cheap gear from the States

[mark wood]

Don't forget that buying from abroad can not only incur VAT but an additional rip off handling charge from the royal mail (for paying the VAT for you). I recently bought a Swisstool Spirit Plus for about 35 quid including postage from the states but got stung with five quid VAT and an eight quit handling charge. It's still cheaper than the UK (via ebay) but only just.

Mark

 

[Dingo]

if the item price is less than £36 and you can get your shipper to say that on the outer pakaging, and be nice to you and say its a camping gift!

there is usually no charge, i am not 100% but seems to work so far.

 

[mark wood]

Alas the seller was very honest and expressly stated that the shop wouldn't mark anything as a gift (said it wasn't worth the risk to them) . I still got the Spirit with the toolkit for about 46 quid after tax etc which is way better than shop prices and maybe 10-15 quid better than UK ebay sellers. I've also ordered cheaper stuff from the states without any problems.

 

[tetra_neon]

I was stung with a 33% customs charge on clothing which totalled about £250. I thought I was getting a good deal, as the Icebreaker merino stuff was much cheaper in their stores - but how wrong I was.

Next time i'm saving up for an annual shopping spree, getting a cheap and nasty September flight to the US and bringing it back with me in suitcase. A big one!

 

[wizard]

The costs being higher in the UK compared to the US are for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons is shipping costs and international agreements on those costs. To ship to or from the US to the UK is much, much higher than it is to Asian countries for example. It regards tariffs by the governments. I think that is why we revolted a few hundred years ago
So, if a product is made in the US and shipped to the UK, it gets customs added, extra shipping costs and therfore sells for more money.
A year or so ago a friend in the UK, a popular knife maker wanted some better knifemaking equipment from a US company. He contacted them and they gave him a price for their apparatus with shipping to the UK. The price was astronomical. Being a crafty sort, he decided to price out the various parts he really wanted from the device and ask for a quote shipped to the UK. The manufactorer said that it cost too much and was too much trouble to sell him just the parts, so they wouldn'd ship this small order to the UK. That was where I came in, the knifemaker paypaled me some money and I ordered the parts delivered to me here in the US. The shipping cost was about $12. I then reshipped the items, valued at about $200 to my knifemaker in the UK and declared the package to be a gift. Shipping was over $100!
When the package arrived, it was delayed a week or so in customs. The knifemaker was charged about $120 for duties and finally recieved the items. His total costs for the equipment which consisted of an angle adjustable plate and 2 pulleys was $500+. The parts cost $230 something. Add duties and shipping, that made the costs double.
Incidentally, if the same items were shipped to Australia, it would have cost about $300 including shipping, duties, etc.
Dealing with UK goods costs us double in the states, same way for you in the UK, figure about double. Cheers!

 

[Porcupine]

basicly it sounds like it is time for another boston teaparty

 

[demographic]

Getting it marked as a "Gift" doesn't make the slightest difference to customs.

If its value is over £36 its still liable to import tax.

 

[Tourist]

Wizard, where do you do your posting though?

I have found that many folks over there use UPS and similar private concerns whereas using US Postal Service is cheaper. As an example I was quoted $120.00 to ship a parachute over from the US by UPS. The guy in the UPS office told me to drive 5 miles up the road to the nearest post office and I would get it done for $75.00......so I did. I wrote a note on the package saying it was personal property that I was posting back (this is personal property) and not taking on the plane and I did not have any customs problems either. I have also found that if I SEND FAULTY ITEMS BACK TO THE USA FOR EXCHANGE AND ASK THE COMPANY TO MARK EXCHANGE ITEM NIL VALUE ON THE PACKAGE THERE ARE NO CUSTOMS PROBLEMS EITHER. But remember the onus is on the recipient to declare the item to Customs and VAT should any duties be owed.

I save up my wants list for the annual holiday and buy everything at the same time, normally saving the equivelent of my airfare over there.

 

[Doc]

Getting it marked as a "Gift" doesn't make the slightest difference to customs.

If its value is over £36 its still liable to import tax.

That's not quite correct.

When you buy something from the US (or any other non-EU country) it goes through customs at the Post Office unit at Mount Pleasant.

First they decide if duty is payable. The rate of this varies. However, if the duty charge is under £7, duty is waived. Also, a great many items are not dutiable. So far I have yet to pay duty on anything. Your experience may be different.

Secondly, they then charge you VAT at 17.5% on any item over £18 (not £36).
In my experience, items that are second hand, look cheap, are small, or under about £20 to £30 often pass through without any charge. But my experience is that they are less 'generous' than they used to be. Also, if duty was charged, you pay VAT on the duty (yes, even the tax is taxed!)

Finally, If any charges are due, the post office charge £8 (yes, £8 - its recently gone up!) for collecting the money. I'd be fascinated to know how much of this fee is profit.

So, if you buy an item for £20 (about $40), you might easily get a bill for £11.50 (£3.50 vat plus £8 handling)

I have to say I am now slightly wary about buying new items that cost £18 to £50 because of the handling fee. The VAT I can accept, but the handling fee is little short of daylight robbery. Once over £50 or so the savings on the UK price make it more worthwhile. In fact I have recently ordered an Elecraft K3 radio transceiver for around $2000 - I know I will get hit for maybe £200 VAT, but to buy something in the UK with similar performance would cost me far, far more.

I never ask sellers to make a false customs declaration. I don't want to seem a killjoy, but I think it's just plain wrong.

 

[demographic]

I got my figures off another forum from someone who works for customs but usually I think that as long as the item is worth about a hundred quid its worth buying it from the US, even after paying all the taxes and so on.

Mind the fact that the Dollar seems to be on its beam ends does help a tad.

 

[Graham_S]

back onto the subject of the billy,
I noticed in the description (and this made me laugh out loud) that it's big enough for a group.
It's a 10cm billy can.
a group of size 0 models maybe!
hungry bushcrafters? not in a million years.
still a good price though.

 

[jamesraykenney]

I always seem to come back with Leathermans, knives and torches.

Last christmas we relented and did the Orlando thing, oooohhhhh! The upside was I found this place on International Drive.........the words child and sweety shop come to mind.

<snip>

A place where you can shop for a girlfriend!!!
Where can I find this place???

Sweety(sweetie) means girlfriend over here...

 

[jamesraykenney]

The economic truth is that the USA owes China more than it is worth. A bit like the average credit card.........the Missus works for Barclaycard and they have stats that show that the average household over here is £40,000.00 in debt NOT including mortgage.

£40,000.00!!! That's $80,000.00!!!

Are you from the US or UK???
I knew we had a large per household debt, but I do not think it is anything like that!!!

 

[wingstoo]

£40,000.00!!! That's $80,000.00!!!

Are you from the US or UK???
I knew we had a large per household debt, but I do not think it is anything like that!!!

The even more scarry thing is that some of us don't have any other debt after our mortgage...

Oh an dmy mortgage is thankfully only £22,000

LS

 

[rik_uk3]

Our mortgage is crippling us as well, its almost £60 a month

 

[demographic]

Our mortgage is crippling us as well, its almost £60 a month

I don't like being nasty but I hope you choke after saying that

 

[Brendan]

What's a mortgage?

 

[Brendan]

Joking aside, after the North American Union goes ahead we may be saying good bye to the $US and hello to the Amero, which could be around the same value as the euro.

http://www.americandaily.com/article/19468