Buying from Ebay USA (having items shipped to UK / Europe) Global Shipping program!

I dont know if I am allowed to ask this here?

Maybe someone can help me though.

I live in Europe and want to order a disney item from the USA Ebay website. Usually, you order from USA and then pay customs/import fees when the item arrives at your home.

The seller ships through ebays global shipping system though, which shows the import charges etc up front and you supposedly pay them up front then at the same time you pay for the item etc... and then it says you do not have to pay any extra charges on delivery.

Has anyone in UK or Europe had experience with this?
Is it really always true that you do not pay any extra charges on delivery? The item and import charges quoted are already high, so I dont want to end up paying more somehow. I googled it and most people complained that the import charges they make you pay are a bit more than necessary but that doesnt matter too much- I just dont want to have to pay anything extra when the item is delivered to my home... I am concerned as a friend said maybe the german tax office wont accept it or something and make me pay it again??
But it does SAY no additional charges on delivery here. Argh.


Anyone got experience of this?

No, not always true. In fact, in our experience, it's never true. My mother once paid a $80 item, paid $45 "import" costs up front. This didn't change anything to our import and custom fees. I avoid buying from US as much as possible really (our import costs are crazy), unless they're prepared to put a value below $19 (which is our national limit). It's that or nothing for me, I don't pay import costs. Maybe you can order it and let it be shipped to someone in US who then ships it to you?

those import costs are stupid and I refuse to buy items with them on. ive missed a lot of grails because on something that costs $20 (which wouldnt trigger customs) ive seen people charge $12 postage and then like $25 import.

its a rip off

Global shipping program is a complete scam. I paid $15 for one tiny pin to come through it and when it arrived it had been opened and checked by customs, it took twice as long to arrive. I will no longer buy from sellers who use the global shipping program.

I try not to byu from USA often, because of import fees. Even if family or friends ship the item to you, it can be subject to these fees on arrival here. But this item I really want, so I cannot avoid it.

I have heard many people say that the import costs are higher than they should be with the program.

But my BIGGEST concern is whether or not I will still have to pay the costs AGAIN at the front door when it arrives...
as the item in question is quite expensive, so I dont want to pay the import twice!

The import fees to pay are 90dollars on the listing on ebay. And it also says 'no additional charges on delivery'. I dont mind paying that once, even if it is stupidly overcharged there, BUT I dont want to then cough up loads more money AGAIN, when they bring the item to my door... My concern is if the German customs/tax people dont somehow believe or accept it has been paid or something.

If anyone else has experience of buying through global shipping program and having items sent to europe/uk (and therefore supposedly paid the import charges in advance at checkout) , please post and tell me if you still had to pay any additional charges when the item was delivered to your home or not

What is the max that can be sent as a gift to the UK to not trigger import duties?

Gift is not much... 45euros I believe, so not sure UK. Not all items are even checked at customs, it is lucky dip. Although, in germany they are checking more now and they also dont seem to trust most marked as gift- needs to be convincing!

I find it harsh, when you dont order much from abroad. I can understand them taxing if people are ordering items for business purposes but it shouldnt be the case when you are buying one item for your own collection. Makes the price ridiculous!

Importing things from the US into the EU is a import tax hell. And I'm avoiding it like the plague. There's so many dolls I want to buy from the US - but just the image of the import tax makes me stick to buying from the UK ebay.
The only reason why I pre-ordered the Anna and Elsa dolls from the US disney store is because we make them ship to Japan and not my address in Europe. I could just imagine buying 200 dollars worth of dolls and then be asked to pay another 100-200 dollars to import them. In Japan it's around 2% import tax from the US - so 20-30 dollars if they catch it. I can survive that.

Import taxes in the EU are the worst really - like you say, if it's for business purpose or just to get things cheaper outside the EU, then it's understandable, but all the high taxes on things not sold in the EU is driving me nuts. Like when I used to order Japanese CDs... it's not like I can buy them in the EU, so I'm not trying to cheat the system, I'm just trying to get things the EU can't provide.

I've also looked at the global shipping thing on ebay, but it's expensive and it seems like people have had some bad experience from it. I would prefer not paying it - I might have to pay customs in EU when it arrive, but that's probably the same sum that they're asking through the global program, and then you're not being asked to pay it twice.

Yeah true.

I am not sure if this seller offers that though.... and I would hate for my parents to answer the door too, to the postman when he asks for the customs money, and they see how much I have spent :-/ eeeek. I would actually rather pay it up front online but I dont want to risk having to do it twice :/

I think its £37 in the UK before any fees are paid.

