Charged over £14 for a custom charge ?

[steve68 66]

I buy a few things off ebay, and it always surprises me that the postage and packing from say, Stockton to Sheffield is £2 -£3, but from China it's usually free.

 

How come?

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5641459/UK-retailers-furious-Chinese-firms-use-loophole-let-ship-cheap-goods-UK.html

 

Subsidised postage

[cgksheff 44]

Being nosey I had a look at Pledge Music, the FAQ had a certain US vibe, terms such as 'shipping' rather that postage. That's all I could see to indicate where they are based.

 

Like you at first glance I would have assumed UK based.

 

PledgeMusic is a UK company:

*Contacting PledgeMusic: If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us. You may also reach us by mail at “Pledge Music, 22 Endell Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9AD

 

When placing an order, it clearly asks destination and quotes delivery charges after that.

[SnailyBoy 10]

PledgeMusic is a UK company:

*Contacting PledgeMusic: If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us. You may also reach us by mail at “Pledge Music, 22 Endell Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9AD

 

When placing an order, it clearly asks destination and quotes delivery charges after that.

 

They also have an address in New York

 

PledgeMusic

265 Canal Street

Suite 602

New York, NY 10013

[melthebell 863]

Pledge I believe started as us but is now multinational, bands go through it however not sent out by it

[Lockdoctor 10]

I have ordered from America before and never been charged extra for a custom charge, I ordered a CD and T-shirt from an official band website but this time, they are charging me over £14 just to get the parcel ! I did not notice anything on the website that there was going to be an extra charge, I had already paid for the shipping which was almost $14 (like always). Since when did the Royal Mail started to do this ?

Most likely when you ordered before there were no invoice details on the outside of the parcel for the customs people to see. I have paid money before to the Royal Mail for a custom charge only when invoice details have been visible on the outside of a parcel.

[Itrytoplease 10]

Like the OP I have bought several things from China and never been charged a customs fee/bill, I'm expecting a parcel from china any day now, will let you know if there are charges this time.

[Top Cats Hat 10]

I buy a few things off ebay, and it always surprises me that the postage and packing from say, Stockton to Sheffield is £2 -£3, but from China it's usually free.

 

How come?

 

Economy of scale.

 

A shipping container from China to Europe can cost as little as £3,000. If that container contains half a million packs of say AA batteries* then the shipping on that pack of batteries is 0.0006 pence or to put it another way a thousand packs of batteries cost less than 1p to send. Bulk packaging and addressing costs are equally low.

 

Even if you are charging as little as 99p for an item from China, the shipping cost is negligible and make it much more likely that someone will buy your product if you don't charge. I have bought chainsaw parts from China that weigh over 1kg which would cost £8.16 to send to Leeds by Parcelforce but were free from China. Of course, you may have to wait three or four weeks for delivery.

 

(*AA and AAA Li-ion and NiMH batteries from China with exaggerated claims of 3x, 5x or even 10x the capacity of standard rechargeables generally have less than half the capacity of those made by recognised manufacturers. AVOID!)

[Flexo 10]

You don't have to use the customs clearance service of Royal Mail or whatever courier company is handling your inbound delivery. You can appoint your own firm to do this for you, and arrange with the seller for goods to be couriered in the appropriate way to allow them to do the customs clearance.

 

Lots more of this fun to come when we leave the EU Customs Union!

[melthebell 863]

Ok its not the 2 items i thought it was, i do have one or two items on pre order but as far as i know they are all from the UK Oo

[cgksheff 44]

Ok its not the 2 items i thought it was, i do have one or two items on pre order but as far as i know they are all from the UK Oo

 

Plonker

 

 

 

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[melthebell 863]

Plonker

 

 

 

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well thats the trouble with ordering lots of pre order vinyl, you dont always know when they are coming out, sometimes after a couple of months you tend to forget you ordered it lol

[Top Cats Hat 10]

 

well thats the trouble with ordering lots of pre order vinyl,

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a big problem with downloads or streaming but it's nice to see someone buying records!