I ordered The Golden Girls Season 6 on 3rd November from DVDPacific and it was despatched on 6th November. I am 99.9% certain that when I ordered and paid via credit card, the total amount was over £19 but fell below £20. I understand that to avoid customs the total amount including shipping must fall below £20. If I'm wrong then someone please correct me as I'm not 100% sure on that. Anyway, my credit card statement came in today and is showing as £20.18 for my DVDPacific purchase. I have been expecting the DVD to arrive all week but as yet it hasn't, and now I'm beginning to wonder if it has been seized by customs - and how would I find out if it has?

So, if you ordered from DVDPacific (or DVDPlanet) could you let me know the exact amount you paid (in GBP's), as it shows on your statement.

Thanks guys,

Sam

Well I ordered with dvd planet and it came to (including shipping):

35.47 USD = 18.7895 GBP
United States Dollars United Kingdom Pounds

I've got to be honest I always thought as long as the actual product is under £18 you're fine.

Ah right, thanks Roz. I've never been too sure what the deal is with regards to customs, so if that's the case then I should be okay

Sam

Hey,

In Holland the limit is 18 Euros, so you British should be really glad wit 18 Pounds (about 27 Euros)! Anyway, I had to pay custom just once and I had to pay this to the postman in cash at the door. The total delivery time had been much longer than normal, so I'm afraid that your parcel has been charged custom

I order mine from www.playusa.com they have no custom charges

I've ordered previous series from PlayUSA and have had customs charges!
I think it's a luck thing!

Its a country thing!

I never got custom charges for ANYTHING I bought from the internet.
I have been buying from eBAY, Amazon UK/US, PLAY UK/US you name it for at least 5 years!

Anything imported into the UK has to have duty paid on it if the total value is over £18. It's not so much as a 'country' thing, it's more of a 'law' thing. But luck plays a big part , as Utopian says! Customs handle so many packages they don't have the time to seize them all and do the paperwork - it only happens to a percentage of packages. It's just bad luck if you're *caught*. I had to pay the VAT duty + Royal Mail handling charges (the bulk of the charge, I might add!) for both Seasons 1 and 2 of Golden Girls when they were first released. Total cost for both DVDs - just under £60!


Sam, if customs have seized yours for further payment, then it takes about 7-10 days for them to process it. Well it did in my case anyway. You shouldn't have to wait much longer.

Sam, I don't know why your DVD is taking so long to reach you. I paid the following to DVD Pacific:

DVD: £15.77
Shipping: £3.94
TOTAL: £19.71

As you can see, the price of the actual DVD (which is all that counts with customs...ignore the shipping costs) is way below the £18 limit. You ordered yours just after me and I doubt the exchange rate changed so dramatically as to take it above the £18 limit. So, I don't know why customs would have held it, if that's what's happened.

the place to get them from (region 1) is ebay UK because many of the sellers are in the UK and have imported them, so they are shipped from the UK and no custom charges, for those of us that are from the UK.

Well Rob, custom charges the total amount (shipping included), not just the DVD

That may be the case in Holland, but in the UK, if the value of the goods is below £18, then you'll be OK. Shipping is not classed as part of the goods (i.e. the DVD). See here.

I might be wrong and I don't want to sound arrogant, but on that website the following is mentioned: "Duty is charged on the price paid for the goods including any local sales taxes plus postage, packing and insurance costs." Here

I bought mine (series 6) from PlayUSA.com, just got a customs card thru the door today, I owe £8.02,

This is the first time this has happened to me, I do understand its a "luck of the draw" thing as I have bought the rest of the dvds and loads of other stuff without these charges, so i dont really mind as you cant get series 6 in the UK.

How long did it take to arrive following your despatch confirmation e-mail, jobbie? It's been exactly 14 days since DVDPacific told me it had been despatched.

I think it's looking increasingly likely in my case, now. I've never been subjected to customs charges for DVD's I've bought in the past so maybe it's my turn to. It's a good thing that there's only one more release to come - I wouldn't fancy the possibility of more customs charges if we had another 7 seasons to come

Sam

I ordered from Playusa.com and got charged for customs but most of the charge are from the arseholes at RM.

