The Energon Pub

Does anyone have any experience of buying things on ebay from China and Hong Kong? They always have really cheap or free postage, but I've heard that you can get hit by nasty import charges which the seller takes the responsibility for. Has anyone bought anything and had (or not had) to deal with these charges?
There are a bunch of Legion figures on ebay atm for 99p that I'm really tempted by...

WasPWNator wrote:Does anyone have any experience of buying things on ebay from China and Hong Kong? They always have really cheap or free postage, but I've heard that you can get hit by nasty import charges which the seller takes the responsibility for. Has anyone bought anything and had (or not had) to deal with these charges?
There are a bunch of Legion figures on ebay atm for 99p that I'm really tempted by...

Customs/import charges are based on the declared value of the package. I'm sure your country has a website listing the charges and such.

There aren't any "hidden" expenses with importing something unless the seller is being shady.

WasPWNator wrote:Does anyone have any experience of buying things on ebay from China and Hong Kong? They always have really cheap or free postage, but I've heard that you can get hit by nasty import charges which the seller takes the responsibility for. Has anyone bought anything and had (or not had) to deal with these charges?
There are a bunch of Legion figures on ebay atm for 99p that I'm really tempted by...

If you're in the US, there are no import duties on toys for individual buyers. Resellers, yes. But you as a collector, no.

Hey Waspy, I'll break it down for you:

Here in the UK, you do not have to pay import duty (charged at 20%, I believe) on items marked as "GIFT" up the to the value of £50 or so.
Most sellers sending out of China and the far-east mark their items as gifts. It increases trade.

If the item is marked as "GOODS" or "MERCHANDISE" it will have a duty imposed on it. So, if the item is marked as being worth £100, you will have to pay £20 to get it.
And here's where it gets real bad. See, most packages coming in will be handled by Parcel Force or the Royal Mail.
These noble fellows will pay the import duty on your behalf, allowing the item to be accepted into the country and taken to a sorting office near you. However, they will charge you for this courtesy. It's a percentage of the duty and an "administration fee". It can add up to a substantial figure!

It's a joke, and a shameful one at that. We pay our taxes. Lest we forget, the money we spend on the toy and postage has ALREADY had tax deducted from it! Sheesh!

I wouldn't let this dissuade you from importing. In all my years, I've only had one seller from the east mark an item as merchandise. Almost all good folks in the USA do it too.

Want a horror story? I bought a Transformer from a seller in the US. The auction ended at £30 or so. However, on the customs declaration, the seller marked under "Value" what he THOUGHT it was worth. He put "$120" and marked it as goods. I had to pay £40 or so to Parcel Force before they would let me have it! More than the toy!! Add into this the postage I had already paid, which was a lot for the heavy toy, and I got ripped off.

Anyways, bottom line: import. It's good. ^_^

Thanks for the advice guys

AdamPrime wrote:Hey Waspy, I'll break it down for you:

Here in the UK, you do not have to pay import duty (charged at 20%, I believe) on items marked as "GIFT" up the to the value of £50 or so.
Most sellers sending out of China and the far-east mark their items as gifts. It increases trade.

Actually, I think the value is much lower than £50. I'm sure I've been stung for lower values than that.

Sometimes expensive things get through without customs tax. I imported a bicyle part worth £120+ and didn't get any customs tax.

Best thing to do: ask the seller to mark the package as a gift of value of 20 or less. Some sellers will, some sellers won't.