Royal Mail asking custom charges to deliver.

[uk2015-lali]

Bought a silver bar frkm ebay, US seller. Item has eventually arrived in UK after arpund 2 weeks. Received an email from Royal Mail asking for custom charges before they can deliver the item. It is unfair that i paid 29 USD for postage and now pay 89 pounds for customs. Seller never mentioned that fee. I sent message to seller but no answer yet. What should i do. If i dont pay then money paid for item might be wasted. 

[papso22]

It's up to the importer (you) to know about import taxes and duties if you buy from overseas, but I guarantee there would have been something on the listing that warned you.

If you don't pay the charges you won't get your item and also won't be able to use the money back guarantee to  get a refund. 

[uk2015-lali]

There was no option to defer or pre pay any duties. They simply added £21 a
postage. Not everyone is qualified to understand import duties and taxes.
Seller must give options while giving final figures to buy. This item is
not worth buying for that much money. It was easier to buy from UK if price
included customs.

[papso22]

Given how much you are now being asked for it is clear that the value was over the amount that means ebay collects the tax at checkout.  So it has to be charged separately by the carrier.  

It's nothing to do with the postage.

[porte2425]

This is not something I have had experience with. (I’m happier to get a common collectible at a bargain price, than pay a ridiculous amount for a rare one; so international costs put me off.)

But, from a quick test, I understand where you are coming from.

I’m confused!

Under the first example, it states under Order summary that “VAT added to prices based on delivery address. No additional customs charges will apply”. But scrolling down to the bottom, Review order states “Import fees may apply on delivery”.

So would I be liable to pay more fees or not?

Another higher priced item ($500) is stranger.

It defaults to "Pay import fees on delivery" (many people may miss this, if they don't look at that section), but then the "Prepay import fees" shows $0.00 - surely that isn't right? (Plus the postage costs goes down very slightly.)

And then one item coming from Japan, doesn't show anything anywhere about any fees. Is that correct?

eBay mercilessly push foreign (mostly US, in my experience) listings on buyers. Surely they should be made to make things a lot clearer in regards to international buying issues, especially fees.