I am not expert in these matters but a thought came to me.

all items collected by any carrier is where they get the money.

so all items from other countries are being done for nothing.

All the fees at this end are applied by Customs before any carrier sees the item, they might have a price they are informed must go on, but Customs are now in control of the item and could decide to only charge VAT and not any clearance fee.

So you now have an item that HM Cutoms has taken added there charges to and then passed on. Who is paying to collect from them and take it to you.

Personally I think that 8, 10 even 13 pounds to do that compared to some of the standard charges these companies do charge is accually not that bad. If you take a step back for a moment and look at it from any parcel carriers point of view, I am not suprised that they are all trying to get somthing for doing all the work at this end.

I have read this thread with great interest regarding Parcelforce's "clearance fee" which many see as unnecessary or exorbitant fee.

I live in Australia, I originally hail from Northern Ireland so i have come across parcel force for domestic parcels within the UK.

i have had the 13.50 applied to my parcels regardless of whether the parcel has had duty/vat applied or not, which is ultimately borne by the recipient.

for example, i sent my sister a birthday present from here in Australia which wasn't expensive, parcel force charged her 13.50 for a 'clearance fee' BEFORE she could take ownership of the parcel. It spoiled the surprise as i had not told her i had sent her a parcel, but she got a bill for the parcel i sent her. The item was declared as a gift and its actual value $20 (approx 10 pounds) was declared accurately. The thing is, that customs had not added vat nor any other duty to the parcel, but because it was sent express, parcel force chose to add the 13.50 'clearance fee'

the problem i have, as well as this miscellaneous charge, was that they refused to release the said parcel until this 'clearance fee' was paid.

on checking the relevant postal laws in the UK, would I be right in saying that this is illegal? a postal company cannot hold a parcel in Lien of their charges?

The depot that is near my folks, have a sign in their front office where the recipient collects their parcel, my folks tell me that it reads "all charges MUST be paid before your goods can be released" a point reiterated by the staff.

Is this a fair statement under UK postal laws? (this is a question, not a point).

no parcel i have ever sent to the UK has had duty/vat added, but almost all of them have attracted the 13.50 'clearance fee' (I send express).

Is this a fair practice by parcel force?

i have sent parcel force an email querying their 'clearance fee' policy, I have yet to receive a response but I will wait with great interest to read their reply.

No - because if the fee wasn't paid, the chanced of the the recipient making a payment 'post-delivery' would be slim to non-existant. You are right, send it Express or by the Air Couriers (DHL et al) the clearance fees can be prohibitive. It didn;t matter that there was no tax due, the fee was charged for the paperwork to provide clearance. Sometimes you get round this my providing the pre-perpared forms on the package itself, to they simply tear one of two off, then deliver the rest with no fee. Many of my inbound parcels have been delivered with all the Customs documents intact, and no additional fee.

so, you're saying that parcelforce has a right to withold my parcel from delivery until their "clearance fee" is paid?

I'm not sure about the UK but before i send a parcel internationally in Australia, i am required to fill out customs declaration forms stating what is in the parcel and the value of the parcel and whether it is a gift, sample etc. (my photo id is also recorded for security purposes).

From what i gather this is what customs look at when ascertaining a parcels duty or vat or whether it needs further inspection.

if my parcel passes through customs without duty or vat or other charges imposed by customs, am i therefore not to conclude that the customs papers are deemed fine by customs and that no paperwork is done by any party?

should parcel force therefore not deliver the parcel to its recipient as intended without any additional charges being imposed?

I am confused here, partly because parcel force in their online conditions tell me that they will only impose their fee if vat or duty is applied, but since that hasn't happened in my case, i'm wondering why they still apply their charge?

im also wondering that out of the last 10 parcels i have sent to the uk, 8 out of the 10 have had the 13.50 applied, and 2 have been delivered without any charges from parcel force. all have not had duty or vat applied to them. I am wondering how parcel force have worked out that 8 parcels required a "clearance fee" and 2 didn't. i'm told by the recipients (my family) that there have been no indications that customs examined or opened any of the parcels. (the parcels were sent over a 2 month period).

hopefully they'll provide me with that answer when i finally receive a reply from them...

It is the UK Government (via its agency Revenue & Customs, and any of its sub-contractors) at the point of entry to establish whether there is duty to be paid and if so, how much. To facilitate this, senders cam provide pre-filled clearance forms to make the process painless (and on occasions, cheaper) for the recipient.

We are NOT talking about a sticky label - but proper parcel importation forms. The sticker simply provides the information to be transferred to the main forms, and for the self-declared value to be noted (or questioned) as appropriate.

