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Buying something from U.S for £121 plus £22 postage which makes a total of £143.71.
The bike shop says that this total includes shipping and brokerage ( whatever that is)
As the item is less than £135 will I have to pay vat this end?
What other fees will there be?
Doubt it. Last few things I’ve had from the states have had exorbitant postage costs, but then nothing else to pay on arrival, but that might just be luck of the draw?
When postage has been more normal, I’ve had extra to pay.
brokerage is the process of processing the duty and taxes on a package and paying the appropriate assessed charges.
USA shipping allows the sender to elect to pay these charges/fees or pass them onto the receiver.
IF they are electing to pay and they are using an international courier like UPS then you shoudl have nothing more to pay.
If they use low cost carriage who keeps passing the package to someone else and it ends up being DPD'd to you then don't be surprised if theres an additional charge.
They are using USPS first class international to ship.
I did have a look an online import fee calculators for some shoes I wanted and the fees came out too high.
the one I used was called simplyduty.
The £135 is only for Europe anyway. You might get lucky but assume you’re getting taxed on the whole amount (and hope for the best)
@bearback is correct in terms of what brokerage means but it doesn't sound right in terms of numbers, the shipping they've quoted isn't enough to cover vat on the item, let alone any other duties etc so I would personally budget to be billed Vat and handling at least
usps will go to parcelforce and there will be handling charges.
I'd expect charges at that value. Around 23% or so of total value (Inc shipping)
Daft point zippy, they do realise UK is a whole different country not just an out of state sale don't they? So much as anything else it occurs to me £22 postage isn't an awful lot for international (depending on what's being sent) and brokerage would be common on out of state domestic sales in the US.
in my experience, if a company sends you an international package via USPS, royal mail or canada post you won’t get hit with the handling fee, though you may need to pay vat.
edit: i’ve not bought something from the USA and had it delivered to me in the UK for over 10 years. things may be different now! i suddenly feel old…
Have got a friend visiting a friend in California. Will get it posted there as soon as I get the address.