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).

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.

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...

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.