Payment of charges on mail from outside the UK

A few weeks ago, our neighbor mailed out a pair of prescription glasses for our niece; she had an eye exam about 2 weeks before we left the US and the eyeglasses weren't ready before we left.

The eyeglasses (along with our renewed debit cards for our US bank) were held in customs and today I saw the update:

"Payment of charges - Item being held, addressee being notified"

I assume we will get a letter telling what we owe...but what is this based on?  The issue is that our niece had Oregon Health Plan (OHP) insurance and the eye exam and eyeglasses were covered in full.  She didn't pay anything for them.  Likewise, our debit cards were updated with a chip. 

She really can't afford to pay for the glasses she didn't pay for, so we're not sure what to do about it.

Normally you will get a 'we tried to deliver but charges are required' card from Royal Mail through the door, and then you have to go to the local Royal Mail delivery office to pay the charges and pick up the mail.

Any new items that you have shipped to the UK from outside the UK (I.e. orders from online stores or items sent to you by someone) are subject to customs charges if they are worth more than £15. Not all items will be charged - it just depends what gets through without charge and what doesn't.

You will likely have to pay an £8 Royal Mail fee, plus the customs charge on the value of the glasses (which will be determined by the contents value your neighbour wrote on the customs form attached to the package).

I've ordered several clothing items from US charity websites in the past - of 5 items, 2 were delivered with no issue and 3 had customs charges of £11-12. I also ordered a CD which was worth $20 but it was delivered right after Brexit when the exchange rate dropped. Before Brexit it would have been worth about £13 and not subject to customs charges, but sadly when it was delivered it was worth about £15.50, so I got stuck with an £11 customs fee on top .


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A few weeks ago, our neighbor mailed out a pair of prescription glasses for our niece; she had an eye exam about 2 weeks before we left the US and the eyeglasses weren't ready before we left.

The eyeglasses (along with our renewed debit cards for our US bank) were held in customs and today I saw the update:

"Payment of charges - Item being held, addressee being notified"

I assume we will get a letter telling what we owe...but what is this based on?  The issue is that our niece had Oregon Health Plan (OHP) insurance and the eye exam and eyeglasses were covered in full.  She didn't pay anything for them.  Likewise, our debit cards were updated with a chip. 

She really can't afford to pay for the glasses she didn't pay for, so we're not sure what to do about it.

Do you know how your neighbor sent it, and what value she wrote on the customs form?  You might be able to dispute the charge, but initially I think you would have to pay it to get the parcel released.

This is from the Royal Mail website:

I don't believe my item should have incurred a Customs charge, what should I do?

If, after paying for your item, you believe the charges have been wrongly applied, we recommend you contact Border Force. If your challenge is successful, the charges will be refunded. If Border Force were responsible for the original charging error, the refund will also include our £8 handling fee. If however, the goods have been mis-declared, the Royal Mail handling fee is non-refundable. Details on how to challenge the charges can be found on the HM Revenue & Customs website.

HM Revenue & Customs is the main point of contact for enquiries about why items are charged, what the charges are, and general customs advice. For more information, please see Notice 143 on the HM Revenue & Customs website.

Apart from that, it seems if you don't pay the fee, after so long, the item will be returned to sender.  You could wait it out, then have your neighbor send the debit cards (no monetary value) separately, so they don't get caught out, and reconsider what to do about the free glasses.

The letter came today stating that the total fee owed is 52.89 pounds.  The issue is that as my niece had OHP medical coverage, she paid nothing for the glasses and has she is a full time student, does not have money to spare.  She came from a disparaged home and we are now her legal guardians.  While she is legally an adult now, she has no financial resources.

I do have the form from HMRC to fill out (BOR286) and am hoping to get a neighbor go to the optical place to show that no dollars were transacted (and have then sent to me as an email attachment).

It seems like my niece will have free eye exams and corrective lenses through NHP (as she is a full time student under the age of 19), so I suppose we can ignore the package and just get new glasses at specsavers... and I can contact our bank and have new cards issued and sent directly to our address in the UK.