As they provide a service on behalf of the taxpayers, then yes - they are entitled to be paid for the services they provide. You'll be saying next that the cost for a passport is unfair as it should be provided to you free as a taxpayer by your own country?

These days, cusatoms has to a large extent been prvatised. It is the carrier that provides the clearance saervices, NOT the UK Customs service (cost cuts) so the cost burden has shifted from state funded pen pushers to commercial enterprises, who expect to get paid for the work they do.

As to your particular case, from my own experience - I am usually only charged by them when there is duty to recover, however the Express services work pretty much the same way as FedEx and DHL, where no paperwork is provided (to allow cost-free entry).

Certainly it is worth a complaint but this is an issue for the recipient who paid it - not you, the poster.

Certainly it is worth a complaint but this is an issue for the recipient who paid it - not you, the poster.

ah... but as the sender of the parcel - the person who paid the postage to send the thing in the first place, the contract is with me, not the recipient.

i have been on other forums looking for an answer to my question and i see this come up a lot, that when the recipient queries the "clearance fee" charge, they are referred back to the sender of the parcel as "this is who parcel force has the contract with"

my point here is that, certainly by the way parcel force has treated 80% of my parcels, that as well as the postage that Australia Post charges me to send to the UK, that i will (almost) always never be able to send a parcel to the uk without it attracting a 13.50 charge (assuming i send express) whether it goes through customs or not.

so what about the postage charge then? why charge me for example $45 for sending a parcel to the UK and then my recipient is going to most likely be hit for another $27 by parcel force on the other end, despite the fact that the customs in the UK appear to have no issue with my parcel?

do you see my point? that postage charge from a to b should be that. where a parcel is not subject to any charges by the UK government, then the carrier who is contracted to carry my parcel should do that without imposing any additional charges.

Not really - it was the recipient who PAID for the final delivery. The poster made the arrangements and initiated the contract of carriage, however if it was the recipient who paid and a refund is required, this is no business of the sender, who was not party to the subsequent dealings.

Are you sure there was no duty applied to any of the parcels? If not, then the clearance fee should not have been charged at all, and the recipients are entitled to a refund.

Parcelforce have a clear charging structure with regards to these kind of fees, it is all explained here: http://www.parcelforce.com/portal/pw/content1?mediaId=load105044&catId=2500042

As you can see, if there is no duty or VAT, then there will be no fee.

I HAVE been charged (only once mind) for a non-duty delivery and this is actually stated in the link you provided - it was for a customs referral.

Not really - it was the recipient who PAID for the final delivery. The poster made the arrangements and initiated the contract of carriage, however if it was the recipient who paid and a refund is required, this is no business of the sender, who was not party to the subsequent dealings.

incorrect. The receiver did not pay for a parcel to be delivered. The sender, i.e. me, paid Australia Post a fee for delivering my parcel from point A (me) to point B (the recipient) IF the parcel meets custom fees, then the recipient will generally bear these fees, and usually after they receive the item where they would be invoiced by customs.

parcelforce would, in this instance cover the fees on the behalf of the customer and apply their "clearance fee" as necessary. However, this does not apply to my cases where no customs duty/Vat was applied and still the "clearance fee" was applied.

my argument is; do parcel force have the right to charge a clearance fee (clearance for what?) if UK customs have no issue with the parcel coming in, i.e. no vat/duty or inspection (if it was inspected there would be notification on the parcel notifying the recipient it was inspected - there was not).

my problem is now that everytime i go to post an item to the UK, should I expect that in approx 80% of cases (going by my averages to date) that i can expect a further charge of 13.50 to be requested to the recipient BEFORE the parcel is delivered, even if the parcel is subject to no customs inspection or duties of any kind.

i think that is wrong. There seems to be a grey area, as their website says and has been pointed out above, they shouldn't charge a fee if customs hasn't charged a fee, but, to date, 8 of my parcels have been charged the fee.

i have just sent two more parcels this week and that is why i am querying all this as its a bit hard to send genuine gifts when the recipient is being asked to pay to receive them!

I do hope that parcel force answer my query (so far it has been 4 days since i emailed them).

I have successfully avoided paying the admin fee on all Duty/VAT owed USPS Parcels handled by ParcelForce AND international packages via FEDEX in recent years.

I simply go to collect the parcel then say that I am happy to pay any Dut and VAT owing but refuse to pay the admin fee. In the past PF have waived it when challenged. I think this sets a precident which makes all later attempts to enforce the fee invalid. For FEDEX I send them a standard gallic 'non!' letter when they invoice me. The letter explains my grounds for refusing.

