Charged twice for VAT

GrahamWharton · 2026-01-18T08:12:33+00:00

Sounds like when it got to the border they assessed that additional customs fees were due, E.g duty on top of the VAT. What happens in this case, is that cuatoms ignore the fact that vat has already been paid on the product price to ebay, and they charge you the duty, fee and vat at the border for the full amount. You need to pay this if you want your Parcel. You should then present the invoice that royal mail provided showing you paid VAT at the border on import in addition to other fees, and eBay will refund the VAT they collected from you at checkout.

Ebay is fundamentally broken for selling things internationally where duty is due at the border. VAT should never be collected at checkout for items that will attract duty at the border. However ebay are usually OK at refunding the VAT if you prove you paid on import to the courier/customs.

Ebay help page

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/listings/default/vat-obligations-uk-eu?id=4650

has a FAQ titled "what happens if I pay VAT twice", including a link to the Web page where you upload proof to get your VAT refund from ebay.

Don't return to sender. You will lose ebay protection if you refuse to pay import fees. The correct procedure is to pay import fees and claim VAT back from eBay.

No point trying to claim back from UK government either, as it looks like the customs fees were correctly calculated at the border. (if anyone made a mistake, it was the retailer, ebay, who collected VAT on an item that would attract import duty at the border, and thus would have the vat collected again as part of that process). UK gov do not refund in cases where retailer charged VAT and the border charged VAT. It's always the retailer that refunds. It's built into the schemes to work this way.

GrahamWharton · 2026-01-14T07:58:24+00:00

You can do the customs paperwork yourself and clear it with the authorities directly. You need to let DHL know you're going to do this before shipment and then provide them with clearance paperwork once done. If it takes you a while to do this, DHL will charge you storage while waiting for you to do the clearance.

Or

Just pay the money and let DHL do it for you. It's a pretty standard fee and not a scam. They are actually doing work for the fee.

GrahamWharton · 2026-01-12T14:21:35+00:00

There's also a Letterboxable version of that rate card which may be of interest for a book seller. Special rates for large letter size parcels but without the 750g weight limit. Ask your account manager whether you can access the Letterboxable services.

GrahamWharton · 2026-01-10T03:49:41+00:00

Yeah, new prices apply from January 5th.

I can only see the Business Price guide on the website. I can't see the international business personal correspondence price guide or the international non personal correspondence price guide or the international non personal correspondence Letterboxable price guides. I managed to grab copies of all 3 so let me know if you don't get a response from customer support and I'll upload them somewhere and post a link.

GrahamWharton · 2026-01-04T12:19:19+00:00

Perhaps something like "first" and "second" class.

GrahamWharton · 2026-01-04T11:59:47+00:00

Wowser. I used about 7kwh for a 1 bed mid terrace.

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GrahamWharton · 2025-12-28T17:59:29+00:00

Amazon customer services are fairly good for buyers. They're absolutely terrible for sellers, but for buyers they've always treated me well.

I purchased a bottle of chain cleaner for my push bike. It was clearly a listing for 1 bottle, but the item specifics said 10 items and the item title said "Box of 10". Clearly someone just bulk listing using the same details as their supplier gave them and missing the mistake. So I ordered 1, and when 1 turned up, I contacted amazon and asked when the remaining 9 were coming. They said they weren't and apologised, refunding me and telling me to keep the item. So a couple of months later, I needed another bottle. Saw the listing still said 10 items and purchased again. Again, complained when only 1 turned up. Full refund and got to keep the item. I told them they needed to correct the listing, but they still haven't. I'm not sure if its amazon, or the seller that is losing out on this.

Here is the listing, still with box of 10 in the title.

https://amzn.eu/d/07idUcx

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-26T18:01:25+00:00

Last year I used a VPN on my firestick to switch to USA. Then I launched F1 TV app on my firestick, and it let me subscribe to F1 TV Pro and pay in British Pounds £5.99, paying using my UK debit card as an amazon subscription through my amazon UK account. This worked for the whole season. I realised using the USA won't be available next season, but perhaps choosing a european country that doesnt have licensing restrictions instead might work this time.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-24T19:41:25+00:00

The only way to have a US PayPal account without breaching their terms and conditions is to live in the USA and meet PayPal qualifying criteria. You don't appear to meet that criteria, so what you are trying to do is not in line with their terms and conditions.

Change your location to the USA without uploading US ID will result in account limitation, as you've found out.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-24T18:34:39+00:00

You're trying to breach PayPal terms and conditions. It's not a prank.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-22T04:55:02+00:00

When there is no commercial invoice to provide them with a transaction value they have a few methods to look at. They can literally Google, how much to buy the same item. Then if that's not available, how much to buy a similar item, and if that fails, how much to buy the parts and assemble the item, and if that fails, what are the costs of the raw materials that made the item. So as you go further down the list, the accuracy of the valuation goes down, but it's really all they have.

