Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 48

Thread: Marks & Spencer

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Posts
    54

    Angry Marks & Spencer

    My OH has just had an order from M & S held by Customs
    Goods worth about $200 and now customs want $100 to release them Has Anyone else had this recently ? Seems like just another money making Kiwi government scam !
    Might have to start getting family to send us stuff as gifts !
    Gazza1000

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    37,824

    Default

    Something to do with duty and GST? http://www.customs.govt.nz/importers...ms+charges.htm

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Manchester > Now Tauranga
    Posts
    4,393

    Default

    Outrageous that customs would attempt to apply the law in this way. Do they not realise that is our right to shop from overseas and not pay duty either in the UK/US or NZ on what we buy? They must be joking if they think I'm going to buy stuff from the shops here as things are always at least 12.5% more expensive than in the uk and 30% more than I can get them off the internet. If local shops want my business then they can find some way of avoiding duty on the goods they buy and that pass that saving on to me.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    2,691

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by gazza1000 View Post
    My OH has just had an order from M & S held by Customs
    Goods worth about $200 and now customs want $100 to release them Has Anyone else had this recently ? Seems like just another money making Kiwi government scam !
    Might have to start getting family to send us stuff as gifts !
    Gazza1000
    We've had to pay customs duty before, but usually unless the amount of duty you owe is equal or over to $50, then they usually waiver it. I have heard somewhere that if you are ordering 4 or more items in one package they may charge you duty too....but this has never happened to me and we regulary order lots of books from Amazon.

    The only time we have had to pay custom duty is when my MIL sent us a Wii, plus tons of extra games & controllers etc. It was all worth well over $500 and we had to pay about $20 in duty. I would check if you really owe $100 because that doesn't tie in with their duty rates, unless you have included something like make-up brushes or similar among your items as these may require MAF inspection with an additional fee being included.

    Even items that are sent in NZ labelled as 'gift' can still have a duty applied to the value, but I believe they apply a higher threshold before they add duty in this case.


    Here is a list of the customs duty charges, which varies by item. Also note that it states this is not a comprehensive list. For example this list shows the rates for mens, womens and babies apparel, but it does not state what rates are applied for older childrens clothing.

    http://www.customs.govt.nz/importers...ms+charges.htm
    Last edited by Familyofmonkeys; 7th August 2010 at 04:05 PM.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Rothesay Bay Auckland
    Posts
    364

    Default

    I have ordered from M&S twice, first time had to pay $60, second time nothing, not sure the system they use! value was the same in both boxes, first one was larger.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    UK - North Shore, Akld - UK
    Posts
    455

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by gazza1000 View Post
    My OH has just had an order from M & S held by Customs
    Goods worth about $200 and now customs want $100 to release them Has Anyone else had this recently ? Seems like just another money making Kiwi government scam !
    Might have to start getting family to send us stuff as gifts !
    Gazza1000
    I thought the limit was around $400 before GST is applied but in doing a quick search I've not found anything to support that. $100 for $200 worth of goods seems pretty steep. I'd contact them again and ask for a clear breakdown of the charge.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Christchurch from Scotland
    Posts
    2,226

    Default

    Duncan

    I have recently signed up to a distance learning course I have been wanting to do for some time. The trouble was I thought I would download my learning materials but 1kg is being sent to me by DHL. I am just hoping that they do not value this package as the course fee when completing the customs declaration, as otherwise I am going to be rather poor, especially as I have realised that they charged me VAT at the other end too as it is a service and the rules for services for VAT are complicated. I have a feeling that it should not have been charged and may possibly query....esp if the full value of the course is on the customs declaration, rather than the value of the printed paper then I end up with an additional charge of over $100! There is an online element too...so AAARRRGGGHHH!!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Posts
    4,455

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by norma View Post
    I thought the limit was around $400 before GST is applied but in doing a quick search I've not found anything to support that. $100 for $200 worth of goods seems pretty steep. I'd contact them again and ask for a clear breakdown of the charge.
    The NZ$400 value was an 'average' value based on duty, GST etc not being of value greater than $50 where the fees were waived.

    Ian

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Palmy- from US
    Posts
    2,516

    Default

    I just had to pay $94 in GST on my roller skates and pads that I ordered from Australia, but that was well over $600NZ in goods.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    in my own little world...
    Posts
    532

    Default

    Its one of the disadvantage of being outside the EU! We had similar issue when MIL sent parcels to OH back in Ireland. Don't know if they include postage in the calculation here, but they do in Ireland, so once you reach the threshold for tax/duties, the cost of postage is added, before they apply the duties (eg contents = €100, postage = €20, vat/duties calculated on total of €120) and then there could be a couriers admin fee too if you use DHL or the like. On one occassion we ended up paying about €70 in taxes/duties for a pair of jeans that MIL sent over, wasn't very happy to get that gift!

    I have bought a few things online here, but haven't been charged for duties/taxes, yet! Do wonder what happens if I have to send something back - can I get the duties refunded, I wonder? I assume not.

    As has already been mentioned, I would query how the charge was calculated as it does sound high for the value of items received.

Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •