US orders

[Andy Macfarlane]

Never having bought anything overseas,I am wondering about charges,fees etc.A lot of things seem a lot cheaper IE:Mitchell 300.Can anyone advise on the best way to order without duty and tax etc.?... or anything you feel would be of use.

Andy Macfarlane

[grahamdaubney]

Its been a while but the last time I ordered from Cabelas I was charged 5% import duty and 17.5% VAT on top of the value of the order.Carriage charges were 20% value of order via sea which takes about 6 weeks and 40% value of order via air courier which takes a couple of days.

[davidP]

Basically if it costs more than £18 including postage then you could be caught. In practice, I've done a load of transactions with the USA (Ebay & others) and I'd say that I've only been charged on maybe 1 in 5 parcels. It appears that they get all the really expensive ones, and they get the big bulky ones. The smaller parcels get through. It also depends who delivers it. ALL parcels I've had via DHL have been charged. Parcelforce seems to go in cycles - none for months then 3 or 4 together. Post Office rarely charges, but they only deliver the smaller ones anyway.

 

One additional charge to note - many of the companies charge a handling fee for fulfilling their legal obligation to collect your tax. Seems like a total rip-off to me but there is absolutely nothing you can do about it - if you don't pey you don't get the item! I recently got charged a handling fee of around £6 by Parcelforce on an item that cost just over £25. That's nearly 25%, and when you add that to the 5% import duty and 17.5% VAT that's around £37 for something that cost £25. Don't let this put you off though - most get through OK, and this charge is obviously a lower percentage on bigger items.

 

[ 03 May 2002, 11:33 PM: Message edited by: davidP ]

[Newt]

Andy - as I understand it, the VAT thing is restricted to the UK and you are really paying it on many/most items you buy from UK vendors (maybe food, clothing, etc. are excepted - don't know).

 

When I buy UK tackle from a shop over there by mail order, them subtract the VAT from the price before calculating the amount I owe them since non-UK buyers don't have to pay it.

 

In general, plan on £1 for each $1 of the price. Sometimes it will be less since, as noted above, the government doesn't always figure out you owe it and you are not charged.

[Danny H]

Good answer from David.

 

Last year I had three rods arrive( all the same parcel), no vat, import duty, anything to pay.

 

Another time a tiny little spinner/jigs parcel got hit with the lot, including the dreaded Handling charge.

 

I use to think 1 in 3 got hit, but Like david I now feel it comes in bursts.

Some people get their parcels sent overland as they feel that the charges don't get put on these, I'm not sure as I tend to use the 4-7 day air post, I,m to impatient.

 

One thing to bear in mind is the U.K taxes etc get heaped on all your cost( including what you paid for P&P, so make sure P&P is reasonable, because it is a double kick in the nuts, if you then have to pay taxes on it).

 

Here is a nice little site for working out roughly what the air/overland costs should be ( some of the little retailers give you chance to chose your own option.

 

http://ircalc.usps.gov/

[hunter]

JUST A THOUGHT

What ifffffffffffffff

you get someone to post items as presents would you still pay taxes and all the rest.

[davidP]

hunter:

JUST A THOUGHT

What ifffffffffffffff

you get someone to post items as presents      would you still pay taxes and all the rest.  

In theory even gifts are subject to import duties, although it does seem to make them less likely to get picked out. The simple fact is however that it is illegal for shops (or indeed individuals) to export goods marked as 'gift' if they aren't. You may get away with it on small items, and many Ebay sellers work this way, but companies like Cabelas or Bass Shop Pro have to do things properly else they risk prosecution.

[Andy Macfarlane]

mmmm....might be worthwhile waiting till someone comes up with a good sneaky plan.They usually do.

[Nightwing]

Do you guys have PayPal over there?

Offers a good way to send money, straight to another bank account.

Merry Christmas and Happy birthday.....

[chesters1]

what pees me off is that 5% of our 17.5% goes straight to europe ,if a politition decided to scrap vat (yes i know that pigs would fly first) he couldnt get rid of that 5% ,also what pees me off in some cases vat is still payable on second hand goods ,i got caught out buying a landrover the owner was a "fairground "worker and was exempt ,the landrover used to pull a generator ,therefor i payed vat