Stag Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Hi guys and gals, Unless I want to pay way over the odds for a 70's Gibson (£1200+) EB or Les Paul im going to have to get one from America, perhaps via EvilBay. How much woudl customs charge on say, a $1200 bass, then the insurance and packing / shipping? USPS service is £87.50 which sounds about right. Cheers for your advice... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 [quote name='Stag' post='253155' date='Aug 2 2008, 09:48 AM']Hi guys and gals, Unless I want to pay way over the odds for a 70's Gibson (£1200+) EB or Les Paul im going to have to get one from America, perhaps via EvilBay. How much woudl customs charge on say, a $1200 bass, then the insurance and packing / shipping? USPS service is £87.50 which sounds about right. Cheers for your advice...[/quote] Rule of thumb, allow about 22% for import duty and VAT. For big, expensive items I ship Fedex, its more expensive but they sometimes slip stuff through customs without duty. It often ends up being cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stag Posted August 2, 2008 Author Share Posted August 2, 2008 I assume everyone has had no problems with shipping from America... do I need to hear any horror stories first? (eek!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 What can kill you is the charges that the shipping company springs on you. For example, custom clearance charges. For a bass the government will charge you 3 point something percent duty and then VAT. The shipping and charges can easily stack on another couple of hundred quid if you are not careful - so make sure you find out. What the seller pays to send it is one thing, but you need to find out what they are going to charge you to pick it up at this end! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozbass Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 I've been involved in a number of deals with US sellers (and buyers) - I think Crazykiwi is right, expect to pay around 22% on top of the purchase price for musical equipment (17.5% VAT and around 4% import duty). There may also be a handling charge applied though this is usually fairly minor. The VAT will be applied to the total cost so will include the value of the item plus packing and carriage charges. I have experienced no problems whatsoever with some reasonably high value transactions. Be careful though - it's important to check-out a seller's record thoroughly when they're located in the UK (feedback, address, fixed-line number, google for web appearances etc.) and this applies even moreso for overseas sellers: if the seller is genuine, they shouldn't be too shy about passing-on identification details and will probably request some degree of reciprocation. So...I'd have no problem with buying or selling in Europe or the US, just proceed with caution and don't allow yourself to get carried away by an apparent bargain. [quote name='Stag' post='253170' date='Aug 2 2008, 10:09 AM']I assume everyone has had no problems with shipping from America... do I need to hear any horror stories first? (eek!)[/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 I've bought 4 basses form the US (and one from Japan) and had no problems. With USPS it will take 2-3 weeks door to door most of which time is spent in limbo between countries and waiting for the UK customs to inspect it. If the sender uses USPS the delivery here is done by Parcel Force and you [b]WILL[/b] have to pay customs and VAT on it. Customs duty is 3.5% of cost of the item(s) plus shipping but only applicable if it comes to over £7. VAT is 17.5% of cost, shipping and customs duty combined. Parcel Force will also charge you of around £15 for customs handling fee. Customs also use their own exchange rate which isn't normally quiet as good as the current quoted one. Also Parcel Force won't deliver until you have paid these charges. One of the basses I bought came FedEx. That took 3 days door to door and incurred no import duty or VAT. Normally FedEx bill you for import charges after delivery so just because your bass arrives and you haven't had to pay import to get it, don't assume your off the hook. However IME if you have them deliver to your work address (where you should already be VAT registered) this bill never arrives. I haven't been able to 100% verify this and also I don't know if the VAT simply ends up at the work accounts they pay it along with all the others with out realising that it was for me and not work related, but nothing I've had delivered to me at work from abroad by FedEx has had any VAT or duty to pay. YMMV as they say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stag Posted August 2, 2008 Author Share Posted August 2, 2008 all good info - cheers guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozbass Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Thanks for the above BigRedX - very intriguing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 I should have also said that FedEx cost more than 3 times what USPS would have been, and therefore only worked out slightly cheaper than USPS plus the import charges. Also because the FedEx delivery was more expensive if I had been hit with import charges they would have been correspondingly higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayfan Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 As CK said - factor in about 20% to total price to cover import tax and VAT. Remember that cost *includes* shipping. Not sure why you should have to pay import duty and VAT on the postage - but there you go. I've done it a couple of times with basses and it's been easy. Always used US Postal Service (USPS) as it's the cheapest but as said above, it arrives via ParcelForce and they always make you pay the 20% taxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4000 Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 I once bought a Ric 4001V63 (a '92) on ebay from the US and it never appeared. Took me a year to get the insurance money and I lost £200 due to the change in exchange rates. Tread carefully & make sure it's tracked and insured. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 [quote name='BigRedX' post='253176' date='Aug 2 2008, 10:25 AM']I've bought 4 basses form the US (and one from Japan) and had no problems. With USPS it will take 2-3 weeks door to door most of which time is spent in limbo between countries and waiting for the UK customs to inspect it. If the sender uses USPS the delivery here is done by Parcel Force and you [b]WILL[/b] have to pay customs and VAT on it. Customs duty is 3.5% of cost of the item(s) plus shipping but only applicable if it comes to over £7. VAT is 17.5% of cost, shipping and customs duty combined. Parcel Force will also charge you of around £15 for customs handling fee. Customs also use their own exchange rate which isn't normally quiet as good as the current quoted one. Also Parcel Force won't deliver until you have paid these charges. One of the basses I bought came FedEx. That took 3 days door to door and incurred no import duty or VAT. Normally FedEx bill you for import charges after delivery so just because your bass arrives and you haven't had to pay import to get it, don't assume your off the hook. However IME if you have them deliver to your work address (where you should already be VAT registered) this bill never arrives. I haven't been able to 100% verify this and also I don't know if the VAT simply ends up at the work accounts they pay it along with all the others with out realising that it was for me and not work related, but nothing I've had delivered to me at work from abroad by FedEx has had any VAT or duty to pay. YMMV as they say.[/quote] I'd concur with the getting it shipped to a work address. Two basses, not a bill in sight. Maybe I just got lucky...I don't know. Had one delivered to home and I had to pay £80.00 or thereabouts. Good hunting. P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatboter Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 A couple of months ago I bought a Wal fretless from someone in New Jersey, USA... While the bass in itself wasn't expensive (1500 Euros), the taxes and the shipping really increased the price... Import duties were around 475 Euros (had to be paid in cash on delivery, they called me a day in advance to inform me about that) and the shipment was around 150 Euros, if I remember well.. So the rather cheap Wal costed me 2125 Euros in the end... It's still worth the money since it is an amazing bass but I never thought it would be so much in the end... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Admiral Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 [quote name='wombatboter' post='256875' date='Aug 7 2008, 06:43 AM']A couple of months ago I bought a Wal fretless from someone in New Jersey, USA... While the bass in itself wasn't expensive (1500 Euros), the taxes and the shipping really increased the price... Import duties were around 475 Euros (had to be paid in cash on delivery, they called me a day in advance to inform me about that) and the shipment was around 150 Euros, if I remember well.. So the rather cheap Wal costed me 2125 Euros in the end... It's still worth the money since it is an amazing bass but I never thought it would be so much in the end...[/quote] I've bought stuff in the States when I've been on holiday, (mics and software - which is much cheaper) and a friend has brought back guitars on a fairly regular basis, without ever being stopped by customs : just checks it at the door of the plane , with all the pushchairs, and walks through the luggage area, and then out of the green channel. I'm afraid I'm not that ballsy, but he just fronts it out. Re : buying in the USA - you can get great deals at the big multiples, like guitar centre, but the smaller retailers are much more interesting. I was actually in Matt Umonov's on Bleeker Street in New York last year - the ultimate guitar porn shop - and the guys there were telling me that they regularly have customers come in from Europe - particularly scandinavia - to buy vintage gear. Apparently, even with the exchange rates and cost of flights, it makes sense for them. He had 2 guys in from a Swedish metal band the week before I was there - who flew in on a Tuesday - came straight to the shop - spent 5 -6 hours playing various guitars, and left with a 70's Les Paul each, flying out that night!! Whilst I was there, legendary folkie Linda Thompson was in trying to negotiate a bit of discount on a vintage mandolin - .. "for Teddy's birthday...", and had the shop guy play a few for her. That must be a bit intimidating, playing for Richard Thompson's Mrs (ex), who has probably been around some pretty good guitarists over the years. Here is the link to the Umanov's vintage basses page : [url="http://www.umanovguitars.com/store/browse.asp?cat=640&path=600,640"]http://www.umanovguitars.com/store/browse....mp;path=600,640[/url] They were just putting a Gretsch White Falcon bass (gold hardware) in the window as I was there. Now there is a bass for a tv appearance! A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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