Lately, when you challenge them, PF say that they have changed their policy over the fee. They let you pay Duty and VAT, let you take your parcel away but say that their legal department will be in touch. In the most recent case I was simply sent an invoice for the fee and I sent back the standard letter. They then wrote back saying they couldn't identify the 'account' despite showing their invoice number. I thought if they can't recognise their own invoice number then they really are in a mess. I ignored them and nearly a year later I have heard no more on that one.

Personally I have no tolerance for a ransom demand. These organisations bill the shipper (or have a reciprocal arrangement with the shippers in-country carrier) for transporting goods across international boundaries. Therefore they must know that Customs examination is a possibility and should build this into their fee. The fact that they don't rather implies this is a add-on/try-on rather than a genuine charge. Anyway...and I'd be interested in constructive comments....this works for me. Good luck.

Firstly dispute the bill - it sets the scene and they can't bully you.

Grounds for refusingto pay/disputing are:-

• I am not the shipper and therefore have no contract with ParcelForce.
  
• They and their internation partners have entered into a contract to deliver the parcel. Parcel Force have/will be paid to assist in the carrying of goods across international boundaries. They are therefore contractually obliged to deliver the parcel at that fee.
  
• By 'agreeing' to carry any parcel from abroad they must have been aware in advance of possible Customs handling and so should have charged at the point of agreement.
  
• ParcelForce have previously waived this charge to me on all other occasions, and despite any recent policy chances they have not pursued a bill after I have disputed it. Therefore a precident is set.
  

I have this is in a standard template and just print it off with a second class stamp 30 seconds of effort adn tremendous satisfaction. Think of the millions they cream off a year!

I recently ordered an item from the USA. It went through customs and I was liable for VAT on it (I can't complain as I have ordered a few things over the years that have come through without being charged by customs). The VAT payable was only £11.76, but Parcelforce have slapped on a collection charge of £13.50 just for processing this!! Has anyone ever challenged them on it? I intend to write to them and ask for a full breakdown of their costs, but if this is familiar territory for anyone their thoughts would be appreciated.

To go back to the beginning of this thread. I recently tookdelivery of a parcel from Japan on which I paid £5.00 VAT (no duty) plus £13.50Parcelforce Clearance Fee. It is not the first time I have been charged. I do not object to the VAT (any more than onenormally objects to this extortionate imposition), but I do object to theClearance Fee, and having read a lot of the other posts on this thread, would addthe following :

1. Japan Post and Parcelforce had, by their reciprocal agreements,already shared EMS (Express) postage of 2400 Yen (= c £20). Most reasonablepeople would assume that this is for getting the package from the sender to therecipient, whatever hazards may lie between (like customs inspections, which they KNOW maybe imposed and should therefore be factored into the total cost, which is alreadyhigh enough, goodness knows).

2. To the best of my knowledge HMRC is financed by my andyour taxes. It is not a PLC, and therefore should not be charging me a SECONDtime for doing its job by contracting out part of its work to Parcelforce at mydirect expense. In this it resembles my Local Authority, which screws me for awhacking great Council Tax to have my ‘environmental bin’ emptied, then chargesme a fee for emptying it. (A trend of our Del Boy times.)

3. There is (as always in this country when jobsworths canhide behind the law and regulations) no redress. HMRC refers those who don’tlike the Parcelforce charge to Parcelforce, as if farming out its work had nothingto do with it, some act of God. Parcelforce whinges about the facilities itprovides for HMRC, the arduous task of pulling out parcels and showing them tothe Customs Officer, paying the VAT on the punters’ behalf and the backbreakingwork of sending out a form letter to recover it, etc, etc. (Why on earth don’tthe customs people, whose salaries you and I pay, levy the damn thingthemselves?) And then, as in the case of my parcel, when Parcelforce failed tolive up to Express 24 Delivery once the charges were paid—wasting yet another ofmy days staying in waiting for them—they refuse me redress on the grounds thatit wasn’t their fault ‘because our system went wrong.’

Big deal. Very big deal. I cannot agree with the apologistsfor Parcelforce. 14 days for Express Delivery and charges not far short of thevalue of the goods! No way! And why do I think that nothing will change, except maybe for the worse . . . ?

There is a very simple way to deal with this, have written on the package for delivery the following statement.DUTY TO BE PAID BY IMPORTER. This means that Parcelforce cannot make any charges on your behalf.HMR&C will contact you and you then make payment direct to them, it can delay the delivery by a couple of days however.I have used this on several occasions for my son and have had it confirmed by MD's office of Parceforce as correct.

Many thanks for this suggestion, whitecraig_wizard, though it does mean drawing attention to your parcel, which might otherwise slip through, as quite a lot do, as noted earlier on this thread. I'll give it a try.

