My customer was charged extra for mugs to Canada

[chongsta]

Hi all,

Ive just done a job for a customer in Canada. He bought 12 mugs from me and the postage was £35.00 via DHL

The carriage manifesto for Customs stated that the mugs were Gifts, which they were. They weren't to be sold on by my customer, it was just a simple transaction.

He got charged $17.00 (canadian) by Customs when they arrived. Why is this? The mugs cost him £65.00 + £35 carriage, they even smashed one to pieces and 2 had scratches on them! He sent me the pics and to me it looks intentional! Seriously. I inspected the mugs prior to dispatch and I would never send something damaged anyway and i cant see how 2 mugs that were bubblewrapped and placed in a proper mug-carriage box got so damaged.

Luckily the customer isnt screaming at me and ive even offered to send him replacements for free, hes a good customer and its worth doing the freebies for future business. But im confused as to why he was charged extra and more importantly how the damage happened.

Any suggestions?

Cheers
Dave.

[Paul]

because 12 mugs are weight a bit! thats why. paercel full of mugs is not same as keyring in envelope to be a "comercial sample" or "gift". Regards to smashed ones. When mugs going over this huge pond they need to go tru the hell to get in to destination. so bubble wrap is not enough to make them 100% secure. I would not even try to send my mug in no-smash prof box.

[chongsta]

Hi Paul,

The dispatch was done by parcel2go.com and i weighed and gave full dimensions of the package so that i got the correct price. Royal Mail wanted £70.00 for the same consignment!

The mugs were bubblewrapped and in a "smash proof" box, i got the boxes from Listawood who 'quarantee' no smashes. Ok they cant fully guarantee everything but im not blaming the box as I packaged them incredibly carefull. My issues are the extra charges and the scratches. There's no way a mug can scratch itself! The mugs had to be opened and physically scratched, I'll ask my customer to re-send the images (i deleted his mail by accident - bloody hotmail!) and you'll see for yourself.

Dave.

[Paul]

Dave! Custom charges has nothing to do with postage! What did you put in custom sticker? what value?

this is what I found:

2.4 Gifts
Goods sent as a gift that are over £40 in value are liable to import VAT. Customs duty also becomes payable if the value of the goods is over £135 but is waived if the amount of duty calculated is less than £9.

To qualify as a gift:

the customs declaration must be completed correctly
the gift must be sent from a private person outside the EU to a private person(s) in this country
there is no commercial or trade element and the gift has not been paid for either directly or indirectly
the gift is of an occasional nature only, for example, for a birthday or anniversary.
Note: if you purchase goods from outside the EU to give as a gift to a relative or friend, whether or not addressed to that person, is treated as a ‘commercial consignment’ for which the import VAT relief threshold is £18 (paragraph 2.3 refers).

[chongsta]

ahhhhh now i see...

oops...

I put the value at £50.00 and my dispatch label had my business name on it!

Now it makes sense, thanks Paul you're not just a moderator, you're the Dye-Sub Wikipedia

cheers mate
dave