Customs tax on pretty dress

[b13thy]

I have just purchased (via the internet) a dress from a company in Australia. It was considerably cheaper than buying it in this country cos the price was in aussie dollars and when converted into english pounds the total came to �160. Will have i have to pay a tax on the item when it gets delivered. Will the evil customs and excise people hold my dress to ransom if i don't pay? 

[nicola_red]

Possibly.  It's a fairly random system - seems to depend on how the sender marks the package, ie what the contents are and how much they're worth.  I've bought countless items from abroad with no problem, but recently my bf bought a T shirt and ended up with a customs charge of over �20.  The post office might just deliver the package and then send you a letter telling you that you owe them some money, or they might indeed hold your dress to ransom at the depot.  It might be worth emailing the company you ordered from and asking them if they've any experience of this from previous customers.

[JulieEve]

Not sure about Australia - but I had to pay �15 tax before I could collect  two T-shirts I ordered from the US.

[kempie]

A link to explain Duty and VAT liabiliites on imported goods.

[b13thy]

Just to let you know that i have recieved the beautiful dress and there wasn't a customs officer in sight - hooray.

[b13thy]

I feel that i should let you all know that today i received a letter from Fedex saying that i owned them 25 pounds in customs charges that they had paid on my behalf to get the dress quickly through customs  - Bu*g*rs