back then). It was always a bonus and felt like a win when I don't get any fees. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neverdancedjustamum Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 3 hours ago, Marconcini said: Has anyone had any experience of having to unexpectedly pay import tax in order to receive parcels of leotards in U.K. ordered online from EU? Specifically I’d like to order some Yumiko leotards and want to be forewarned. Only asking as I’ve heard of several horror stories of as much as £300 custom fees being slapped on parcels of clothes with a much lower value than the fee! Also just had to post a very old mobile phone to a relative in EU after she left it here on a recent visit: she has just been charged 28euros tax to receive the parcel! I used to order quite a fair bit from shops within the EU as there was no customs charge. However, I heard that these days there can be custom charges for parcels that are over £135 (not including postage). I can't quite remember which shop warned me of this and whether this is accurate. To be on the safe side, I tend to split Yumiko orders to make sure no one order is over £135 (just in case). If you order from the Yumiko EU site, it is free postage to the UK so you can just do separate orders without paying anything extra for postage. You can also contact their Berlin boutique directly via email. They are extremely helpful and very lovely. I can DM you their email address and the name of the staff I usually deal with if you wish (if you haven't yet). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Not leotards but one of my nieces collects Popcultcha figurines, most of which used to come from Australia. She wanted a special edition one for Christmas a couple of years ago. I think it cost about £22 after the exchange rate. I copped for a £10 customs fee and was told that the ceiling for customs charges at the time (about 5 years ago) was £15!!! I don't think duty should have been payable for an item that was just being returned to its owner. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farawaydancer Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Isn’t there a yumiko rep in the U.K. these days? They used to order a few times a year, in a bulk order. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neverdancedjustamum Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 22 minutes ago, Farawaydancer said: Isn’t there a yumiko rep in the U.K. these days? They used to order a few times a year, in a bulk order. I know of a couple but I don't think either place orders that frequently and at least one is thinking of adding on possible customs charges to the prices of the leotards. The benefit of getting them through the ambassadors is that they offer 15% off and you can customise the leotards according to your specs. Wait time is about 6-8 weeks though as they are made to order and at least within the past year, wait time was been slightly longer than this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peony Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Duty is not due below £135 but VAT still Is. There’s no way the charges would be more than the items worth though as they are a percentage. It appears to say that orders below £135 the seller will pay the VAT so you shouldn’t pay anything on delivery (presumably they add this at checkout??) https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marconcini Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share Posted June 28, 2021 Many thanks for the replies. I agree there shouldn’t be duty due on orders below £135, and that above it it should be a % of the value, but anecdotally I had heard otherwise (not leotards, just general clothing). Message to self to not necessarily believe callers on radio stations! Thanks for the idea to split any orders to keep the value low. I have ordered two leotards separately and will report back here if I do receive a tax notification. Also agree it shouldn’t be due on an item being returned to owner…my relative is disputing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dancing Kitty Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 I have had a mixed experience with the same supplier a few months apart. One package incurred two sets of charges - one relating to duty and the other from the Post Office - and the other nothing. As far as I could make out there was no difference with the way it was sent. I try to avoid anything from overseas now for check everything for the origin. There are so many good UK based brand I prefer to support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletmum4ever Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 I have not incurred any postage or charges when ordering from Yumiko EU, even recently. Orders from Luckyleo seem to always incur the Royal Mail handing fee of £8 plus customs charge. VAT is incurred if it crosses the threshold. When I last ordered from Luckyleo, there was also a minimum order value of $200 to enable delivery to the UK (Brexit related I believe) which tips you into the VAT and Customs charge category! From Australia, the charges seem more hit and miss. I’d say 1 in 3 of my orders have come straight through the letter box with no charges or handing fee, the others have incurred handling and customs charge, even when similar value of goods. Hard to fathom! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dancing Kitty Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 49 minutes ago, Balletmum1704 said: I have not incurred any postage or charges when ordering from Yumiko EU, even recently. Orders from Luckyleo seem to always incur the Royal Mail handing fee of £8 plus customs charge. VAT is incurred if it crosses the threshold. When I last ordered from Luckyleo, there was also a minimum order value of $200 to enable delivery to the UK (Brexit related I believe) which tips you into the VAT and Customs charge category! From Australia, the charges seem more hit and miss. I’d say 1 in 3 of my orders have come straight through the letter box with no charges or handing fee, the others have incurred handling and customs charge, even when similar value of goods. Hard to fathom! Our packages were from Australia - interesting we had the same experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neverdancedjustamum Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 22 minutes ago, Dancing Kitty said: Our packages were from Australia - interesting we had the same experience. Same here. I could not figure out why some had customs charges and some do not. They were parcels from Claudia Dean Collection. I always dread the grey/silvery customs fee card. I remember not being charged any fees for quite a big parcel (with about 6-7 items in it) but getting charged for a parcel with only two items in it (of much less value). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neverdancedjustamum Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 There is a relatively new UK-based online shop called Dance Pointe which stocks/pre-orders overseas brands not easily found elsewhere (Zidans, DellaLo' Milano, AK Dancewear, Mariia, etc). No customs charge and the shop owner if very lovely and helpful. Not affiliated with the shop, not an ad - just a very happy customer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peanut68 Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 I wonder if the latest new trade deal with Australia will actually mean no more import duty (plus the unfairly high Royal Mail handling fee they outrageously charge) due on those Claudia Deans in future....🤔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletbean Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 (edited) I understand how frustrating it must be but it’s an issue that Channel Islanders have had for years with goods coming over just from the UK. Not that I’m trying to make Brexit any less frustrating or painful for those affected. We have to declare the value of all items being sent to the UK (last time I checked the limit before tax was £30!). It’s a nightmare to ship students belongings back and forth as both Uk Gov and ours try to claim tax on all their belongings. Even the much loved and rather fragrant old dance shoes!! Tax on new goods ordered are based on not just a single parcel but taxed on the accumulative value of several goods if they happen to arrive all on the same day? Ordering costumes over a couple of days to ensure you avoid the tax allowance, doesn’t work either as you discover that the goods all arrive on the same day! Customs eyes must light up as can claim their pound of flesh! 💷💷💷 Sneaky and unwelcome tactic. Our Tax can also be on-top of the UK VAT as there are still so many companies that don’t remove the VAT. Edited July 3, 2021 by balletbean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletbean Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 On 28/06/2021 at 23:19, Peanut68 said: I wonder if the latest new trade deal with Australia will actually mean no more import duty (plus the unfairly high Royal Mail handling fee they outrageously charge) due on those Claudia Deans in future....🤔 I do hope so. My son lives in Perth and we have to be very careful when sending him parcels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom dance Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 Order from wearmoi, based in UK and better quality tights and leotards than yumiko! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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