talizman

iTrader: (1)

I've just bought an item on ebay from the USA and knowing my luck, I'll be one of the few that get stung for import duty.

Does anyone have any idea how it's calculated, and is it directly proportional to the value of the item?

The item cost £360 btw.

ozzy

Depends on the item. The actual tariff document is about 1000-pages long.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...ument#P49_4191

IIRC you should pay 3.5% Import Duty and then 17.5% VAT on the value of the goods inc. postage.

Get them to mark it as a Personal Gift with a value < £7

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

it all depends on who the courier is as to wether or not you pay duty !! and it varies from each item i have paid £40 duty for a $200 item and the same on a $400 item so god knows how they work it out

hedgehog

They charge a fixed fee for determining the value of the item and then they charge VAT at the going rate on the item. Then, as mentioned above, they charge duty on the item depending upon precisely what it is. This can vary wildly depending on the exact nature of the thing you have bought but usually it is about 3ish percent as stated by ozzy. So, the total is usually in the 20+ percent range for most goods and you are probably looking at handing out about £90 if you get done for it.

talizman

iTrader: (1)

Ozzy,

I had a search and found that nightmare document you refer to!
Do they make it such a horror-bag deliberately in the hope that no one reads it and everyone gets stung?
I already asked the seller to mark it as a gift but they are a straight laced outfit and said no!

Stevebt,

The courier is UPS.
I could handle £40 as I'd still be saving over a hundred quid.... fingers crossed

hedgehog

I think UPS are an agent and so they can, in effect, bring the item in and then bill you for the duty at a later date. With this in mind you may get the package and think you've got away with it only to find you get a bill in a few weeks. It is highly unlikely that you will get away without paying duty with UPS just because they probably want to hold on to their status with the revenue.

RichWalk

Try running an import/export company we have to tariff all of our parts and our in/out-bound values/qtys/weights are recorded and sent to HMC every month

rotty

it won't be 40 quid

luckily normally you only get stung for vat and handling ( based on prive inc shipping ) , I have only once been charged duty as well

on this basis you will be charged about £75 ( assuming the £360 includes shipping costs )

Scooby Soon!

Again it depens if shipping is included in that price, I think UPS charge a £12 handaling charge for paying the duty for you + on average 10% on the total cost of shipping and goods + 17.5% VAT on top of all that.

I would of said around £100 at least!

talizman

iTrader: (1)

The £360 is including shipping with UPS.

I hope to god its not as much as £100 tax!

Don't you just love this country!?

Given our cost of living, you'd expect our quality of life to be far superior than any other country yet its far from the truth. Mugs we are!

talizman

iTrader: (1)

Well I got a letter from Parcel Force today....

They are holding my item for the ransom of £76.49

Can't complain really, cos the total outlay has been £435ish so still a saving of just under a hundred quid over UK prices.

OllyK

I remember when I used to have a hard copy of that on my desk in a couple of lever arch files. We used to get send updates monthly and then would begin the task of taking out old pages and putting in the new, ho-hum.

ozzy

sounds like you've just been charged VAT @ 17.5%

nae luck

Stefan

Freak

You can bet your *** about £20 of that is parcelfarces '(mis)handling fee'

pacenote

I have found that goods imported from USA now always attract some form of customs charge (This maybe due to some sort of trade war between the EU and USA )

I have just received goods to the value of £110 ($203 including shipping ) and have been charged:

£9.25 import duty
£21.86 VAT
£13.50 Parcelfarce clearance fee

Still saving money on UK prices (just ).

talizman

iTrader: (1)

The £76 was broken down as follows.....

Import Duty - £11.35
VAT - £51.64
Parcelforce clearance fee - £13.50

I should be happy as I've still saved nearly a ton, but if I lived in America I'd have got it for £300 instead of £430.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

in america they have an 8% sales tax that gets added to everything !! so you wouldnt of got it for the price you think across there either