Buying from AMERICA

[helmut]

Has anybody bought anything from the U.S. that lives in the u.k?
I saw a Fox F80x advertised for $770 which is over £200 cheaper that it is over here. (That price clamed to include V.A.T).
Has anybody bought something thinking they had a good deal. to find that they had to pay additional charges import tax etc?

[nikh]

HM Customs and Excise Link

[helmut]

Cheers Nikh looks abit of a nighmare!
I'll look into it anyway.

[Knut]

I think the rules are quite similar throughout €uro-land. Here in Denmark the rule of thumb is that you pay import tax (~7-15%) and VAT (25%) of the full amount on the invoice including shipping charges.

[Cyco]

I don't know how strict the UK customs service is , but the Australian service will generally let small item, one off items in with out charge.

[doozer]

i recently bought a cycle dynamics titanium road cassette from canada. Came straight through to the UK with no customs/vat charges. A bike is a bit more conspicuous though....

Doozer

[mises]

If you dig through the regulations long enough, most countries seem to have an administrative exemption for small value shipments. Just too much work to charge every little thing that goes through when they could be spending their time racking up the bill on a container load or two.

[cabia2002]

I live in Spain, but I think the system is similar,
Adding VAT and customs you hava to add a 25% over the USA price.
I Usually bougth material in USA, somethings are half price than here, mainly products made in USA.
Regards

[raubs]

Have recently imported a brand new F80X from ebay in the states to Edinburgh: Total price paid £390! Paid in U$, paid no import duty, only 17.5% VAT and handling fee for Parcelforce. VAT was low as the package was labelled as being 'worth' $200.

Similarly imported RF next LP's with rings - TOTAL price paid £109, all included!!! Again no import duty charged (ship to work address; though import duty is only 4.7% in any way).


Can't see why I should buy anything here at the moment. Both packages arrived within 7 days!

[Tippster]

Just received an order of aluminium and Titanium bolts -

cost to me was $74 USD.

Shipping was $5 - From US to the UK

Import declaration (filled in by titaniumfasteners.com) declared the bolts had a value of $12 USD. Again like the previous post, got it shipped to my work address.



Tippster