[Closed] Buying stuff from the US of A

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Both 🙁 . I've just bought a bargain Kona f/s frame from cambriabike.com - cost me £350 including shipping - I knew there'd be duty to pay on top but was surprised to received a bill from FedEx for £11.76 duty, £10 advancement fee (whatever that is) and £52.40 VAT 😯 - still a bargain but hadn't budgeted for all that too.

Sounds like what I am looking at might not be quite such a bargain after all. Thanks both.
S

In rough terms worst case 25% of the total you pay the shop plus 10-20quid courier fee, best case is nothing.

Bit hit and miss sometimes ive got stung, but other times items just come in post with no charges added.

I have bought several items from the states for my bikes and never got charged until I bought some Saint Brakes a couple of years ago and the post office wouldn't release the brakes until I paid the tax. It's fair enough, i got a great price, at least 50% cheaper than in the UK at that time, I must admit i had never even thought about the tax implications when i bought abroad.

If they tick the gift box before they send the items, you don't pay tax, but most legitimate sellers in the states wouldn't do this!! 🙂

Hi if it is delivered by Royal mail the following used to happen. I would have to pay import duty and Royal Mail got a fee for collecting it. The last time this happened it was I think £13 fee plus considerably less for the duty AND you had to go to a sorting office to pay it and get your parcel. Now I was never charged VAT (Vat in US is depending on the State about 5% but you should not have to pay it if it is being exported). Why I paid no VAT I cannot say. [b][u]You do not have to pay VAT or import duty if the items value is below a certain price in dollars[/b][/u] (it change with £ $ exchange rate). Also there is another rule about it being a pressy all this can be found out on the internet (customs and exercise I assume). Now surprisingly all the goods I get from the US meet the requirement of being a pressy and being below the import duty threshold. My brother in the US sends them to me. OF course if the Ebay price put on the customs declaration by the seller was within these rules then you would not have to pay anything!!!!!!!!!!

There is a threshold for duty on gifts and it's not particularly high. Above that value duty is payable. Of course if it is actually a gift then the sender can pay for it in advance.

Were I selling stuff abroad then there is no way that I'd take the risk of deliberately marking down the value of the item as it loads a significant risk onto me were anything to go wrong in transit.

Not that I would ever suggest that anyone should try to circumvent HMRC, however purely for the purposes of practicality, I have all US purchases sent to one of my firms US offices (it helps to pick one in a state with no sales tax!) and then the firm sends it over to me with all other internal mail.

This also opens up a wider range of sellers, since some won't ship outside of the US.

Were I selling stuff abroad then there is no way that I'd take the risk of deliberately marking down the value of the item as it loads a significant risk onto me were anything to go wrong in transit.

Budget in that you will have to pay VAT, import duty and a handling fee. If it's no longer a good deal don't bother - that way if it slips through you get an unexpected bonus.

Both parties can get into trouble if the sender lies on the customs form. The buyer may just end up paying the duty for the correct cost (rather than the $18 gift the form says it is), the sender could be a lot worse off. All of their packages being stopped for inspection is the lightest they'll get away with, can extend to jail time.

the sender could be a lot worse off. All of their packages being stopped for inspection is the lightest they'll get away with, can extend to jail time

$18 gift

http://www.dutycalculator.com/