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Jasmin
08-12-2010, 09:57 PM
Hello (again!). I've recently sold a few pieces abroad and have had to complete the little customs forms that attach to the parcel, and I'm always a little bit stumped as to the terminology to use when selling jewellery items because whilst I want to be 100% honest about the contents of the parcel, at the same time I don't want to draw too much attention to the fact that the contents may be quite valuable, in case it ends up in the hands of someone suffering from an insatiable "curiosity"...

So now my own curiosity is piqued - how do you describe the items you sell abroad, for customs purposes? Have you ever had any items go missing after stating, say, "silver jewellery"? Is there a better option? Or do you think it does not matter how you describe the contents seeing as the £ value is declared alongside the description?

Just interested in some of your views and experiences. Thank you, all!

Jasmin

Wendy Moriarty
09-12-2010, 12:55 PM
I think I read elswhere that people put 'Trinkets' on the description
Wendy

jille
09-12-2010, 07:52 PM
I was told to put key ring, I had some cheap ones so I added one to the pendant package in case it was scanned.
Jill

Jasmin
14-12-2010, 11:40 PM
Thanks Jill and Wendy for your ideas. To be honest, [touching wood] nothing has gone missing yet so I guess I have to find the balance between taking a risk, or possibly sending everything by a registered & insured method. I just sent a tiny parcel to France today and, ok no declaration needed there, so it's just as an illustration of the cost, I sent it by a trackable method, insured it only to £100 and it cost me over £8! I'm sending a much bigger, costlier parcel to Australia tomorrow - be interesting to see the cost of that one! It's just that even with insurance, the comissions I get are one-off pieces and if they should go missing I would be devastated even if you can get back the cost, so I was hoping to minimise the risk to them, but every suggestion I was coming up with was ditched as probably totally illegal!

iori
17-06-2011, 05:38 PM
Dear Jasmin,
You probably haven"t realised it yet but it is not actually your problem! Be polite,(and I"m sure you always are,) and discuss it with your customer, but I think you"ll find that "gift" or "sample" works fine, as for the value, that really is whatever you choose to put down. You are not breaking any laws, ( I am of course presuming that you are not an international criminal ! ) Everything is happening at the other end, you could ask your customer what they want you to put. I"ve sent some pretty expensive stuff abroad without any problem whatsoever.
Cheers,
Iori

medusa
17-06-2011, 08:50 PM
hmmm... well actually if you send stuff as a sample or gift and it's not, technically it's fraud. For me, anything expensive that I send abroad is usually antique jewellery which is exempt from import taxes, so I send it as costume jewellery just to deter any would bees. so far nothing has gone astray yet.

lesley
18-06-2011, 12:04 PM
Anyone know what the position is in the case of a replacement for a faulty item? You've not paid for it, but you've paid for the original and already paid the import VAT. Clearly you don't want to have to pay the tax twice. Would it be fraud to put a nominal value on the second item?

medusa
18-06-2011, 03:21 PM
hmmmm, interesting dilemma. I would say if it's a replacement, then no, you wouldn't have to. I don't remember seeing anything about that in the customs info I saw though.

lesley
18-06-2011, 03:53 PM
I'm not sure. It could be that you're supposed to state the actual value anyway, and then claim the second lot of tax from the seller. Can't say I'd be happy doing that. I'm waiting for something at the moment. The only other time I've had a replacement from abroad the seller marked the package as zero. I didn't ask them to - it hadn't even crossed my mind.

iori
18-06-2011, 06:26 PM
hmmm... well actually if you send stuff as a sample or gift and it's not, technically it's fraud. For me, anything expensive that I send abroad is usually antique jewellery which is exempt from import taxes, so I send it as costume jewellery just to deter any would bees. so far nothing has gone astray yet.
hmmm... actually it is a moot point, like Jasmin I agonised over this when I first sent stuff abroad,but the advice I gave and used myself, was given to me by a customer who was also a lawyer! Mind you I covered myself with the thought that what I was sending "was a gift at the price!" Heaven forbid that I should be the cause of poor Jasmin languishing in some in some foreign gaol, after extradition of course, so I disclaim all responsibility for her subsequent actions. Sorry Jasmin, damned if you do and damned if you don"t. P.S. Are there any smilies around here?
Cheers
Iori l

medusa
18-06-2011, 09:49 PM
no, no smiling here. totally serious.

iori
20-06-2011, 07:09 AM
Me again,you have, Jasmin, I'm afraid, been left up in the air over this question. I have answered you in a somewhat jocular fashion but may have passed bad information on to you, whilst Medusa has offered you veiled warnings but has told you very little. If you want to know the true situation then go to 'www.royalmail.com' customs information. That however also tells you nothing about penalties! There is a warning that the country to which you are sending can send your package back! But C & E or HMRC as they are now, is an eight hundred year old organisation to whom 'smilies' are quite foreign (and therefore dutiable!) and whose powers (used to be anyway) are almost biblical (old testament variety). That being said you are not exporting arms or other nasties and prohibited articles but what are essentially 'bangles and beads' whose value is whatever any one cares to put on them! Should have followed my mothers advice:- 'never give advice'
Yours
Iori

ps_bond
20-06-2011, 07:50 AM
hmmm... well actually if you send stuff as a sample or gift and it's not, technically it's fraud.

Not just technically - actually. And, as mentioned, HMRC have wide-ranging powers; I wouldn't advise crossing them.

As for faulty items, if you write to HMRC and explain that you've already paid once for the item (providing proof of purchase, proof of payment et al) they're usually pretty good about things. I know people who have shipped stuff back to the US for warranty service and gone down that route.

medusa
20-06-2011, 02:53 PM
It wasn't a veiled warning (though if taken as such, Mr Bond has clarified) and I said as much as I could from my own experience which is sending antique jewellery which is exempt and that I send it as costume jewellery to deter thieves. The few times I've sent new stuff I've made, I mark as costume jewellery but put the full value on. In years of selling stuff to the USA, the only time anything has gone missing was a 1940s kid's cardigan. I've never had jewellery go astray and I've sent out stuff which had sold for £600+

In terms of returning goods for repair, I would imagine that is exempt under the origin of goods exemption. That is, if you are returning it, you are returning it to the place it originally came from to you, and when they send it back to you, they are essentially doing the same.

post 11 was a leg pull, the limited smilies are along the top of the text box.
:snow: