Robbed by shipping company

[oppsi]

hi all

Yes i hold my head in hands as a result. I am new to shipping from china but can not help thinking i have been made a fool out of.

I bought some scarves around £1200 worth and almost paid £600 to the shipping company.

When i made the purchase i knew i had to pay vat and customs and deferement fee, but i assumed that would hist the £200 mark.

when the shipment was about to arrive at the port i got a letter from a compnay (i did not choose them) with a bill of the following:

china import fee 40.00
terminal handling 60.00
agency fee 83.00
uk port securty fee 3.50
icaf 20.00
customs duty 27.83
customs vat 88.14
use of deferement 45.00
customs clearance 50.00
Delivery 105.00

what i need to know is where i went wrong?
how can i select some one that i want to do all the work? is this possible?
how does the shipping compnay jsutify the payment? volume, size per box
I ony had 8 cartons, and live in east london...

is it advisable to buy in cubic meters or anything else?

I obviously am now keen to learn from my mistakes and would lie to know how to make shipping work fro me at a lower cost?

any advise to me is like gold dust - thank you x x x

 

[Big Pete]

and how or why should you feel a fool. thats all standard shipping and importing costs , so its no problem , should of just researched more . but we all learn from mistakes.

dont worry about it stick your sales price up and away you go..

 

[PowerForwarding]

You've fallen for the common mistake of allowing the supplier to arrange the shipping for you. You would be much better off getting a UK freight forwarder to arrange the shipping that way you'll know all the fees up front prior to shipping and will be much cheaper.

 

[Liam Seager]

That's not so bad. Some freight forwarders can be extremely dishonest. For example they can hold your stock to ransom if you don't pay them a lot of money.

Also, if your container gets x-rayed you will need to pay the ost of that - around £40

I would certainly recommend using a trusted uk freight forwarder for future reference.

 

[Deleted member 127702]

If you are a regular importer and registered for VAT you can apply for your own Deferment account, which would avoid the £45 "use of deferment" charge.

This also gives you 2-6 weeks credit from HMRC on the Import Duty & VAT

However, they will require a bank guarantee - my bank currently charges £240 per annum for providing a guarantee of £4000 - so you would have to be importing fairly regularly to make it worthwhile.

On the odd occasion when I exceed our deferment limit and I have to use our freight forwarder's deferment they do not charge me for this facility.

 

[socomtactical]

Should of compared the cost of shipping with sending by air as there are hell of a lot cheaper cost wise if it doesn't weigh much

 

[ronibrookz]

hi all

Yes i hold my head in hands as a result. I am new to shipping from china but can not help thinking i have been made a fool out of.

I bought some scarves around £1200 worth and almost paid £600 to the shipping company.

When i made the purchase i knew i had to pay vat and customs and deferement fee, but i assumed that would hist the £200 mark.

when the shipment was about to arrive at the port i got a letter from a compnay (i did not choose them) with a bill of the following:

china import fee 40.00
terminal handling 60.00
agency fee 83.00
uk port securty fee 3.50
icaf 20.00
customs duty 27.83
customs vat 88.14
use of deferement 45.00
customs clearance 50.00
Delivery 105.00

what i need to know is where i went wrong?
how can i select some one that i want to do all the work? is this possible?
how does the shipping compnay jsutify the payment? volume, size per box
I ony had 8 cartons, and live in east london...

is it advisable to buy in cubic meters or anything else?

I obviously am now keen to learn from my mistakes and would lie to know how to make shipping work fro me at a lower cost?

any advise to me is like gold dust - thank you x x x

I think it is a reliable cost of every package and you don't need to feel bad. Every shipping company get the cost of shipping packages to other place. You can go with any best company because most of company take same cost of shipping.

 

[deniser]

Next time get a quote from the seller to send it EMS. It will be handled by Parcelforce at this end and although the duty and VAT will be the same, the handling charge is only £8 per box. You may find out that this works out cheaper. And of course only takes a week or so so your money is not tied up as long.

 

[antondavis]

I can suggest you to use of these international shipping companies - containervessel.org, because they're the biggest and consequently the most reliable (of course a little bit more expensive but if you'd like your good to arrive use them). Good luck in searching for the best!

 

[uncle_rico]

Thats standard, if you didnt choose the shipper then maybe you should request your own next time and get a quote.

To buy in such a large quantity will incurr higher charges. May I suggest you order in smaller quantities, just a box at a time, get the shipper to mark the item as a gift below the value of $50 then you shouldnt get charged at all if you ship with DHL or fedex

 

[uncle_rico]

Next time get a quote from the seller to send it EMS. It will be handled by Parcelforce at this end and although the duty and VAT will be the same, the handling charge is only £8 per box. You may find out that this works out cheaper. And of course only takes a week or so so your money is not tied up as long.

Had two shipments go missing with EMS. Use DHL or Fedex, a courier which inspects the contents before its sent to you. EMS do not inspect contents matches the description of the items which means u risk having an empty box arrive at your house with a tracking number to make it look legit.