£22.99 for the DVD
£4.00 for customs
£5.00 RM

It's twice I've been caught out by Playusa.com won't be using them again

DVDboxoffice is best for me

You can't blame PlayUSA directly Ryan..the risk is the same from using any company that imports from outside the UK. Your best bet to avoid paying the VAT and RM charges is to use a site that ships from inside the UK e.g Loaded247.com..you might end up paying a bit more but that's only because the company has already footed the bill for the VAT.
There is also Ebay. That's where I got my copy of Season 6 from, a week before it was released. I emailed the guy first to check he did actually have them in stock, and he did, and I got mine the next day.

care to give us the link to that ebayer Darran?

I buy a lot from ebay and Iwould like to have it as a backup next time I order

Sure thing Demiscy!

He has a few available..10 on this particular page. With the postage it works out a fraction more than buying from an online store but I figured it was worth it to have it a ) next day and b ) no extra charges and delays. He actually had Season 6 two weeks before the official release, but I was lazy and didn't bother to order it right away. I am guessing he would get his other titles in quite early also.

Here is the link

I order internationally all the time(at least 100 DVD's in the past two years) and I've only ever been caught twice with customs both with Playusa.com who warn that you can be caught out...

I find that a little odd myself.

Thanks! He doesn't seem to be shipping to Cyprus though.. He ships to Greece but not Cyprus.. hmm I just asked him about it. Thank you nontheless

The DVD was sent out 3 weeks ago today, and it's still a no show I'm so pleased I bought it from Ebay last week otherwise I'd be sitting in a room with soft cushioned walls, wearing a funny back-to-front coat by now

I contacted DVD Pacific last week and they told me that they can't look into this until 30 business days have passed, so I have to get back to them on December 18th. It's now looking more like a lost shipment than customs.

Sam

30 days

GREAT Customer Services... NOT

That's unlikely to be DVD Pacific's rule. It's most likely that the carrier sets a 30 day period before lost shipments can be traced. It won't actually be DVD Pacific who search for the shipment, it will be the carrier. I found DVD Pacific more than helpful and reliable. My DVD arrived within a week, was very well packaged and they answered all my queries promptly by e-mail. I'll definitely be using them again. I think Sam has just been very unlucky - it's certainly not DVD Pacific's fault.

Yeah, I think I've just been really unfortunate. Story of my life this month Others here who ordered through DVD Pacific had no problems getting their DVD. I'm sure they will send me another one out (I will sell it, since I already bought elsewhere) and they were pretty swift to respond, and helpful with it. I think the 30 days is just standard because it could be delayed somewhere and could still turn up, although the likelihood is that it's lost and never going to arrive.

I won't use DVD Pacific for Season 7 - not because I blame them, but because I can probably order it from the very reliable Ebay guy and have it 1-2 weeks before the release date. And it's next day recorded delivery.

Sam

I e-mailed the guy last night to ask him if he'd be stocking Season 7, and he replied to say he definitely would Considering he had them almost 3 weeks early for Season 6, we could be receiving them by the end of January! :frosty: <makes use of new xmas smiley!)

That's great news! Thanks for letting us know, Darran

Excellent I know where I'll be ordering from now. Thanks for the info, Darran.

Sam

I think I'll be ordering from him as well now because everytime I hear about custom charges my heart stops for a second! I'm so scared of being stung by them.

You'll never guess what arrived this morning? Season 6 from DVD Pacific. It took 34 days to get here, but get here it has It must have taken the scenic route across the Atlantic

Sam

Maybe the messenger swam through the ocean, then the other messenger got to the post office in a wheelbarrow! That'd explain the month it took to get to you!

What are you gonna do with it now Sam? Are you gonna sell it or can you send it back and get a refund?

It's a Christmas miracle!

It has taken so long to arrive that I had forgotten you were waiting on it, Sam.

When the postman knocked this morning I certainly wasn't expecting him to hand me that I am waiting for a few things I ordered online so figured that would be it, until I saw the 'from' address. I won't be returning it as it would take too long to be refunded, so I'll just try selling it.

Sam

I hope you make a profit Sam. You'll probably make a profit because so many people are looking for things to buy for Christmas.

I put the Season 6 DVD up on Ebay yesterday (Buy It Now) and I've just sold it. With p&p I've made just under £20, so haven't lost out on a great deal as it cost just over £20 from DVD Pacific originally

Sam

newsflash! this guy just listed the 7th season and it seems like he has it in stock! I just emailed him to check!

I ordered GG S7 from him mid-week. I don't think he has them in yet but hopefully he will have them a couple of weeks before the official release date.

Sam