I live in the UK and have ordered from iherb before and had no problems. My most recent two orders - split to avoid customs duty - I've had a card through the door today saying that both will be subject to customs duty of £12.52 each. I'm not sure why they have attracted customs duty this time and will investigate when I pick them up. One of the cards had 'germany' at the top, so I'm wondering if they got misdirected.

Just thought that a warning was in order for anyone else ordering from outside the US.

Lee

When ordering from the US, you have to stay cognizant of the exchange rate and stay under the amount/total bill that will trigger customs duty.

The duty threshold is £18.
So before ordering I check the price by using the google searchbar enter
28.49usd in gbp
and you get the answer
28.49 U.S. dollars = 17.6583612 British pounds
Which is about as close to the threshold as you dare get as UK customs uses their own exchange rate, (it is available on one of the Gov treasury sites) and that changes from time to time.
It is the rate that applies when the parcel is in the hands of customs that matters, NOT when you order NOR when the parcel is in your hands.
Mostly that charge you have is the POST OFFICE handling fee £8.00 the last time I got caught.

DHL don't charge nearly as much only £1.25 and their delivery charge isn't too bad either so I've been trying to get large orders, to take advantage of the bulk purchase discounts on some items and then use those discounts to offset the customs duty. The advantage is the delivery is much quicker, you've got a tracking number so you can see where the order is and when it's on it's left the local depot.

I stayed below the £18 limit - not sure why I was caught out.

Lee

Further information relating to review and appeals is contained in factsheet HMRC1 Decisions - what to do if you disagree which can be obtained from our website or by phoning 0845 900 0404.

It would be helpful if you gave the above number a ring to ask why you got caught. If you were definitely under the £18 threshold
Check with the official NOVEMBER 2011 exchange rate first though

though it could have been October when the parcel was in Customs.

iHERB WARNING-BUYER BEWARE
Caution about this online reseller.
They charged me shipping overcharge of $14.25 when it was supposed to be "Free Shipping", they refuse to refund. Customer Service is unprofessional , you would think they would do the right thing. Good prices but they make it up with shoddy practices.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

See, I've had good experience with iherb customer service, when I had a package that went missing. So I suppose it depends.

Lee

I just bite the bullet and order from within the EU these days. We have brought several items from outside the EU but it has been more trouble than it is worth sometimes.