Your address is probably blacklisted by FedEx, you know that right? That or they would issue you a reminder then send debt collectors after you later on.
When you buy something out of the EU (and soon, outside the UK), you need to pay tax and duty, like you pay VAT of 20% when you buy something in the shop, except you know that the sticker price already included so you never notice it. But if you look at the invoice closely, it's there.
With respect to import tax and duty. HMRC do not deal direct with just anyone with respect to unattended imports, they do not have the facilities to have stuff lying around while fred bloggs turns up to pay £7.12 for the VAT on something. So dedicated shipping companies do the clearing, but again they can't pay for every transaction with a bank transfer, it would be too slow and an administrative nightmare.
So the shipping companies have a thing called a DAN (Defferment account number). They deposite a huge sum of cash and have the bank guarantee the sum again against which HMRC can charge all items submitted for clearance by the shipper. A direct debit refreshes the DAN to customs each month.
Because of the huge admin and cost assocuiated with running a DAN the shipping companies make a single nominal charge to the customer for it's use on thier behalf. So if your inport VAT and duty is £21,847.16 for a couple of containers or £7.12 for a parcel the charge is a fixed sum, in the case of RM it's £8.00, other companies charge different (typically more). It may not seem to be very fast clearing goods, but a DAN speeds things up enourmously and simplified charges to the end user make it practical for all concerned.
Different companies recoup this charge in different ways, RM will collect before release of the item, as is UPS. FedEx charges AFTER delivery.
