Shipping robots over seas!!!

This maybe premature but I want to warn all roboteers to get ALL information and charges quoted buy shippers in writing before you ship anything overseas!!!
We were giving a verbal quote to the procedures and cost anticipated for shipping our bot to the UK and back, unfortunately because of personnel changes at the logistics company and possible oversights on there end we may be liable for customs fees and VAT fees of
Of over $2100.00 on top of shipping costs that have ended up 30%higher then the verbal quote given to me by the gentleman who no longer works for the company!!!

So beware and get any and all info in writing before you ship it!!!

I will post updates as they happen.

I realize this maybe my own fault for ASSUMING if I hire a professional to take care of a job, they should actually know what they are doing!!!

Murphy is really having fun with us!!!

Matt

Jeez, the fun never stops does it?

quote:

I realize this maybe my own fault for ASSUMING if I hire a professional to take care of a job, they should actually know what they are doing!!!

If that were true I would never have gotten a job. :)

But all kidding aside, it is good advice, get everything in writing if possible.



(Message edited by leo-rcc on September 06, 2006)

Ouch!!

I hope your not meaning all Murphys are like that hehe.

How can there be so much custum fees and VAT if you didnt buy anything? You just shipped back your own stuff.

It not the shipping back! its the import VAT and custumes fees your government dosnt care that I ownit and I plan on taking it home. Also I didnt know how to work the system and misreprisent myself to people who care about taxs and my shipper ask for a declared value for insurance purposes and used that as the declared value and the HMRC loves honest Americans and must believe we have lots of disposable income! plus the $ to the pound doesnt help either.....

VAT shocked builder:angry:

Matt,
Lodge an appeal with HMRC as soon as possible, It cant be right that they are trying to charge you VAT on your own property!
Did your shipper declare that it was a temporary import of personal property with a fixed return date?
Im not an expert on import/export but I know someone who is, I will try to find out the best course of action for you take.
The tax man will not get the better of Sewer Snake
if I can help it!!

Seems the following should suit your situation.

An Explanation of Duty Relief Procedures
Section v
VERSION 11 - JULY 2006 Section (v)
An Explanation of Duty Relief Procedures
49
What are Duty Relief procedures?
Duty Relief procedures can:
€ provide relief from, or delay payment of, duty and / or VAT
€ allow reduced or nil rates of duty to be applied to goods, if they are permanently or
temporarily imported under specific conditions and / or imported to a specific
location.
€ Provide relief from duty and / or VAT for goods temporarily exported from and
returned to the EU.
When might they be of use?
They can be used in the following circumstances:
€ When you import goods temporarily for use, process, or repair within the EU.
€ When you re-import goods which have been used, processed or repaired outside the
EU.
€ When you return goods to a supplier outside the EU because they are damaged or
are not to the required specification.
€ When you re-import goods returned by a customer outside the EU because they are
damaged or are not to the required specification.
What are the schemes?
There can be many different reasons why an import is made and there are various
procedures to fit specific circumstances, these include:
€ Inward Processing Relief (IPR)
€ Outward Processing Relief (OPR)
€ Returned Goods Relief (RGR)
€ Temporary Importation Relief (TI).

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/downloadFile?contentID=HMCE_PROD_008051http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...ntID=HMCE_PROD _008051

Additional information .....bit late :sad:
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/downloadFile?contentID=HMCE_CL_000382%20http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...HMCE_CL_000382

(Message edited by woody on September 06, 2006)

Temporary Importation Relief (TI): can be used to temporarily import goods with total or partial relief from duty. Goods must not be processed or repaired other than routine maintenance necessary to preserve them in the condition in which they were imported. There are several different TI reliefs, eg:

goods for an exhibition
goods for test (but not to destruction), experiment or demonstration
samples to show prospective buyers
animals for training/breeding/veterinary treatment or competitions
means of road, rail, air, sea or inland waterway transport and
containers and pallets.
(This list is not exhaustive).

I hope you can claim a refund......if not from HMC then from your exporter who it appears didnt know his job.

well, after browsing and not reading everything in details, i sorta hafta ask this.. when mario and babeth comes over to UK, do they ship their bots over too? and if they do, wont it cost them a bomb too if according to what you said is right?

No...
When you say ship their bots over too it is in the literal sense - on the X-channel ferry with the robots in the back of the van :)

Audrey. The UK is a part of the European community, with a reasonably free trade in goods.

As Karoline says, the robot is in the back of the car, or several robots stashed in Leos van. No import duty , no VAT. Just personal non commercial goods transported.

Also, even when checked at the customs, the Belgians, nor the Dutch will have long delays if Robot wars is mentioned. One of the most of the reactions is Oh, when is it on TV again?

Ive spent an hour on the phone to the uk HMRC and got the normal Bureaucracy run around and pass on to the next officer and so on...
I dont know if its a matter of the import branch of the logistics company screwed up and the U.S. office is trying to cover for them or if the HMRC are just going thru the motions and the shipper doesnt care cause they get paid either way. But its hard to get answers when I may be asking the wrong people the wrong questions! unfortunately the UK branch Paid the fee and forwarded the bill to our office and they gave it to me and after my second phone conversation with her, she basicly said if she needs to talk to me she would email me and that I needed to pay the bill....NOW!!!

Geoff I will Email you, Thanks

Matt

May it console you, the last company I worked for regulary ships to outside the EU and we discovered that Russia is the worst of all. Their customs department is just horrible.

One of the best things in order to avoid duty taxes when shipping your robots or parts abroad is declaring it either as sample without value for small stuff and prototype for large stuff. When youre traveling and its absolutely your personal possessions (like tools for example) you can write it as personal property or for personal use on the shipping bill because youre not supposed to pay duty taxes on your property when traveling. If you have to pay anyway you can reclaim it, just the way Woody described. This is so because when you have bought your stuff you already paid taxes.
It is different for certain goods like tobacco and alcohol, be sure to make the proper inquiries at the authorities.
When the company I worked for was (for instance) shipping computers for seminars abroad we declared them as company property, for use abroad, not for sale. The larger courier companies have procedures for such shipments that facilitate the paperwork and avoid extra expenses.

Also, if you want to know about real bad shipping woes: when you travel to countries in which the Sharia is upheld try to avoid any (and I do mean ANY) reference in and on your property to what might be seen as p°rn or religion. This is a serious matter as your property could be seized and destroyed, and it could take time for the customs officers to search them. It was terribly awkward when an employee of ours landed in an airport and had to surrender his laptop to customs authorities who wanted to examine the contents. He was suppposed to be in that country for only 3 days. The time needed for examining the laptop on forbidden contents was... 3 days.

Same goes for non-muslim countries with strict obscenity laws such as Singapore for example.

Also Sg has a similar system to the pay and reclaim taxes such as GST (Goods & Services Tax)

Seems that I made a hash of the last link .......So just incase it holds useful information.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/downloadFile?contentID=HMCE_CL_000382http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...ntID=HMCE_CL_0 00382

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel= pageVAT_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000220&propertyType =document#P51_4689http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...ument#P51_4689

(Message edited by woody on September 07, 2006)