Import vat issue!

[cropwell]

So just so i'm clear the goods you had returned. Who paid for the return? If the seller re- sent the order and it came straight through was one of you not loosing money on this transaction somewhere. This was through Aliexpress just wondering about the best proceedure?

In my case the actual value of the goods was well below the £18 limit that customs allow before charging duty and VAT (and then Royal Mail fees). I informed the seller that I was not intending to collect the goods from the RM parcel depot and that after a while the goods will be returned to sender, presumably by RM at their expense. The seller was happy with this and re-sent the items straight away. I would advise you to inform your supplier in good time and make agreement as to the action. Remember that you have agreed to buy the goods in the first place. In this instance HM Rev and Cust were doing their job correctly and you have been charged properly. If you dispute the dutiable value assessed by HMRC you can appeal, but in low value cases it just ain't worth it.

In my experience Chinese traders on AliExpress do all they can to please the customer. I have an example of this - I bought 8 plastic cases on Fleabay from China - one was damaged in transit and the seller immediately insisted he would resend the whole order. I just imagine that if he were English, the attitude would be 'so effing what!'.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Cheers,

Rob