I am royally f****d off!

I don't think they (Parcelforce) believe the "gift" thing. But as has been mentioned, anything over £36 gets taxed. What really upsets me is that parcelforce charge for collecting the tax. Who does that? Do shopkeepers charge 17.5% vat and add £5 for colecting it? No!

This might cheer you up. Bought a Canonet from the States. Paid the tax. About a year later it needed a repair. Friendly Yank offered to repair ir, I sent it over, he sent it back insured at my request. parcelforce charged me tax and duty on the full insured value. So I pay tax twice, once rightly, once wrongly. Taxman tells me how to claim tax back, it requires proof that I no longer have. Bugger.

But hey, it's nearly $2 to £1. I bet that camera was still a bargain. A Bessa R with 35mm Color Skopar and brown erc (like Cameraquest do) went for £130 on ebay.com the other day. A Bessa R with Industar 61 is up to £97 with two days to go on ebay.co.uk. Just remember to add the taxes into the equation...
 
Ash

I'm not sure the VAT man reads the gift label, I think he still likes his %, like if you had be the subject of the Xmas CV body and lens, guess what would have happened...

Sorry.

Noel
 
gareth said:
Has nobody heard of white lies? it's no big deal.
Click to expand...

But it is. A white lie usually means a lie which is convenient to me. If I sold you a broken camera and then pointed out that you had failed to pay insurance and that the package had been damaged in the post, what would you say? I'd be more than happy - I'd have your money and one less broken camera.

It's a matter of trust.

Cheers, Ian
 
I'll try again they charge VAT on entry the only way to avoid - is to have a receipt for the VAT from the 1st import, and reclaim the VAT, the VAT man is like the IRS, except he is greedy.

Noel
 
I guess it was just one more thing to go wrong recently, and the 'i told you so' element. I can't believe parcelforce though.

I'll be writing a formal complaint to hand to the courier delivery guy when they hand me my parcel with a name that doesn't match the letter (see the original post), and an invoice for £13.50 'ash-tax' plus £15 'nonsense charges' and see what response I get.
 
I had a very bad experience importing motorcycle parts from the USA. Never again.

On saying that I ordered a Lightsphere and was expecting to pay vat etc. but no.

Put it behind you and enjoy the camera.
 
Hi Ash

Seems you got caught the way I did with my IIa I bought from the States. Its a real pain, but nobody is physically hurt unless your Dad .....!!! I reckoned my camera cost me 40% more than the purchase price when I eventually got it in my hands.
And as for Parcelfore! They had opened the package whilst they had it. No customs examination, I checked. Parcelfore said the package couldn't have been opened by them but they delivered it open. Luckily no damage and nothing missing.
Life isn't fair, but who said it was?
Feel for you though - and there is still Dad to get round!!
 
NB23 said:
American law, obeying the law blablabla... Americans are funny. They don't want to disobey the law but the carry guns in their back pocket. Whatever.

As far as I'm concerned, I'll always mark the item as a gift instead of letting the government steal the money.
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I have a permit for my gun and I do obey the lawnot all Americans are law abiding and not all humans are law abiding but don't lump us into one category. I for one am a law abiding American. I also find it funny that people feel the government steals your money. It cost to run a government and I know they are run like crap it still cost. Soldiers, firefighters, and police officers rely on this tax money to feed thier families.

By the way Ash sorry your troubles hope the camera is something you end up loving.
 
NB23 said:
American law, obeying the law blablabla... Americans are funny. They don't want to disobey the law but the carry guns in their back pocket. Whatever.

As far as I'm concerned, I'll always mark the item as a gift instead of letting the government steal the money.
Click to expand...

Do you evade income taxes, too? The import duty is just another tax.

At least carrying a gun is legal (but not concealed) - even if you don't like it.
 
Jocko said:
But it is. A white lie usually means a lie which is convenient to me. If I sold you a broken camera and then pointed out that you had failed to pay insurance and that the package had been damaged in the post, what would you say? I'd be more than happy - I'd have your money and one less broken camera.

It's a matter of trust.

Cheers, Ian
Click to expand...

Look it's a private sale, it shouldn't really be taxed, but perhaps silly laws insist it must. I don't care much for silly laws, or the tax man for that matter, he gets enough of my money to waste on (rant rant rant, trying not to go into all that, rant rant rant, aaaaagh), I'm just not in the habit of giving money away.

If I sell you a camera through one of these forums, or for that matter on e-bay, I'll be honest about the condition of the camera. If I can do something simple to help you avoid paying the tax that you really shouldn't be paying anyway, I'll try and help you with that.

And if you ask me to do something that I don't want to do, I'll give you a straight answer.
 
If a friend comes over to your house, and you have an old laptop that they want. You sell it to them, and you get the money.

Q. Would you...:

A. Call up HM Revenue & Customs

B. Pocket the money and leave it at that
 
Ash, sorry to hear of your troubles. I hope you enjoy the camera. This may seem to be a major setback now, but trust me, it will seem less so after the many thousands of pounds in income taxes that is in your future. It sucks, but that's just the way it is.

Was the seller your friend? If not, why would you expect him to lie for you?
 
Ash said:
If a friend comes over to your house, and you have an old laptop that they want. You sell it to them, and you get the money.

Q. Would you...:

A. Call up HM Revenue & Customs

B. Pocket the money and leave it at that
Click to expand...

B - Because that is exactly what the law requires, as you'll discover if you pay Income Tax - private sales of items of personal property below a certain value or outside certain catagories are not taxed:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/MoneyTaxAn...xArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4016313&chk=dyI1d+

Gareth, you demonstrate my point exactly. In one post you express a willingness to lie, in the next you assure me of your honesty. None of us know anything of each other here beyond what we read. That's why transactions have to be kept absolutely straight. You may happily expect other people to lie for your convenience, at no risk to yourself but at significant risk to them, but I have too much respect for my fellow members. We have to count on each other to tell the truth.

Cheers, Ian
 
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Bad luck Ash ... a learning experience and as they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

In this country it's pretty clear cut. If an item you buy from overeas exceeds $1000.00 aust in value you pay gst or duty ... if it doesn't you don't ... not a cracker! Some sellers I have dealt with have been happy to undervalue items for me but some are reluctant and I accept that. These sort of things could surface for a seller at a future time if he was unlucky enough to be audited by the tax dept.

But then again we have about seven of the world's most poisonous snakes from memory ... you only have Tony Blair! :angel:

Whoops ... was that a knock on the door.....? 😱
 
One problem with falsifying shipping documents (other than the highly significant fact that it's immoral) is that if you understate the value, that's all you are going to collect on insurance if its lost or broken.
 
I'm not sure there is anything about this transaction that warrants your level of rancor.

You live in a country with a VAT system, and the VAT is built into prices so you rarely notice or think about the fact that it is always being collected. Here you just happen to have had a transaction where collection of the VAT is noticeable.

Parcelforce is not a public charity. http://www.parcelforce.com/portal/pw/content1?mediaId=load105044&catId=2500042 Is that really such a shock?

Seems to me you are down to complaining that they misspelled your name, which is a silly thing to complain about.
 
Matthew Runkel said:
Seems to me you are down to complaining that they misspelled your name, which is a silly thing to complain about.
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I'd like to see every business associate spell your name Mathew Runkle and see how long before it feels like you're being stabbed in the eye repeatedly 🙂


As for the other posts I understand its dishonest, but it really does annoy me when so many people like to take a cut from this. Everyone benefits except the person trying to receive the item.
 
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