International buying

[sandriczka]

I have just purchased an item from USA where the seller accepted my offer.

When I proceed to pay for the item without customs and duty charges everything seems fine. The price is as accepted by the seller and postage as stated in the listing.

However, when I opt to pay for taxes and duties at the checkout the price of the actual item purchased increases significantly and postage and taxes come on top.

Does anyone know why this happens? The price of the item surely should stay the same

[fargvs]

 If either the Buyer/Seller is based or has an account Registered outside the UK ,  then additional  Import 20% VAT and any other duty is charged >

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/paying-items/paying-tax-ebay-purchases?id=4771&st=12&pos=3&query=...