Whats the latest on Amazon.com...

[Chyna Tsui]

.....are they customs friendly again? Haven't used them for ages.

[HenryKrinkle]

They never have been, they never will be. Any delivery from outside the UK is entered into a game of russian roulette with customs. This idea that if they ship via a european country you are guaranteed exemption from customs is nonsense in my experience...I have been stung via germany and holland.

It doesn't really help when they slap a big Amazon.com on the package! The only way to guarantee you won't be charged is to keep below the £18 mark...having said that, I have just received(...at long, long, long last) my final shipment from TAU - From the Earth to the Moon CAD$79.95(£35 approx) - thankfully untouched by those friendly C&E folk :D :D

[Baz]

They used to be very very customs friendly, in fact you could guarantee no sustoms whatever you bought from them, but then it all went wrong.

For what its worth I ordered 3 above £18 packages just before Xmas using the expediated shipping and all three came within a week and free of customs. still hit and miss though.

[dangermouse]

Over the past year I have ordered Sopranos series 1 ($70), Ab Fab box set ($69) and Akira ($35) - all well over the £18 limit yet I didn't get hit for any duty at all.

For all 3 of those packages I had it marked as a gift - now I know many say it doesn't make a difference, but the last time I didn't do so I was stung for duty. Could be a co-incidence, but now I just mark it as a gift anyway and still use Amazon a lot.

[Deano]

I think they used to be customs friendly as Amazon were known as book sellers, and the UK store only sold books, and was advertised in the UK as an online book store - since they've expanded their product range here aswell as the US, customs no longer make the mistake of assuming Amazon = books