My husband bought an item from Ebay through the global shopping programme and we did not pay any extra fees upon its arrival. I thought the service was actually quite good and really fast.

Kaynzz said:

I try not to byu from USA often, because of import fees. Even if family or friends ship the item to you, it can be subject to these fees on arrival here. But this item I really want, so I cannot avoid it.

I have heard many people say that the import costs are higher than they should be with the program.

But my BIGGEST concern is whether or not I will still have to pay the costs AGAIN at the front door when it arrives...
as the item in question is quite expensive, so I dont want to pay the import twice!

The import fees to pay are 90dollars on the listing on ebay. And it also says 'no additional charges on delivery'. I dont mind paying that once, even if it is stupidly overcharged there, BUT I dont want to then cough up loads more money AGAIN, when they bring the item to my door... My concern is if the German customs/tax people dont somehow believe or accept it has been paid or something.

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Like Jazzy said, global shipping is a scam. You're paying the seller an amount that he/she will have to pay to the company that offers global shipping (that amount is too high for import costs too, I don't know why Ebay still allows it), but your package still has to go through customs and that company doesn't pay your customs, so they'll still need money. So I would definitely not buy this with $90 "import fees". Me and my mother have had experience with this and we ALWAYS had to pay addition import/custom fees when we received the package, on top of the fees we paid the seller.

Like I said, try asking someone in the US to buy it for you who then ships it to you, with a value under UK limit, if you really want that item.

The global shipping program costs more but it's good in terms of security. I had a friend who used it and they didn't like the amount they paid but it guaranteed that they got their item. I don't care for it but it's what I'm going to have to use if I ever sell internationally because I actually got burned pretty bad by an international sale some time ago. I had an old gaming system I sold and it just up and vanished in LA and I never got it back but had to pay the refund to the buyer of $275 :/ So I guess as a seller it's great but as a buyer it's lame.

If it helps I bought some prints recently from Society6 in the US. It cost $58 so £35-37 and I was charged £17 in customs fees. I'm pretty sure I've spent a similar amount on stuff from an American artist and never had to pay any customs on them. I think a lot of it has to do with how the item is marked i.e. as a gift. And not everyone on eBay seems to put the correct value which makes the customs charges ridiculous.

Thanks guys.

I have ended up ordering two items from the states (and I dont intend to order any more afterwards, due to these custom charges. Quite ridiculous as a private buyer, only buying the occasional item!)

Anyway, one seller ONLY offered that global program, so I have had to pay through that. FINGERS CROSSED, I dont have to pay the custom charges again on delivery. It would be like 90dollars worth again, plus my family would be angry with me!

The other seller doesnt offer that program anyway, so is sending normal tracked. I should then ahve to pay fees at the door unless I am very lucky and they do not insist on any charges... but probably unlikely.
Will let you know what happens, for future reference.

I'm not sure how they can already make you pay for custom fees, because if you're lucky, your package will arrive without any fees at all

I stay away from those auctions.

moorhunhe said:

I'm not sure how they can already make you pay for custom fees, because if you're lucky, your package will arrive without any fees at all

I stay away from those auctions.

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I was thinking the same thing. Since it's not "always" you have to pay custom fees - only if you get caught. Though I don't really have experience with buying from the US - only Asia. But the EU customs does seem to be particularly harsh when it comes to items from the US.
I never had problems with Hong Kong and only one time did I have problems with Japan many years ago - because the seller didn't mark it as a gift.

For 10 years now receiving mail from the States, and the past 3 years have been extremely out of control, lol, I only had to pay customs 4 times.
Only once getting something from eBay. The other 3 times when getting mail from friends.
Knowing I got about 150 items per year the last 3 years, and some items pretty expensive. (like, 200-300$ worth in the package, and to those I never had to pay, haha)

I don't mind paying the fees once, but I definitely don't want to pay them twice,if the German customs don't understand that it has been paid or something...
but I have paid now, so just have to see what happens.

I agree, sometimes you dont have to pay at all, if you are lucky! But they have been cracking down on this a lot harder in Europe recently, and generally if it is an expensive item, youll have to pay. Sad but true!

But here's the thing, if you buy from ebay (and even an online store), if you're lucky, you might not have to pay the fees at all

So I would suggest to stay away from auctions that already offer the fees, because there is *no way* they can know that, and if you're unlucky you'll end up paying twice (so basicly you got scammed for 1 of those times).

And if you're lucky, your fees-free