Overseas Online parts

I have just bought a pair of Gibson Burstbucker Pups for the ES335 which I got through an Ebay shop based in the US.The cost of these Pups were $109 each as opposed to £110 in the UK, so basically half price.
However; Paypal have introduced a new system which the seller has to use to produce an invoice, this means the seller has to declare the true price which gets picked up by the UK customs Nazis and you have to pay the VAT before the post office will deliver them. Interestingly though they didn't do me for import duty but the Post office charged me £8 for the pleasure of the admin. I've always got away with this in the past from the US as the suppliers usually declare the good as less than $30 (the level on which you pay tax) but if you pay by paypal they can no longer do this.

I paid £26 shipping from the US which I didn't think was too bad until I unrapped the rather larger than I expeted box. Don't you think these 6mm thick perspex containers are rather over the top?