Shipping from US to UK

[shortnub]

Apologies if you have already discussed about this, I could not find so through the search.
I recently shipped 25 cigars to a private individual in the UK.

I paid about $57 with USPS + £151.41 for VAT (20%), import duty and excise duty (£229.65 per kilogram, I read on the customs website).

Just to ensure I understand that this is reality to accept, I have asked for a shipping quote for the same destination and the same quantity of cigars to internationalcigarexperts.com:
fedex $69.95 + duties and taxes $20 or $30, sometimes lower. Actually they add that 'in some cases the amount has been zero due to the fact that a certain amount of cigars can enter the country free of duties. We work closely with customs on this matter and a lot of times if it is a single box the duties are free'.

I know regulations change very fast, but the information above comes from the 2 sources on the same day. Does anyone have experience with this and is able to clarify why there is such a difference between the 2?

 

[BenvolioMustDie]

I highly doubt they're paying all the duties and VAT, they must be declaring the package as something else on the customs label.

I get quite a few cigars shipped from the US to here in the UK (from fellow BOTLs and online retailers) and I've researched all the taxes payable in case customs seize one of my packages. There is no way HMRC would allow "a certain number of cigars" in tax-free. If it's tobacco it gets taxed, end of.

 

[BenvolioMustDie]

I should probably add that you can send a gift of up to 10 cigars duty free as long as they have a combined value of less than £36 ($60) but then you wouldn't have to use a third party company at all, you could just do it yourself at a much lower cost.

 

[shortnub]

This is very helpful, thank you!!!