The new deco variants of Scarlett and Roadblock showed up on the InDemandToys website a week ago. I had held off on buying them for a while from other shops, but when I noticed them there, I decided to snatch them up.
They are the first figures that have arrived from the UK where the taxes weren’t paid in the UK but should be paid upon delivery. And boy, did I have to pay. The value of the 2 figures was listed as 35 GBP (around €40). The import duties and VAT add up to €15. Which is reasonable I guess (until you look at the calculations), but the ‘administrative costs’ our local postage service charges of €24 is anything but that.
Like I mentioned before we should look at the calculations. They calculate the VAT not only on the product value and the shipping costs. Oh no, they also add in the import duties and the ridiculously high ‘administrative costs’. So you have a total value of €40 (products and shipping), then they add the import duties (around €2) and the €24 gives a total amount of €66 where you get charged the 21% VAT on (€13.86). So, the total of Import Duties and Taxes add up to €15.86. Add this up with the costs they charge, and you get almost €40 extra. Crazy, right? Forgive me if I sound bitter (I am) but when I hear people over in the US complain about having to drive to a few stores to buy these figures for less than €20, I can’t sympathize with your ‘struggles’. Yeesh, people, you don’t know how lucky you are. Just shut up.
At least the figures do look great! So there’s that.
That’s it for this update. I’ll be checking on my bank account a lot these days until the next paycheck comes in…
Happy Collecting and YoJoe!
