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Seen a rather nice vintage overcoat on eBay but it's in the US and is showing an $80 import charge.
Naturally, I don't want to pay this. Any way around it?
Thanks.
Go to America and buy it.
Ask Boris if he wouldn't mind negotiating a better trade deal
Nope. But in my recent experience the GSP worked out cheaper and more efficient than ‘going it alone’.
Something ordered from the states on 1st, arrived cleared at my door with nothing else to pay on the 8th. Contrast that with a similar package that I bought directly from someone, took longer to clear customs and then sat with the courier for ages who told me I had to collect in person to pay the fee. Took about 3 weeks and cost more (both very similar items) once you factor all the additional courier charges and the VAT on top of everything.
One guy asked me to list about 10% of value and pay rest directly to lower GSP fees. As a seller I'd want a non reversible payment so riskier for buyer, as a buyer I'm not sure I'd bother.
I bought some derailleur hangers for my chameleon using GSP. Say what you like but they turned up on time with no hassle from my end. Yes it costs a bit more but was worth it in my case (no spares in Europe). YMMV
Get yourself a tax-free Stackry address in the US and order it from eBay for domestic shipping, I’ve done it with a few HomeKit accessories that aren’t available in the UK but are on the US Apple store, last one I received cost a massive £11.75, then using Aramex as the freight option to the UK, no duty and vat to pay on a £146 item despite all customs documents and invoice value being correctly declared.
(Apologies mods, I wasn’t aware of the no referral codes rule, thanks for pulling me up on it)
Naturally, I don’t want to pay this. Any way around it?
Don't blame you, given it seems to get it's pricing from the PX Sales dept. Never bought through it myself but mates have looked at it, done the math and figured they are charging about double what the actual costs are. They quote duty on things that are zero rated.
Plenty of services that'll give you a us address and forward it to you. MyUS, us2me etc.
Second hand item so presumably the seller paid US sales tax on it when new, so being hit with duty and/or VAT is double taxation? Should be able to reclaim the US tax on export to offset against the UK taxes. How to do this I have no idea!
Tax and duty covers new and used goods, over £135
Intriguing that despite correct customs documents and being £11 over the threshold for duty & vat, I wasn’t charged.
Biggest issue here is if anything goes wrong with postage (ie it doesn't arrive, its damaged etc) you'll not be able to claim the amount you paid for it, only the amount declared on the customs slip.
If you want it, buy it and suck up the tax and duty.
Well, I didn’t notice there was a ‘make offer’ option. I put in a lowball offer and the seller countered with something silly like 5$ off. But, that seemed to cut the import charge almost in half for some reason. Put in another counter offer just because I like this game. But if he doesn’t shift, I’ll just buy it.
Thanks