We've all seen the listings proclaiming

"No Duty/Taxes to pay"

"NO VAT"

From sellers in Hong Kong, the USA, Canada, & Singapore.

The way they work is:

They send the goods by courier; Fedex, UPS, DHL.

These companies deliver the goods, and damn fast too. So far so good.

What they don't tell you is.....

The courier turns up at your door & you sign for it. Wow! Not a whiff of import duty or VAT.

Brilliant! Leave positive feedback for the seller right away. Oops!

BIG mistake.

A week to 2 weeks later, the courier sends you an invoice for the import duty & VAT.

Ouch!

And if you think you can get away without paying it, think again. They'll engage a debt collection agency & you may end up with a CCJ and zero credit rating!

Plus a deferment fee (read admin/handling fee).

In the case of Fedex, this is either £4.50 OR

2.5% of the total import duty & VAT

- whichever is the greater.

True, there is no import duty on digital cameras. However they still attract VAT at 17.5%. So bear this in mind when shopping 'abroad'.

And under NO CIRCUMSTANCES leave feedback for at least 3 weeks.

Wait for the invoice from the courier!