Thinking of buying some stuff from the states. The total cost with shiping will come to £150. Has anyone got an idear of the duty and handeling charges?
I've just received s/h gearbox parts from the states bought on ebay.Price was £80 including postage.I have been charged vat ,£17,and an £8 handling charge by parcel force coming to a total of £25 on top of the original £80 .£105 in total.There is no import duty on items less than £135 including postage.I received a letter from parcel force for the £25 to be paid before they would deliver which I did on line.Because your items are over £135 there will probably be import duty at 5% .Hope this helps.
-- Edited by merlin on Tuesday 23rd of August 2011 09:22:45 AM
Most reputable sellers the other side of the pond will no longer label items as gifts. Even then, sometimes you will strike it lucky and not get charged duty and vat. Sometimes you do. It all pans out even in the end.
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If you get something sent as a gift or a sample and it gets lost, its very unlikely you will get any compensation, especially if it was lost in the UK
If you do get the value marked down to avoid customs duty, this value will be the maximum compensation if the packet is lost
If you try to avoid duty by splitting into several lower value packages, remember you will pay a handling charge on each package
Try to get your supplier to use UPS, slightly more expensive than USPS but you will get the goods faster, and they are taken well care of, unlike Parcel Farce who dont give a toss (Believe me I have worked for them and I know how things were treated)
UPS do not have a handling charge for UK deliveries, and you are less likely to get charged duty with them than with Parcel Farce
If you are going to use USPS, they have a flat packet/box rate scheme, you buy the box from the US post office, for a set fee and provided you dont exceed the maximum weight for that box thats it paid for. Beware of some of the "septics" as they will quote high shipping charges and then send flat packet rate. The problem is the shipping price is also included in the value for import duty, and you can end up paying duty as someone has ripped the arse out of the shipping charge
If you are buying a lot overseas, its worth using a forwarder who will collect all the items you buy in one country and dispatch them in one package, and that can bring shipping charges down dramatically
If you go to Europe a lot, get your packages delivered to your address there, shipping will be 30 to 40% cheaper, and 50% cheaper to send packages, we are ripped off totally by the parcel carriers in the UK for sending parcels overseas
And a word of warning, once the request for duty has been issued by HMRC you the addressee are liable for it, if the carrier then loses the package, customs can still claim the money from you, by distraint if they have to, and you have no option other than to pay. Unless the package is insured chances are you will not get any reimbursement from the carrier or just the mimimum amount.
If you refuse to pay duty the package will be sent back to sender and the request for duty is cancelled, its once the request has for duty has been issued and then the package is lost that the trouble starts.
-- Edited by gaschef on Wednesday 24th of August 2011 07:34:22 AM
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