In my last review, I recommended that people were careful because of the potential import charges that a package could incur, even on a small package, so I was very careful with my last order, double checking that it wasn't over the maximum £15 so I wouldn't get charged. I had some reward points to use up so I think it came to around £15.96, and then when the £1.45 rewards were off it came to under £15. Sadly, I didn't know that iherb.com disclose the original price so I was charged again by royal mail and border force. It seemed utterly ridiculous considering it was only £0.96 over the £15 threshold, so I complained to both royal mail and border force. Borderforce are complete baby wipes and wouldn't budge, but I guess they would if the same happened to them, but royal mail were helpful and refunded me all the charges. This time I had only ordered a few lip balms and lip tints, so beware when ordering from iherb.com. Make sure that the £15 threshold is below even with any reward points deductions. iherb.com is especially useful for the Crazy Rumor lip balms, which I love and are use too expensive to order from eh crazyrumors website itself because of ridiculous shipping fees.
We understand your frustration, but unfortunately these charges are out of the control of iHerb. We do have the following information in the shopping cart when you select Great Britain as the shipping destination:
Orders over £15 via Postal Airmail may be charged a Value Added Tax (around 20%), a Customs Duty (around 12%) and a flat £8 from the UK Royal Mail as a handling charge.
When you use Airmail, which is delivered by Royal Mail, it is less likely to get assessed these fees, but it still does happen on occasion.