BAV BRICK customs fees in the UK depend on your order value: above £135 the courier can bill import VAT and possibly customs duty, and at £135 or less UK VAT should already be in your checkout total. BAV BRICK advertises free shipping and no hidden fees, but its shipping policy and terms of service never say who pays UK import taxes. This guide shows how to read your checkout, what a courier bill can include, and which rules are set to change.
Do BAV BRICK customs fees apply to every UK order?
No, the value of your order decides whether UK customs duty can apply and who collects the VAT. GOV.UK says goods worth £135 or less carry no customs duty and the seller should already have included VAT in what you paid, while goods above £135 mean you pay VAT to the delivery company before delivery or collection, plus customs duty at a rate that depends on the type of goods and where they came from.
| Order value | UK VAT | Customs duty | Who usually bills you |
|---|---|---|---|
| £135 or less | Included by the seller in your checkout total | None | The seller, at checkout |
| More than £135 | Paid to the delivery company before delivery or collection | Set by the type of goods and where they came from | The courier or postal operator |
The line is measured in pounds on the whole consignment, not on each item. The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group notes that the £135 threshold applies to the overall value of the consignment rather than to each individual item. The BAV BRICK storefront version reviewed on 24 September 2026 listed prices in US dollars, with GBP available in the currency selector, and showed 1:8 supercar sets from about $237 to $391 alongside small kits under $100. Convert at the day’s rate: the large sets sit far above the line and the small kits far below it, while a mid-range item such as the $175 motorized V12 engine set is close enough that the exchange rate could decide. If everything ships in one parcel, adding a display frame or accessory can push the combined value over £135.
These rules describe Great Britain. GOV.UK treats Northern Ireland separately for goods at risk of entering the EU, so buyers there should read its duty rules before ordering.
Does BAV BRICK collect VAT at checkout for UK buyers?
BAV BRICK’s published pages do not say, so the tax line on your own checkout page is the best evidence. BAV BRICK’s shipping policy promises tracked and insured delivery through couriers such as FedEx, UPS and DHL, and it says the listed price is the total with no shipping charges or hidden fees. Its terms of service do not mention customs, duties or import tax.
Free shipping covers freight, not necessarily UK tax. DHL’s UK guidance says the person receiving a parcel is legally responsible for duty and VAT unless the sender has agreed to pay them in the sales contract. BAV BRICK has not published such an agreement in the pages reviewed for this guide. GOV.UK says VAT is paid either when you buy the goods or to the delivery company before you receive them, so even a small order can produce a courier bill if VAT was not collected at checkout.
That gap matters because of what happens when a delivery fails. BAV BRICK’s policy says that if you refuse a parcel or do not respond when the courier asks you to arrange collection, the parcel is returned to a courier hub and destroyed, with no refund or replacement. The policy does not name customs bills as a cause, but refusing a parcel over an unexpected charge appears to fall under it. On an order above £135 with no tax or duty line at checkout, plan for a courier bill and ask BAV BRICK support in writing before you pay.
What will the courier bill you when a parcel is over £135?
The delivery company pays HMRC on your behalf, then bills you for the VAT, any customs duty and its own clearance or administration fee. The usual sequence looks like this:
- You receive an itemised bill. GOV.UK says Royal Mail, Parcelforce or the courier company will contact you and send a bill stating exactly which fees you owe.
- You pay before delivery or on collection. GOV.UK says the VAT is charged on the total package value, including postage, packaging, insurance and any duty.
- The parcel is released once everything is paid. Royal Mail says it cannot hand over an item until all charges are paid, even ones you dispute, and it recommends paying first and taking any dispute to Border Force.
- An unpaid bill ends in a return. GOV.UK says a parcel is normally held for about three weeks and then sent back to the sender if the bill remains unpaid.
Royal Mail’s own handling fee is £8 on top of the tax. BAV BRICK’s shipping policy names express carriers such as FedEx, UPS and DHL, and DHL says it adds a small administration fee when it pays duties and taxes on your behalf, so the clearance fee on your bill depends on which courier delivers and is not a fixed £8. If you are charged too much or return the goods, GOV.UK points to form BOR 286 for parcels delivered by Royal Mail or Parcelforce and form C285 for other couriers.
