Customs & Import Duties

All alcohol products sold by The Whisky Exchange are sold subject to UK alcohol tax.

For deliveries outside of the UK, UK VAT may not be charged depending on destination, the basis on which we supply and applicable law. However, your order will be subject to local sales taxes and duties upon arrival in your chosen country, which are levied at the time the package clears customs. All additional charges are the responsibility of the recipient. As customs policies vary widely from country to country, The Whisky Exchange has no control over these charges, so you should contact your local customs office for further information.

Unless we expressly state otherwise at checkout, you are responsible for import duties, local taxes and any customs handling fees charged by your local authorities/carrier (often described as “DAP”).

Refusal to pay the local import duties and taxes will result in the goods either being:

• destroyed by customs; or
• goods being returned to sender at the cost of the consignee (costs will be deducted from any refund owed).

If you refuse to pay import charges and the goods are returned to us or destroyed, we may refund the price paid for the goods but we may deduct:
    a) outbound shipping costs we incurred;
    b) any return shipping, customs, handling or destruction charges levied on us; and
    c) any reduction in value where goods cannot be resold.
We will provide a breakdown on request.

If goods are destroyed or not returned to us and we are charged fees, we may be unable to provide a refund (or the refund may be reduced to nil) where the costs we incur equal or exceed the amount paid.

If your order is being held by your local customs office, you will be able to determine this from the information viewable through the tracking process.

Customs clearance may delay delivery. We are not responsible for delays caused by customs authorities or events outside our reasonable control. This does not affect your statutory rights.

If you are a consumer and you cancel under your statutory right to cancel, this does not require us to refund import duties/taxes charged by your local authorities (as these are not charges we collect unless stated at checkout). You may need to reclaim them directly from the relevant authority.

If we are shipping to an address in the US, customs charges will be calculated and added to your order at the time of checkout so that we can complete the customs clearance procedure as soon as it arrives in the US. Your order will not be subject to any further customs charges.

Where US customs charges are collected at checkout, the total amount collected will be shown clearly before you place your order and confirmed in your Order Confirmation.

Nothing in this page limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited by law or your statutory rights as a consumer.