Import Tax & Duty from US to UK

[lou24d53]

I'm considering buying a replacement neck from the US as I've found one which I can't locate in the UK, in the finish I'm after.

I've done some calculations as attached - both my calculations using UK Gov guidelines and the online calculator appear to confirm very similar outcomes - with my calculated final cost still working out slightly cheaper than I would expect to pay for an equivalent over here, had I been able to locate.

I've never imported before, so I'm just wanting to clarify, is there any other hidden charges I may have missed?

Cheers,

Dougie.

[ped]

There will be a ‘handling fee’ too, which is a bit of a cheek

[mybass]

4 minutes ago, ped said:

There will be a ‘handling fee’ too, which is a bit of a cheek

Yes I’ve been hit with handling charges before. It was from a courier fee to take the item to customs shed and collect it. Downright out of order as far as I’m concerned. 

I think your 20% vat is correct but those hidden handling fees will possibly need to be included into that. Alternately and as told to me by a U.K. customs official some years ago..... If you have a friend on ‘mainland’ Europe, get it sent there and then get them to re-post to you as this (apparently) skirts the U.K. import tax stuff from the USA into the U.K.

[BigRedX]

To the OP, you have got it mostly right, but there are a couple of variables you need to consider, plus you have under-estimated costs in one place and missed one potentially very important item.

Variables:

1. Import duty and VAT are calculated on the DECLARED value of the item plus shipping and insurance. If the neck was reduced in price in a sale or otherwise discounted, the declared value may well be the original higher price. Some sellers will also inflate the price just in case they need to make an insurance claim. Insurance is usually worked out in value bands so it often possible to declare a higher value and still pay the same insurance. If you can prove that what you actually paid is less than the value declared on the customs form it is possible to claim back the excess duty and VAT from Customs, but it is a long and complicated process.

2. Import duty. Sometimes Customs simply get it wrong and put your item in the wrong duty category and consequently charge you too much (or too little). Again it is possible to claim any excess back if you can be bothered to go through the process.

Under Estimated Costs:

1. USPS release charge. It might cost the equivalent of £10 for this in the US, but here in the UK as others have said the handling charge for doing the customs paperwork and paying your VAT and duty in advance is going to be somewhere between £15 and £25 depending on which company does the UK part of the delivery.

My general rule of thumb is to add together the cost of the item, shipping and insurance and then add 25% and on top of that another £25. Unless the value of the item has wildly over-declared (as has happened to me once) you won't have any nasty surprises. My other general rule rule of thumb is that I must be saving at least 25% after all shipping, insurance, duty, VAT and handling charges have been added on what the item would cost me to buy in the UK to make it worthwhile.

Finally the potentially important thing you have missed:

CITES.

If the neck has any CITES restricted materials in it, such as rosewood (fingerboard) or abalone (inlays) you will need licences for both export (arranged by the seller who will no doubt pass the cost on to you) and import (to be arranged by yourself) before the item can be sent. Without these licences the neck will be sized by customs and probably destroyed. IIRC the import licence for the UK is approximately £75 and although I can't find any prices for a US export licence, but I imagine it will be about the same. If you need CITES licences it will add another 50% to the cost of the neck. For this reason alone I would be extremely reluctant to buy any wooden item form the US right now.

 

Edited April 25, 2019 by BigRedX

[fretmeister]

50 minutes ago, ped said:

There will be a ‘handling fee’ too, which is a bit of a cheek

I have no issue with the handling fee.

 

For that fee they are

 

1: Doing your declaration paperwork for you

2: Dealing with the payment of the VAT / Import etc

3: Storing it until it is cleared.

 

It all means a quicker delivery. In the good old days you got a letter to say it arrived, then you had to do the paperwork and wait anywhere from 1 week to 6 weeks for a reply, then pay, then wait for confirmed clearance before you could actually have the item. Then for some larger items, also pay storage.

 

The fee is usually between £8 and £14.

Cheap as chip compared to doing it all yourself and waiting another month to get hold of it.

[lou24d53]

Hmmm, thanks for all responses...it's sounding like perhaps worth just sourcing an alternative elsewhere then...

[fretmeister]

For quick maths - take the price of your item, then add the shipping, then add Vat to all of that. Import tax itself depends on the item. IIRC guitars are about 4%

 

Bascially get the item and shipping and add 25% and you'll be close enough.

 

Then also take into account whether it's an item that might have warranty issues down the line, as you are likely to be knackered on that front if it's from the US, or indeed outside of the EU.

