Mattel Creations price scam

Mattel includes VAT in their pricing when you check out. If you pay $100 for an item on the store living in the US, we’ll be charged about £95 (about $120) as it includes tax. Even on items that aren’t high enough to legally qualify to be charged VAT on imports.

For any other company that taxes you on checkout (for example amazon). They take the tax you’ve paid and pay it to the UK government for you.

So the fact that I’ve received a bill means that they have declared the items value when sending it. So they would have known I’d receive a bill. If they take the tax beforehand they’re required to send that money to the UK gov.

Granted they were not obligated to tax me as the contents of the order didn’t meet the minimum threshold for imports.

So what they’ve done is me twice. By overcharging me 20% on my order, and then lying to the courier about the value of the contents to incur an almost 61% tax bill.

well that sucks, should probably contact them though.

He’s telling people his experience and advising them to stay away from doing business with them. It’s ok.

Clearly this isn’t intentional but it’s sloppy and hopefully customer service will fix it by reimbursing the difference.

Could you imagine what would have happened if the Nitro stage got funded and shipped next year, and everyone ordering outside of the US and especially in the UK, probably getting hit with a customs charge of about £300?

There would be an uproar.

I've been stung by customs as well.

Despite me trying to tell them the charges were inclusive of the item, I won't be getting these before X-Mas as HMRC are closed till after the holidays which is annoying.

I've E-Mailed Mattel complaining so will see what they say as they can't tell us Charges are included then set us up to pay even more charges. Doesn't feel like we've had BOGOF as we've paid the price it would be normally.

Sneakily done if intended.

This has put me off ordering the Piper Steele 2 pack I can’t be bothered with the hassle of getting charged customs then having to contact Mattel for reimbursement. Mattel say customs is included and £9 delivery that should be it.

I don’t know what to say about the customs. But I will say just because you bought something from them as a BOGO sale the value they have to declare it at is still has to be the full price as if there was no BOGO. Because that is still the true value of the items should the package get lost or damaged and a claim is filed.

An easy solution to this is for mattel to build a warehouse in the uk so things can be shipped domestically. For europe i believe it is screwed as the amount of toy collectors and wrestling fans is far and few between. crappy situation. Shipping rules changed in march of this year and anything sent overseas to europe requires an increased amount of detail on the customs forms and scrutiny when it is received by customs personnel. Any brand new items especially. I sent a declared gift to a friend in europe ( about 110 euros in value) and she had to pay nearly 25%. Not sure on the UK but ever since they left the EU everything shipped out of the uk is very expensive now. For me shipping to the eu or uk is finished. I will only ship to canada now. I am pretty sure soon mattel creations will opt out and do the same. The rules and fees are just too much.

This is all done on purpose to reduce carbon. The less people ship the less boats and planes travel overseas and even domestically. Expect things to get worse and not better. I would not be surprised if it goes up to 35% at some point.