Is customs duty on a BAV BRICK set 0% or 4%?
It depends on how customs classifies the set, because the UK tariff lists 4% for plastic construction sets and 0% for scale model assembly kits. The UK Integrated Online Tariff shows a 4% third-country duty for construction sets of plastics and 0% for electric trains and scale model assembly kits, with VAT at 20% on both.
- Classification: which code fits a given set is a question for the declaring courier, and BAV BRICK’s shipping policy and terms do not list one.
- Origin: GOV.UK says the duty rate depends on the type of goods and where they came from, and it points buyers to its Trade Tariff service to check rates.
- Value: duty applies only above £135 for now, but VAT is charged on all goods except gifts worth £39 or less.
As an illustration only, a £200 set at 4% duty would carry £8 of duty, then 20% VAT on £208, which is £41.60, so about £49.60 in tax before any courier fee. At 0% duty the VAT alone would be £40. Duty is the smaller part of the bill either way, and real figures can run higher because the value of postage and insurance also counts toward the total.
Is the UK £135 duty rule about to change?
Yes, but not yet: the UK plans to end the £135 duty relief by October 2028 at the latest, and it still applies today. A GOV.UK policy paper published on 13 July 2026 says the change will start on a day the Treasury sets by regulations, no later than October 2028. The government announced on 23 June 2026 that it had brought the reform forward by six months. As of 24 September 2026, GOV.UK’s parcel guidance still describes duty as chargeable only on goods worth more than £135.
VAT is unaffected by the change. VAT has been due on these low-value goods since reforms in 2021. Older guides that promise duty-free small parcels should be treated as time-limited.
Does the EU add import tax to BAV BRICK orders?
Yes, the EU has its own rules, including a temporary flat €3 customs duty per item category on parcels worth up to €150 since 1 July 2026. The European Commission says the duty applies to low-value parcels imported from outside the EU and is charged per item based on tariff classification, not quantity. The Council of the EU said the flat rate applies to goods for which non-EU sellers are registered in the import one-stop shop for VAT. BAV BRICK’s pages do not say whether it is registered, so EU buyers should read their checkout total the same way UK buyers do, looking for a tax or duty line before paying.
What should you check before you order?
Check three things before paying: your order value in pounds, whether the checkout shows a tax line, and a written answer from BAV BRICK support if the total is unclear.
- Convert your basket to pounds at the day’s rate and compare it with £135, remembering that a discount code lowers what you pay: GOV.UK bases duty on the price paid for the goods plus postage, packaging and insurance.
- Look for a UK VAT or tax line on the final checkout page. A tax line on a parcel at or under £135 matches how GOV.UK says the seller should collect VAT.
- If an order above £135 shows no tax or duty line, ask BAV BRICK support whether UK import VAT and duty are prepaid, and keep the reply.
If you are hunting for a discount code, pick one tested on your own storefront: Smart Cart Codes notes on each listing whether a code was tested on the US, UK or EU storefront.
A small BAV BRICK kit at or under £135 is the safer order, since duty cannot apply for now and UK VAT should be collected at checkout, though a missing tax line means you should expect a courier bill anyway. A flagship 1:8 set above £135 can bring import VAT, possibly duty and a clearance fee unless BAV BRICK confirms in writing that it prepays them. Ask that question before ordering the larger set, keep room in your budget for the courier’s fee, and skip the order if an unexpected bill would tempt you to refuse the parcel, because BAV BRICK’s policy offers no refund or replacement for a parcel that is returned and destroyed.
Last updated: September 28, 2026
Long has spent 7+ years running Google and Meta ad campaigns for e-commerce brands, which means he's watched thousands of shoppers abandon carts over a coupon field that wouldn't accept anything. He built SmartCartCodes to fix that. Every code listed here is checked against the merchant's live checkout before it's published, and anything that stops working gets pulled — not buried. He works directly with brands and affiliate networks across the US, UK, and EU.