[mybass]

Keep looking in the UK and Europe then...what is the neck and finish, maybe someone here has a connection to forward you to.

[tauzero]

You might even find it cheaper to have a luthier build you a replacement neck to your specification.

[lou24d53]

12 minutes ago, mybass said:

Keep looking in the UK and Europe then...what is the neck and finish, maybe someone here has a connection to forward you to.

It's nothing special I'm after - I'm just looking for a non-branded maple 51P neck with a vintage tinted finish.

The one I saw was an Allparts neck, but it came finished with Tusq nut, dressed frets etc, ready to go, whereas the only available one's on Allparts UK are unfinished with no nut fitted...I was basically just looking for an easier (although more costly) fix by maybe getting the finished one imported from the US, rather than having to get involved in finishing it myself. 

I've also just been looking at the costs involved in importing...but then I've also been having a gander at the Shuker page and note it states "complete necks from £200"...so I'm now thinking it might be getting into custom build value...?

http://shukerguitars.co.uk/services/ 

Happy to take advice on what's best to do from the Basschat community....... 

[Monkey Steve]

1 hour ago, lou24d53 said:

It's nothing special I'm after - I'm just looking for a non-branded maple 51P neck with a vintage tinted finish.

The one I saw was an Allparts neck, but it came finished with Tusq nut, dressed frets etc, ready to go, whereas the only available one's on Allparts UK are unfinished with no nut fitted...I was basically just looking for an easier (although more costly) fix by maybe getting the finished one imported from the US, rather than having to get involved in finishing it myself. 

I've also just been looking at the costs involved in importing...but then I've also been having a gander at the Shuker page and note it states "complete necks from £200"...so I'm now thinking it might be getting into custom build value...?

http://shukerguitars.co.uk/services/ 

Happy to take advice on what's best to do from the Basschat community....... 

You might also look at the cost of buying the Allparts neck and asking a luthier to finish it for you...or seeing if any stockists have the finished Allparts necks

[lou24d53]

^ I think that's the plan now...probably the more sensible route to go down, rather than get involved with importing...!

[rodney72a]

A recent experience with the Ebay Global Shipping programme regarding CITES:

A few months ago, I bought a bass on Ebay from a seller in the States. It was advertised under the Ebay Global Shipping Programme, meaning you pay all shipping and import costs upfront.

Because the bass had a rosewood fingerboard, I got in touch with the UK CITES Management Authority in Bristol prior to shipping. They explained that the seller has to apply for an export permit first, then mail me a copy so I can apply for the import permit over here. I passed the info on to the seller and advised he should get in touch with the people of the Ebay Global Shipping Programme for guidance, thinking they would deal with this kind of stuff all the time.

The seller said he did and apparently they told him they would take care of everything. He shipped the bass via USPS, it was quite slow, took almost three weeks to arrive. There was no CITES documentation/paperwork at all with the package.

Make of that what you will. I haven't looked into it further but should I still apply for the relevant import certificate in retrospect?

[Risk101]

Just imported a "Sweetwater Exclusive" bass guitar and had reckoned on total import taxes being 20% VAT + 3.7% Duty for a guitar. However the Duty came to nearly 38%. when I queried it FEDEX said that if the shipment costs are not known, then they can be estimated based on the package's weight. Even allowing for this it seemed dear so I challenged it and it was duly reduced to just 27.5% inc handling fees. The helpful E Mail I got from FEDEX (although no apology for their vast over-estimation) said

In order to clarify the amount of duties and taxes calculated, here is how the customs procedure for calculation looks like.

In order to clarify the amount of duties and taxes calculated, here is how the customs procedure for calculation looks like.
- First, value for duty is calculated:
- Value for Duty = Invoice value+ freight charges (non EU share).
Secondly, we calculate duty:
- Duty = Customs value for Duty x Duty Rate % Third step is VAT calculation:
- VAT = (Invoice Value + Freight Charges + Duty Payable + VAT Adjustment) x VAT rate (20%)

Freight charge is used in duty and tax calculation (value for duty and Value Added Tax) and it may raise duty and tax required.  Additionally on top of payment of duties and taxes you must add direct processing fee, which is ancillary charge of 2.5% of total duties and taxes but no less than 12 GBP.
 

Which all seemed pretty reasonable - so all I had forgotten was that the 20% VAT is the last calculation so you pay VAT on the Duty !!!

Pretty pleased overall for a cheap-ish Squier 5 string bass that you can't get in Europe !

