Customs Charges In The Uk When Buying From The Us

[Royvdbb]

Hello All,

 

I'm looking at my next pen and it would be coming from the US. It's approximately £1,000 and I was wondering what charges are likely to be added, so I can work out whether the deal is viable?

 

Does anyone have any experience of this?

 

Kind regards,

 

Roy

[daintydimsum]

you're looking at a handling charge (£8 for RM and I think somewhere in the area of £13 for parcelforce) + VAT at least.

 

this topic has been discussed this year. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/261272-importing-pens-into-the-uk-from-the-us-any-experiences/

[Royvdbb]

Thanks - I've just spotted the old thread, so I'll look there.

[Uncial]

You will have to pay a Customs Duty Fee and VAT on the item, along with a handling charge. Your best bet it to look up the Royal website as I am sure they must have a way of letting you calculate it to work out what you might owe. It can get expensive. Where I live they work out the fee in the currency printed on the packet -i.e they don't convert it into Euro's and then calculate the charge. So if an item is 1000USD, they will calculate the duty and VAT as if it were €1000 (if that makes sense). They will also include the insurance costs on the item and the cost of postage. I'm afraid I don't know if Royal Mail do that, but again, I'm sure you could find out how they calculate charges from their websites. But it pays to make calculations in advance and know what you have to pay when you actually get the item in your hand. Sometimes, it isn't worth it.

[migo984]

At that cost you will be charged import VAT, customs duty plus the admin charge from Royal Mail or Parcelforce. See HMRC web-site.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/tax-and-duty.htm

[Chrissy]

It's possible you may escape customs duty because I remember there were experiments about UK hubs only charging VAT on goods imported for personal use. That experiment was a long while ago though, and I don't know if it was implemented permanently.

 

You will be charged a minimum of 20% VAT on the total value of the goods including P&P and insurance, plus whatever handling fee is charged by the carrier who will have to pay the VAT before the goods are released from the hub.

[Uncial]

If you know anyone who lives in Northern Ireland who lives close to the border with the Republic, there is a way around it. It's perfectly legal, but involves a bit of faff. You have the item sent to a thing called Parcel Motel, someone in the North crosses the border and then collects and opens the packet. repackages it for you and sends it on posted form the Uk.

[Apprenti]

Price of item + 20% of price = final price including customs.

 

Received three expensive parcels recently, all with 20% customs +£8 handling.

 

At the moment, you can use the rule 'if you change the dollar sign to a pound sign that's what you'll pay'. Obviously, this'll change eventually, but it works now.

 

Best,

Joe