Importing hardware from the States

[Bass Culture]

Dear All,

Apologies in advance if this has been raised and answered elsewhere but if I'm looking to source some small items - specifically a set of 4 new tuning keys - from the States, would I still have to pay the customs clearance charge? I can get my head around the import duty and VAT but if there's an additional £13.00 - £20.00 to pay as well that begins to make a really good price look like a very average one instead. Anyone any experience of a similar purchase?

Thanks,

Mark

[Hamster]

[quote name='Bass Culture' post='155963' date='Mar 12 2008, 01:42 PM']Dear All,

Apologies in advance if this has been raised and answered elsewhere but if I'm looking to source some small items - specifically a set of 4 new tuning keys - from the States, would I still have to pay the customs clearance charge? I can get my head around the import duty and VAT but if there's an additional £13.00 - £20.00 to pay as well that begins to make a really good price look like a very average one instead. Anyone any experience of a similar purchase?

Thanks,

Mark[/quote]

Hi Mark

This topic is covered in a sticky here - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=139"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=139[/url]

Without looking the prices up again, OTTOMH if the value is below £18 you shouldn't incur charges - although they do include the cost of shipping in that! Whatever your final shipped total is over say $40, then add 22% for the import duties etc etc.

Cheers

Hamster

[johnnylager]

In my experience, some stuff gets through, some doesn't. I think it also depends on what the supplier puts on the box - gifts for example, are not subject to tax. You've also got to think about the "holding charge" that nice companies like Parcelfarce add to the duty while they wait for your payment, often more than the bloody import duty. There, glad I got that off my chest.

I've had good and bad experiences, but absolutely no idea of the rules. Maybe I should have said that at the start. Good luck and keep us posted...

EDIT: Listen to the Hamster!

Edited March 12, 2008 by johnnylager

[BigRedX]

Small parcels are a bit hit-and-miss as to whether they attract customs charges. I always assume that I will have to pay charges and then I'm nicely surprised when I don't have to.

On the whole it's generally not worth importing items that fall between the customs allowance of £18 and about £65 because by the time you've added on shipping costs, VAT, duty if applicable and the UK shipper's clearance charges, you're almost always going to be better off buying from the UK.

Edit: Gifts are still charged VAT it's just that allowance doubles from £18 to £36 and then all the above still applies.

In my experience anything that is handled by ParcelForce in the UK will be subject to VAT etc. However small packets that come via normal Post Office deliveries sometime get through without and even if they are hit with charges their clearance fee is cheaper.

Edited March 12, 2008 by BigRedX

[Tee]

[quote name='Hamster' post='155965' date='Mar 12 2008, 01:49 PM']OTTOMH[/quote]


Can we have a sticky with chat abbreviation explanations, or do we have one already?

[BigRedX]

Of The Top Of My Head

[Hamster]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='155975' date='Mar 12 2008, 01:59 PM']Of The Top Of My Head[/quote]

You were close - it's Off The Top Of My Hamster

[johnnylager]

[quote name='Tee' post='155971' date='Mar 12 2008, 01:56 PM']Can we have a sticky with chat abbreviation explanations, or do we have one already?

[/quote]
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=9448&hl=abbreviations"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...l=abbreviations[/url]

[Bass Culture]

Okay, folks, thanks for all this. So, I think what I understand is that, if the items I'm after come to about £66.00 (they do - including delivery), they should then attract a 3.9% import duty and 17.5% VAT. But, so I understand from the thread that Hamster posted the link to, I might also be hit with a charge of between £13.00 - £20.00 (depending upon carrier) 'custom clearance fee'. It's this last fee that would mean the items are no cheaper to import than buy here but, if I understand correctly, your experiences are that any or all of these fees may not be charged? But that it's completely arbitrary whether they are or not? Is that about right?

Cheers,

Mark

[bremen]

[quote name='Bass Culture' post='156044' date='Mar 12 2008, 03:06 PM']Okay, folks, thanks for all this. So, I think what I understand is that, if the items I'm after come to about £66.00 (they do - including delivery), they should then attract a 3.9% import duty and 17.5% VAT. But, so I understand from the thread that Hamster posted the link to, I might also be hit with a charge of between £13.00 - £20.00 (depending upon carrier) 'custom clearance fee'. It's this last fee that would mean the items are no cheaper to import than buy here but, if I understand correctly, your experiences are that any or all of these fees may not be charged? But that it's completely arbitrary whether they are or not? Is that about right?

Cheers,

Mark[/quote]

That's my experience exactly.

[neepheid]

No, the import duty will be waived because it comes to less than £7.

[The Funk]

On most bass-related things, I've normally had to pay 22.5% tax total: 17.5% VAT and 5% something else (import duty, I think).

[Bass Culture]

[quote name='dlloyd' post='156065' date='Mar 12 2008, 03:22 PM']I've had about six small packages of the size we're talking about here come from the States in the last year. I've not been charged VAT etc. for any of them.[/quote]

Has the carrier hit you with this 'custom clearance fee' though?

[bremen]

[quote name='Bass Culture' post='156073' date='Mar 12 2008, 03:27 PM']Has the carrier hit you with this 'custom clearance fee' though?[/quote]

That's what they charge for collecting the cash and handing it over to Customs - so if the package sneaks under Customs' radar they won't charge.

[Bass Culture]

Thanks for all your replies. I think what it all boils down to is this: it's a lottery! The cost of the items and delivery is (about) £66.00. If I get hit with only some or none of the possible charges I could potentially make a substantial saving. If I get hit with all of them it's likely the saving will amount to pence, with the added difficulty of returning them if there's a problem. Additional problem is - it seems to me from what's been said here - you can't predict exactly how much and how many of these potential charges are going to be levied. Seems like it's a case of 'You pays your money, you take your chance'. Hhhmmm.

Thanks all,

Mark

[BigRedX]

On £66 you'll either get charged nothing if you're lucky or VAT @ 17.5% plus the shipper's clearance fee which will depend on who is handling the shipping in this country. You might be able to work this out if you know who's handling the shipping in the country of origin and what insurance tracking etc they have on it.

[Mottlefeeder]

It may not be as arbitrary as it first appears -

Some US companies specify that for orders over a certain value, ($100 I think) they will only send them by a specific US postal service, so that they are insured in transit. That service feeds into UK parcelforce, who will collect VAT and delay delivery by about a week, and charge you for the privilege. Other carriers will have other partners over here.

I ordered 5 hipshot ultralites from the US, and by the time the bank took a cut on the exchange rate, and parcelforce added its £13.50, the total was about £95, £10 less than buying in the UK.

[Motocross_nick]

what about say a badass2, some pretty cheap ones from america for like 33 quid, would it be cheaper to buy it in the uk still?

[WalMan]

[quote name='Motocross_nick' post='156373' date='Mar 12 2008, 10:36 PM']what about say a badass2, some pretty cheap ones from america for like 33 quid, would it be cheaper to buy it in the uk still?[/quote]
As mentioned before, it depends.

It may get through for what you paid, but you should allow for VAT @ 17.5% (look [url="http://www.parcelforce.com/portal/pw/content1?mediaId=26100661&catId=2500042"]HERE[/url]) and the possibility of ParcelFarce sticking you with a nice fat clearance fee (look [url="http://www.parcelforce.com/portal/pw/content1?mediaId=load105044&catId=2500042"]HERE[/url])

On £33 that would be £5.77 VAT and either £8 or £13.50 clearance fee, taking the cost to between £46.77 and £52.77