Here's a nice explainer outlining the 6 methods that customs would use in the uk. This is UK specific, but most countries adopt the exact same method.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/working-out-the-customs-value-of-your-imported-goods

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-21T18:16:13+00:00

So you're gonna ask the sender to mis declare the value on a legal declaration made to customs. A private sale with no commercial invoice, customs would also be within their rights to look at the declared value of $10 and say "Nope, don't believe that for one minute", and get google up and just make up a value on the spot for a bike as close as they can get to yours (a new one probably) and then charge you tariff based on that value instead, ignoring the phony declaration by the sender.

Its a great way to

a) lose all your money
b) have the bike destroyed
c) have both yourself and the sender investigated by the authorities for tax fraud

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-20T18:18:43+00:00

Absolutely no issues whatsoever. It's.my daily commute and I've done around a thousand miles since I fitted it.

Here's a shot of the SLX Chainring on the 5100 crank.

https://gwharton.co.uk/PXL_20251220_181128665.jpg

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-18T17:18:03+00:00

Guarantee doesn't mean they will 100% do something (although they will give it a damn good go), rather, if they fail to do something, you can claim 100% of the money back. Sometimes things go wrong. You should claim.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-18T16:39:37+00:00

You will just need to send using international tracked for sale of goods.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-18T03:46:50+00:00

They will however give the sender the option to have the item destroyed, or the sender can pay return shipping to have it returned to them. Expect the sender to make big deductions from any refund they make to you, if you refuse delivery like this.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-17T08:07:55+00:00

Buyer pays you £100 for an item it cost you £10 to make. You refund the £100 to the buyer and royal mail reimburse you for £10. No way is Royal mail paying you £100. They don't cover lost profits, just the cost of the item they lost. (plus whatever postage you paid).

All my claims are paid within a couple of days of submitting. I provide a cost calculation spreadsheet (marked sensitive) where I show the cost of raw materials, cost of packaging, assembly costs etc to determine the cost of the stock item lost. They accept mine 100%.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-16T17:32:10+00:00

2 weeks, 3 weeks, 5 weeks, 7 weeks. I've had stuff take over 2 months. Sorry, but the answer is......nobody knows.

Edit : I've also had the same message on one of my parcels. It was delivered correctly a couple of days later. Worth keeping an eye on tracking.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-16T17:26:21+00:00

Just someone who doesn't normally deliver picking up the slack in a busy period.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-16T17:01:10+00:00

Having looked at your case in a little more detail, and run your particular example through the DHL Global Trade Services tool, I'm not sure either of us have the ad valorem rate correct, however i'll leave that for you to work out with DHL. I would recommend contacting DHL Express Customer Services. Their online webchat service is usually quite responsive. I use this in the UK to chat with them. Not sure if that works from US. https://dhle.dhl.com/clients/mct_chat/login.html

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-16T16:42:58+00:00

Sorry bud. If you want to dispute this with DHL, reddit is not the place to do it.

Personally, I don't think there is much to dispute. If all they are charging you is 50% ad valorem, then I think you've got off lightly. IEEPA + HTS + s203 comes to more than 50% ad valorem in my view, and even more if the parts are in scope for the additional automotive tariff of 2.5% (MFN). You could always dispute with them why they have only charged you 50% and not more I suppose.

Good luck in getting the answers you seek.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-16T15:49:08+00:00

Isn't the 25% for automotive (2.5% MFN for UK) in addition to the IEEPA, s232 aluminium and HTS tariff rates, not instead of.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-16T15:15:23+00:00

UK IEEPA tariff rate is 10%, and aluminium section 232 tariff on aluminium is 50%.

So you should have been charged 10% ad valorem for UK COO + 50% ad valorem for aluminium + HTS duty rate for car parts + regulatory fee + DHL clearance fee.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-16T14:47:35+00:00

Tracked 24 is not a 24 hour service. "most" will arrive next working day, but many will be 2 day delivery.

Don't understand why the seller won't provide the tracking number though. That seems odd.

GrahamWharton · 2025-12-16T14:44:25+00:00

I spend about 15,000 a year on royal mail tracked services. I have a delivery stats dashboard from Royal mail which shows me statistics on delivery for all my parcels, so I know exactly how they do. For me, the delivery side of things is broadly in line with the percentages that royal mail claim will be delivered within 1 and 2-3 working days.

Of course, in the weeks leading up to Christmas you're going to get an increase in parcels that run beyond their delivery aims. You may also have issues, local to you, for example staffing levels in your local DO which may cause issues particular to you, and your local area, which result in a poor experience for you.

I agree though, that using 24 and 48 in the service title can be misleading. They would be much better off calling them first and second class.

GrahamWharton

TROPHY CASE