earthair
Have just been held to ransom for a whopping £22 on a parcel. 
Please console me that I haven't just broken some sort of record!
Please console me that I haven't just broken some sort of record!
Worst ever experience getting deck through customs?
PathWalker
I have paid more than that - but not for a single deck, only for a parcel with several in it.
Unfortunately it's not ransom - it's tax, and therefore legal
Unfortunately it's not ransom - it's tax, and therefore legal
Scarlet Woodland
Its not so much the tax as the amount the post office charges you for the privilege of paying it. Grrr.
Have been very lucky on tarot decks so far but got hit almost as hard on some fabric I ordered back when I was making custom dresses. The very sweet client offered to foot the bill for me but I couldn't let her. That was ouchy as it basically wiped out my profit for the work.
Have been very lucky on tarot decks so far but got hit almost as hard on some fabric I ordered back when I was making custom dresses. The very sweet client offered to foot the bill for me but I couldn't let her. That was ouchy as it basically wiped out my profit for the work.
earthair
Unfortunately it's not ransom - it's tax, and therefore legal
But tax is usually applied uniformly, which this isn't! Imagine if Car Tax was collected by random selection too...
gregory
It is uniform. It's the import VAT at whatever % it is (I forget) + the bit I too resent - £8 to the post office for collecting it. It isn't at all random. But one does sometimes escape it by sheer chance.
And no, that isn't a record. Not even close. I was hit for £27.50 once, for a rather classy deck. Adam McLean holds the record, I think - I forget what he had to pay once but I do remember he was incandescent with rage. And a few years ago a 12 y/o kid was sent a team rugby T-shirt by his grandfather in New Zealand. Those things aren't cheap - but customs wouldn't release it till they paid about £45. They kicked up a stink in the papers and I believe the total went down in the end, because grandfather hadn't marked it as a gift (which lets you receive £36 tax free (merchandise is only £15) - but still. AND you have to pay VAT on the postage as well. That does seem a bit much, to me. But if you think THAT's bad - wait till you have to pay customs duty on top....
https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty
My most recent - £13.75 for one from kickstarter
I don't mind the VAT. I DO mind the Post Office charge - I once asked if I could drive to the customs office and pay there. Nope.Yelell
8 British Pound equals 12.41 US Dollar
- says my computer.
$12+ for just the collection charge part of it? That's more than they should get for actually delivering the package. OMG, you have my sympathies.
- says my computer.
$12+ for just the collection charge part of it? That's more than they should get for actually delivering the package. OMG, you have my sympathies.
earthair
Actually, it is all random! The man I spoke to at the UK depot said the customs people just select parcels which they like the shape of or which look interesting in some way!
In an experiment, next time I ship out to non-uk I'm going to change my usual 'safe' description of book+cards or whatever, and write 'Evil occult stuff plus pre-cursed Tarot cards which you open at your own risk' on the customs declaration
In an experiment, next time I ship out to non-uk I'm going to change my usual 'safe' description of book+cards or whatever, and write 'Evil occult stuff plus pre-cursed Tarot cards which you open at your own risk' on the customs declaration
gregory
Maybe your guy just has a warped sense of humour. But why would you want to make life hard for other people ?
Le Fanu
Oh if only I'd had to deal with "£8-at-the-post-office-for-collecting". I'd probably be Ok with that.
I ordered one of Pablo Robledo's decks, the first edition Dodal, and was charged 78 euros at this end. That was 5 years ago or so. I was mortified, horrified, angry with myself, angry at them (not him). It actually drained all the joy out of my tarot collecting. I have honestly never been the same since. If I'd known how sick it would make me feel long term I think I'd have returned to sender. I don't think I have ever taken it out of the wooden box. It makes me feel nauseous just to think about it. I put it on a high shelf and tried to forget about it. It is still there.
Ever since then I have been ever so cautious about ordering from abroad. I simply don't do it. And pretending it's a gift doesn't wash. They have no qualms about making you pay for your own gift. I have had horrendous Customs issues - decks that have taken months to get into my hands and I have had to pay for the privilege. £22 feels like nothing nowadays. I'd feel I'd got off lightly considering some of the horrors I have had to pay. Of course one should really just holds one's hand up and say "NO. just return to sender. " But I have never done that.
I have loads of Customs stories. But it's like childhood trauma, I actually cannot, -just cannot - articulate them just yet. Ask me again in 20 years.
earthair
Are you asking me? How am I making life hard for other people if I put the true contents on the declaration- which might stop the receiver getting stung for extra money, and saving a customs person the trouble to do some work, and stop them touching/looking at something they might be scared by?! I'd say writing 'cursed tarot deck' on the declaration is win-win for everyone
