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Hi all,

I was browsing on the af1 website as you do, and found a second-hand US spec side stand in good condition for the princely sum of $75. Me thinks, not a bad price for peace of mind

Today, received a lovely letter from parcelforce, need to cough up £24.66!!! They won't release said parcel till paid. VAT - £11.16 Their fee for doing what the I paid for anywayz in postage is £13.50

Lasttime I checked, VAT is 15%, of £52 is about £8, I know I am picky, but, someone told me that, vat was only applicable on new items, seems wrong, but hey, anyone know the truth.... Just my winge no the wonder free-trade is devoid in this godforsaken country...

Need too calm dowm....

Don't think your quibble is with Postman Pat, he's the unpaid tax collector for HM Customs and Revenue,

who you tried to fiddle

Thats very bad luck. the UK customs dont examine every parcel from the US, if they did then they would not be able to catch the drug dealers, illegal immigrants and other assorted scum they have to deal with, oops sorry, getting carried away with myself

The UK customs pick a random sample of parcels to inspect, I recently had a Dyna S ignition system delivered from the US for the CBX, I just had to pick it up from the post office, cos I wasnt in when they delivered it, that was nearly 300 bucks, no VAT, no custom import duty (which is what they normally charge as US companies arnt VAT registered), ziltch. Its just the luck, or otherwise, of the draw.

as for VAT on secondhand things, sorry, VAT is payable on anything bought from a VAT registerd company.

Rip Off Britain eh? Still we do have the Queen, god bless her

This is the reason why the Italians fitted the small and flimsy EU spec sidestand; tax collectors won't even bother filling out a piece of paper for a piece of crap...