[Twigman]

Expect this kind of extortion when buying from places like Thomann after a brexit which takes us out of the single market

 

before ped comes to slap my wrists again - I'll just leave that there - thanks leave voters

 

 

Edited October 3, 2019 by Twigman

[dmccombe7]

Have a chat with Mark from Classic and Cool Guitars /  Limelight Customs as i think they use Allparts for either bodies or necks and might be able to help you out.

He knows his stuff and is very god to deal with. I bought my Sandberg from

https://classicandcoolguitars.co.uk/limelight-custom-gallery/

Dave

Edited October 3, 2019 by dmccombe7

[Twigman]

9 minutes ago, Twigman said:

Expect this kind of extortion when buying from places like Thomann after a brexit which takes us out of the single market

 

before ped comes to slap my wrists again - I'll just leave that there - thanks leave voters

 

 

Although technically Thomann shouldn't charge us the 19% German VAT - it'll still be dearer for us than it is now, especially after GBP tanks further

[CamdenRob]

41 minutes ago, Risk101 said:

Just imported a "Sweetwater Exclusive" bass guitar...

I tried to buy a bass from sweetwater a couple of months ago and was told they wouldn’t ship to the UK 🤔

[Twigman]

2 minutes ago, CamdenRob said:

I tried to buy a bass from sweetwater a couple of months ago and was told they wouldn’t ship to the UK 🤔

The way round that is get it shipped through a 3rd party in USA.

When i worked for a firm with an office in LA I would use their office as a shipping address and then get them to forward it to me.

 

 

I did something similar to get my forged car wheels from Japan, via a Japan resident.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Twigman

[ped]

39 minutes ago, Twigman said:

 

before ped comes to slap my wrists again - I'll just leave that there - thanks leave voters

Pretty sure I made it clear in my last PM that your political views aren’t welcome here, not everyone has the same view as you and we try to avoid politics as you know. I told you to ‘leave it there’ last time so kindly do actually ‘leave it’ 🙄

[Twigman]

2 minutes ago, ped said:

Pretty sure I made it clear in my last PM that your political views aren’t welcome here, not everyone has the same view as you and we try to avoid politics as you know. I told you to ‘leave it there’ last time so kindly do actually ‘leave it’ 🙄

So i get my wrist slapped for stating a fact about what will happen to import charges after a brexit which takes us out of the single market?

I'm not expressing opinion.

I'm stating a fact.

Are you censoring the facts now?

Edited October 3, 2019 by Twigman

[ped]

Just now, Twigman said:

So i get my wrist slapped for stating a fact about what will hapen to import charges after a brexit which takes us out of the single market?

I'm not expressing opinion.

I'm stating a fact.

Are you censoring the facts now?

Facts are facts but “Thanks, leave voters” kind of language is designed to stir up debate and put across your own opinion on a political issue, especially after our last conversation I hoped you’d refrain from posting. I don’t run this place to debate politics and you are not going to do it here either, so take my advice and leave your political whinging for some other unfortunate website. Everyone else seems to manage. 

[Risk101]

43 minutes ago, CamdenRob said:

I tried to buy a bass from sweetwater a couple of months ago and was told they wouldn’t ship to the UK 🤔

Well they definitely do - if you're still looking to do this I could give you the contact point. They were excellent throughout the process, keeping me up to date right up to shipment followed by tracked delivery. That said the actual bass has only just been released from Stansted customs so I haven't seen what shape its in yet !!! Its coming on Monday........

[BigRedX]

37 minutes ago, Risk101 said:

Well they definitely do - if you're still looking to do this I could give you the contact point. They were excellent throughout the process, keeping me up to date right up to shipment followed by tracked delivery. That said the actual bass has only just been released from Stansted customs so I haven't seen what shape its in yet !!! Its coming on Monday........

Sometimes it will depend upon the make of the bass. Many US manufacturers don't want US shops undercutting their official retail channels in the UK, so their agreement to supply outlets like Sweetwater will prohibit them from selling their instruments outside of the US. 

[CamdenRob]

51 minutes ago, Risk101 said:

Well they definitely do - if you're still looking to do this I could give you the contact point.

Much appreciated but I’ve got the same bass landing from elsewhere in a couple of weeks 😊

12 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Sometimes it will depend upon the make of the bass. Many US manufacturers don't want US shops undercutting their official retail channels in the UK, so their agreement to supply outlets like Sweetwater will prohibit them from selling their instruments outside of the US. 

Ah maybe it’s something along these lines then. It was a flat out no from the outset.