US to UK parcels and customs fees?

Hello, recently I found out that in the UK, you can be charged "custom fees" on a parcel I posted from the US that only weighed 1 lb 5 oz and included the customs form as well, sent as a gift and value $25 US dollars.  When my fiancee received it at the post in the UK, he was told he owed a 81 pound fee for customs on it.  The package contained some cigarette and a dog bone for the dog, nothing more.

In the future I will be sending more of my small personal belongings over to the UK due to me moving there and getting married. There will be no furniture or anything like that, just parcel boxes.

Are there any suggestions as to a list of what is "allowed" to be posted to the UK without having severe customs fees applied? 

In the future I will be sending more of my small personal belongings over to the UK due to me moving there and getting married. There will be no furniture or anything like that, just parcel boxes.

Are there any suggestions as to a list of what is "allowed" to be posted to the UK without having severe customs fees applied?  

If you are moving to the UK then you will ship your belongings using the C3 customs form. This exempts the vast majority of regular household items from customs fees. You can ship your items I think up to six months before you move. It's not the same as sending a regular package with a regular customs form.

He was probably hit with a steep fee because things like Tobacco, Perfume and Wine
have severe limits. Even when using the C3 form.

I would expect that sending the occasional box via USPS would be the most expensive way to move as there is no sea shipping option anymore. I think it would be cheaper to ship everything in one go by sea using an international mover. There are some recommendations on movingscam.com.

Andy

I shipped a large box of clothes and a DVD player (for my USA dvds) listed as worth $100 total and it cost me £28 in customs.  Perhaps I should have put value 0, but that didn't seem like that makes sense it would be worth nothing.

I shipped a large box of clothes and a DVD player (for my USA dvds) listed as worth $100 total and it cost me £28 in customs.  Perhaps I should have put value 0, but that didn't seem like that makes sense it would be worth nothing.

I don't think you can put a value of zero. Even when sending documents I am always forced to put a value of $1. So the value has to seem reasonable.

Andy

I shipped a large box of clothes and a DVD player (for my USA dvds) listed as worth $100 total and it cost me £28 in customs.  Perhaps I should have put value 0, but that didn't seem like that makes sense it would be worth nothing.

Did you declare them as personal items? If not, then that's probably why you were charged. You have to put the value on there anyway, because they aren't worth nothing, they are worth about $100, but if you don't declare them as personal belongings, then customs will assume you are importing brand new products, which are subject to customs fees.

A couple of years ago, I shipped 4 boxes from the US to the UK and declared the value of everything (2 boxes contained a bicycle and the other 2 had books, papers and clothing)... it was probably about $400-500 worth of belongings in total. I declared them as personal items (because they were) and didn't get charged any customs fees.

These two threads should help:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=63370.msg892928;topicseen#new
http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=63352.0

A couple of years ago, I shipped 4 boxes from the US to the UK and declared the value of everything (2 boxes contained a bicycle and the other 2 had books, papers and clothing)... it was probably about $400-500 worth of belongings in total. I declared them as personal items (because they were) and didn't get charged any customs fees.

Exactly how did you declare them as personal items? Did you attach a C3 form to the boxes? Or some other way?

Andy

Exactly how did you declare them as personal items? Did you attach a C3 form to the boxes? Or some other way?

Andy

The guy at the post office just gave me a customs form for each box and I filled them in with a description of the goods, their value and the type of goods (personal items).

The form looked something like this: http://www.marineparents.com/downloads/customs-form.gif

My mom mailed me 4 boxes of my favorite cereal, some Ranch packets, and my mail from home - cost her $66 to mail.  Just got a letter today I'm being charged £18 in custom fees before I can get it.

Did my mom check the wrong box?  Should she have declared it for personal consumption and not a gift? 

Seems a bit excessive for a little bit of food and my mail.

Did my mom check the wrong box?  Should she have declared it for personal consumption and not a gift?  

You can only declare something as personal property if it is being moved over with you, was bought 6 months before you move and was imported within a specific time frame of your move.

Your mum was right to declare it as a gift, as that is what it is.

I suspect that the reason for the customs charge is that the declared value was above a threshold. I don't recall what it is right now but I know it is fairly low.

Andy

I've had lots of "hints" from friends and family that they're going to send me little care packages from the States. As touched as I am by their generosity, I'm scared to death I'm going to be stuck with hundreds of pounds of customs charges for a few dollars worth of American goodies.

I'd love to let them know of a declared value threshold!

Thank you everyone for all your tips. Found out they changed the regulations in June this year about any tobacco products, you can't send them over anymore. Prior to that, it was ok to do so without any custom fees.  Here's a website for useful information on the international postings from the US to UK:
http://pe.usps.com/text/Imm/fh_014.htm#ep3576772
And the part where other items that are nonmailable to to UK:
http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immc1_014.htm

So i wonder how they can still ship their bottles ?

newcomer link: http://www.buy-snake-wine.com/order/ordering-snake-wine-usa-increased-security-measures-delays-some-orders-sent-united-states.html [nonactive]

    I used to put "used personal items" and "no commercial value" on mine. I never had to pay any extra fees.

I also have an old post on here (i don't know how to find it) that stated the company we used to send our main boxes from the US to the UK. One was a huge cat litter robot.

They did a good job, cheaper than USPS or UPS and got to the UK pretty quickly too.