I had 2 seperate parcels sent from two different companies. Both express mail international via USPS from USA.

The 1st parcel that was sent has still not been delivered but I have been told I will incurr a £13.50 charge when It arrives.

The 2nd parcel was sent a day later and has arrived with no charges as it was sent as a gift.

What extra work do parcel force have to do to justify a 13.50 fee?

It seems some people have refused to pay the £13.50 charge. If I refuse to pay this fee would they still give me my parcel? I have no issues with VAT and duty I was just not expecting this clearence fee.

Andrew

The Parcelforce charge is applied apparently when there is duty and/or VAT to be charged. If there isn't there's no charge (so says the HMRC website, which is a good source of info once you've worked out how to find your way round it). Not all parcels are pulled out and handed to HMRC I gather, especially ones with a small value (maybe because of the huge volume of parcels), so it looks as if one of yours was and the other wasn't. Still a good question, of course, whatever the threadbare justifications. Like most people, I quite often trot round to neighbours with misdelivered mail. There should be some way of imposing a 'handling charge' on Royal Mail for this service (say £13.50?).

I am being charged £165.78 for one parcel and £102 for the second, this is what Parcelforce told me over the phone, the order was from Canada, the items I ordered I could not get in the UK, I could get similar but not what we required, the majority of charges are made by Parcelforce, they are only football medals and ribbon.

£13.50 is not double £8. I think the reason they charge extra is obvious - it is an express parcel so has to be "fast-tracked" through the customs process, hence extra costs. If they didn't charge extra then the standard cost would need to be higher to compensate for this.

No, Parcelforce do all the work on behalf of customs (see below)

They have the choice to accept or reject. If they do not wish to pay the VAT and/or handling fee they have the opportunity to reject the item - it will then be returned to sender and no fees will be due.

Why you have to pay a handling fee:

The process is quite complex but I will try to explain to the best of my knowledge...

When you receive an item from overseas, you become the importer by law. This means you could be liable for customs charges before delivery.

Instead of the items having to go via HMRC, Parcelforce perform work on behalf of HMRC to speed up the process, and also pay the customs charge on your behalf to make things simpler.

In addition to the customs fee, Parcelforce will levy a 'handling charge' to cover their costs. Some of the work they have to do to process your item includes:

- operating the postal customs depot

- handling the package for customs examination

- (if required) opening, repacking and resealing the package (for example if information is missing from the declaration

- paying the customs fee on your behalf

(This list is not exhaustive - just some of the work which I know takes place - there may be a lot more to it in the background which we are unaware of).

Therefore I do not believe you will get anywhere with challenging the fee - especially as they are permitted to charge this under Article 165 of EC Regulation (EEC) 2454/93

I know this is a very old thread but it was relevant and maybe someone still looks at it?

I just got through a letter today from lovely parcelforce telling me that I owe VAT and their fee for paying this VAT. It would be bad enough if I bought the items, and then had to pay their fee on top of VAT...but this was a gift sent to me from my best friend in the States.

I am completely perplexed by this as she has sent me gifts since Oct. 2008 for my birthday and Christmas - none of which was ever subject to VAT or this bizarre fee.

I was suprised that the fees are calculated on such low amounts like £15 for purchases and £34 for gifts?? That is crazy when you can sell something to the states and be within $800.

Seems like a crock that the other way around, even for gifts, is crazy low.

So UK gov is making money on people who are apparently stupid enough to have friends elsewhere and are kind enough to send you a gift? Really?

Should the government profit because your friend lives elsewhere, hasn't for some bizarre reason purchased a gift in the UK!, and had the audacity to think to send you one?

Worse still PF holds my gift ransom

- on the letter says they won't dispute the charges and I can write somewhere for a refund.

So my guess is, is that even if I am stupid enough to pay VAT on my own gift, just so I can get it, then dispute the VAT after the fact, win, I'll never see that PF fee again.

Why should I, receiving a gift, never selected the shipping company, never asked PF to do anything on my behalf - BECAUSE I DIDN'T ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH THEM! - pay them for this service?

Can anyone answer this as this is this biggest crock I've come across on both the gov and PF.

The amount levels, that it is a gift, the inability to discuss this BEFORE, that I didn't contract PF, that the gov [removed] fining people not in the UK, for not being in the UK.

I mean I know Americans can be a little insular but this one takes the cake in the UK

- fining the good Brits for having friends who don't live, and therefore don't buy, here.

yes a very old thread from 2007 that's been annually bumped by newbies keeping it open since with little rplies or help given to them since.

you need to start a new thread

of your own please

this thread is now being closed to stop further bumping

dx