Having Some Problems Buying Tools From the US Thinking about moving abroad? Click here for questions, answers and issues surrounding this topic

[Kevin1908]

I was looking for something to remove broken screws in wood and found some hollow screw extractor drills. The nearest thing that I found here were plug drills. I ordered 3 and came to £26. The post was £29. The items weren't delivered but eventually discovered that customs have them.
According to this https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty Royal Mail should contact me. You’ll be contacted by Royal Mail, Parcelforce or the courier company explaining how to pay any VAT, duty and fees for dealing with customs.They’ll normally hold your parcel for about 3 weeks. If you haven’t paid the fee by then, it’ll be sent back.
However Royal Mail say they can doing nothing and I have no idea how to contact customs.
"You pay VAT on goods sent from non-European Union (EU) countries and EU special territories (eg the Canary Islands) if they’re:
other goods worth more than £15"

So we are only talking about £2.20 in VAT but how and who do I contact?

[Hugh Schkok]

I hated buying from the US; You have to contact HM Customs and Excise who will require a payment before the are released from the port of entry and into the hands of the organisation of your choosing. At this juncture any insurance fails to exist.

I left behind close to $20,000 worth of kit as the import into England was so complex and it outweighed the value of the kit. I was as sick as a pig. On economic terms we have what s known as Most Favoured Nation status. However the Peoples Republic of America buys huge amounts from China and what they get from you at Walmarts the get from you at the ports.

[collectors]

Ditto with the USA as being a pain to buy from. When i buy from china on ebay the mark the package as free sample or similar to avoid duty at this end. Why dont the yanks do this?.