Page 1 of Play.com and new region 1 customs clause

Title: Customs Information
The product you have selected will be shipped from North America and may be subject to import duties and taxes once it reaches your country. These and any additional charges must be borne by you. If you agree to pay these additional charges should they be levied click I AGREE below. If you do not wish to order this product click I DISAGREE below.
I Agree: Continue with this purchase
I Disagree: Return to previous page

Anyone had any problems with this?

You will only get this message when you purchase an item over £18 as you are allowed to purchase items free from customs up to this price. Customs charges are based on the weight and the price of the package. I have purchased items at £29.99 and had no problems and no charges. Even if you do get charged by customs you won`t have to pay that much, and if you are buying it from play, you will probably still end up saving.

Customs charges in the UK only depend upon the price and not the weight. You have to pay VAT (at 17.5%) + Import Duty (3.5% ?) + Handling Fee for the Royal Mail which is I now I believe at some ridiculous level of £4 or so. This is on the full amount if over £17.99

Items from Play are normally safe as they actually ship R1 from offshore bonding in Belgium. Therefore unlike items direct from US, Canada or Aus customs are not looking for them, although items from Amazon.com shipped via Germany usually get caught if over limit.

I have seen postings to say items occasionally get caught from Play but it is rare.

They are just covering their backs. They must have had a big fight with a customer who got charged and is trying to get recompense from Play for the customs charges.

It`s the usual corporate lawyer stuff, like having to write CAUTION: CONTENTS MAY BE HOT on the side of a hot cup of coffee from McDonalds.

But I`ve never had any problems with Play. They are one of the best.

This item was edited on Friday, 16th August 2002, 02:05

I`ve never had problems with them before - was just wondering why this has cropped up - seems like there`s been some changes over at play recently

They claim since 11/9 customs now scan packages coming into the UK more carefully. Therefore their from Belgium more likely to be stopped and hence charged if over £17.99
I suppose they just want to save money and stop you complaining to them if your order is caught.

I thought McDonalds wrote CAUTION: CONTENTS HOT on a cup of coffee was because Americans are dumb bastards