What about VAT on Christmas presents sent from the US to the UK?  I don't want to have to pay VAT on them...what advice can anyone offer on this?

How much she paid, or didn't pay, for the glasses isn't relevant to UK customs - what matters is the actual retail value of the item that is being imported. So, I'm not sure you can do anything about the fact that they were free. Some people are even charged customs fees on items they already own.

One of the items of clothing I received from the US was sent free of charge because the original item had an incorrect design on it. I didn't ask for it to be sent to me, but by the time I was aware of it, it was too late to cancel it. Which meant I had to pay customs for an item I didn't order and didn't pay for!


I guess your options are:
- pay the customs charge and get the glasses (and maybe try to dispute the charge later)
- don't pay the charge, don't pick up the glasses and see what you can get from Specsavers instead

okay -- if it's not worth trying to fight the charges, I won't bother and the package will be returned to Oregon and then when our friends come out this summer they can bring the glasses with them (and in the meantime, we'll look into Specsavers)

What about VAT on Christmas presents sent from the US to the UK?  I don't want to have to pay VAT on them...what advice can anyone offer on this?

It often depends what the person mailing the presents puts on the customs form, and also how much the presents are worth.

- If they put 'personal belongings', hopefully you won't get charged.. but you might be
- If they put 'gift', you may get a customs charge
- If you order from an online retailer (i.e. Amazon), you will likely get customs charges

Btw, I was looking at camera lenses on Amazon US when I was in the US a couple of weeks ago. To have the lens delivered to a US address, it was free delivery. To have the lens delivered to my UK address, it would have been £700 extra in shipping and customs charges (it's an expensive lens)!

okay -- if it's not worth trying to fight the charges, I won't bother and the package will be returned to Oregon and then when our friends come out this summer they can bring the glasses with them (and in the meantime, we'll look into Specsavers)

You should call the bank and have them cancel and re-issue your cards to your UK address.

What about VAT on Christmas presents sent from the US to the UK?  I don't want to have to pay VAT on them...what advice can anyone offer on this?

We don't mail gifts back and forth.  I send my parents something direct from a US website to them.  They usually put money in my US account and I buy a gift here.  I just leave the money in the US account for our next trip.  It's what works for us, you'll figure out what works for you.

My cousin did a cross stitch of my daughter's name... cost £35 for it to be released!

I've had good and bad experiences with getting gifts sent to me from home.  I have trained my family to check with me before sending something.  Getting hit with an unexpected customs charge is not a happy experience, and kind of detracts from the receiving-a-gift experience (and if I had sent something that cost them out of pocket, I know it would detract from my gift-giving experience).  My sister sends gifts most often, and she now either sends money (via Transferwise), or orders something from within the EU to be delivered straight to me.

Care packages of comfort/junk food are tricky ones.  They've been hit and miss. But I still want them. 

Thanks all -- very helpful information.  I'll probably try to dispute the charges, just to see if I can.  As well, I'll most likely cancel the debit cards and have them reissued to us directly and then work on the Specsavers option for now.

Regarding Xmas, yes -- thinking that we'll have folks either deposit $$ into our US account, or be very careful about what they send so we don't end up with a hefty VAT fee.

As well, I'll most likely cancel the debit cards and have them reissued to us directly and then work on the Specsavers option for now.

Something to check when you sort out the debit cards - I have a US bank account and when I changed my address to a UK one, I ended up not receiving anything in the mail because the UK address format was such that it got cut off halfway and you couldn't see the country or postcode in the envelope window.

As a result, all my bank statements went undelivered for several months, until I decided to change the account address to my aunt's in the US. Now, I have my debit cards delivered to her and then either she sends them on to me in the UK or I pick them up when I'm in the US.

Thanks all -- very helpful information.  I'll probably try to dispute the charges, just to see if I can.  As well, I'll most likely cancel the debit cards and have them reissued to us directly and then work on the Specsavers option for now.

Regarding Xmas, yes -- thinking that we'll have folks either deposit $$ into our US account, or be very careful about what they send so we don't end up with a hefty VAT fee.

You could always have them buy things from UK websites or Amazon.co.uk. that what my family does. 😁