Buying from US?

[Kenny Cargill]

I'm in N. Ireland, looking to buy a guitar and prices much cheaper in US.
If I buy online from US would I be liable to pay import duty, VAT or
anything else on top of cost price?

Kenny Cargill

 

[NY]

I'm in N. Ireland, looking to buy a guitar and prices much cheaper in US.
If I buy online from US would I be liable to pay import duty, VAT or
anything else on top of cost price?

Not sure whether it's the same in NI as in the rest of the UK, but here's a
cautionary tale, based on our experience in England:

If you order from overseas and customs decide to charge import duty, you
will be liable to pay that duty (fair enough) but also you have to pay a fee
(between £8 and £14) to ParcelForce or Royal Mail for them to pay that duty
on your behalf. ParcelForce won't deliver until you pay the whole lot: duty
and their own fee.

I've heard it suggested on discussion forums that you should get the sender
to mark the customs form "duty will be paid by recipient" which means that
customs will bill you directly (which takes a bit longer to receive their
letter and for them to receive your cheque) but it nicely avoids ParcelForce
being able to perpetrate their little scam on the recipient. The fee is the
subject of a LOT of angry discussion on forums, as you can imagine!

Even better if you can get the sender to say that the item is "commercial
sample" or "gift" rather than "merchandise"

 

[Stephen Wolstenholme]

I'm in N. Ireland, looking to buy a guitar and prices much cheaper in US.
If I buy online from US would I be liable to pay import duty, VAT or
anything else on top of cost price?

Kenny Cargill

Unfortunately you will be charged the lot. You will need to pay it all
before the carrier will deliver. The only way to avoid the charges is
to get someone to send it to you as a gift but then the giver has to
provide documentary proof of their identity and why they are sending
you a gift.

Steve

 

[Wolf K]

Not sure whether it's the same in NI as in the rest of the UK, but
here's a cautionary tale, based on our experience in England:

If you order from overseas and customs decide to charge import duty, you
will be liable to pay that duty (fair enough) but also you have to pay a
fee (between £8 and £14) to ParcelForce or Royal Mail for them to pay
that duty on your behalf. ParcelForce won't deliver until you pay the
whole lot: duty and their own fee.

I've heard it suggested on discussion forums that you should get the
sender to mark the customs form "duty will be paid by recipient" which
means that customs will bill you directly (which takes a bit longer to
receive their letter and for them to receive your cheque) but it nicely
avoids ParcelForce being able to perpetrate their little scam on the
recipient. The fee is the subject of a LOT of angry discussion on
forums, as you can imagine!

Even better if you can get the sender to say that the item is
"commercial sample" or "gift" rather than "merchandise"

Anybody who knows about paperwork costs will tell you that 8 to 14 GBP
is reasonable. Really.

Anecdote (from a long time ago, but it's still relevant): One of my
summer jobs as a student was in a small welding gas plant owned by Union
Carbide. One of my duties was to replace empty gas cylinders, and bring
the pink copy of the invoice to the office. One day I asked the clerk
how much these 4-part invoices cost. He told me a chap in Winnipeg had
done the costing: $8.30 _each_ from the time the order was placed until
the accounting copies were destroyed after statutory storage time.
Farmers typically came in to exchange small cylinders, paying just over
$5 for the gas.

That's when I began to think hard about the cost of doing business. IMO,
most companies are far too large: they spend an inordinate proportion of
their resources merely on keeping themselves informed about what they
are doing. "Economies of scale" is a superstition.

Have a good day.

 

[Laszlo Lebrun]

I'm in N. Ireland, looking to buy a guitar and prices much cheaper in
US. If I buy online from US would I be liable to pay import duty, VAT or
anything else on top of cost price?

Kenny Cargill

Open a subsidiary in the Caiman Islands...

 

[stones]

Open a subsidiary in the Caiman Islands...

What does any of that have to do with Windows 7, Laszlo?

 

[Martin Edwards]

What does any of that have to do with Windows 7, Laszlo?

Anyway, why are American guitars the same amont in pounds as they are in
dollars? I can't see any excuse, although of course they don't need an
excuse if people will pay it.

 

[Laszlo Lebrun]

Anyway, why are American guitars the same amont in pounds as they are in
dollars? I can't see any excuse, although of course they don't need an
excuse if people will pay it.

one of the explanation is that the pound prices include VAT, US prices
not....

 

[Desk Rabbit]

Not sure whether it's the same in NI as in the rest of the UK, but
here's a cautionary tale, based on our experience in England:

If you order from overseas and customs decide to charge import duty, you
will be liable to pay that duty (fair enough) but also you have to pay a
fee (between £8 and £14) to ParcelForce or Royal Mail for them to pay
that duty on your behalf. ParcelForce won't deliver until you pay the
whole lot: duty and their own fee.

I've heard it suggested on discussion forums that you should get the
sender to mark the customs form "duty will be paid by recipient" which
means that customs will bill you directly (which takes a bit longer to
receive their letter and for them to receive your cheque) but it nicely
avoids ParcelForce being able to perpetrate their little scam on the
recipient. The fee is the subject of a LOT of angry discussion on
forums, as you can imagine!

Even better if you can get the sender to say that the item is
"commercial sample" or "gift" rather than "merchandise"

Yeah that way you'd only have to pay the fine for false declaration and
possibly only spend a few days in the slammer. And you'd probably lose
the goods into the bargain.

 

[Kenny Cargill]

Thanks for the replies. A friend some years ago was looking for a specific
Gibson guitar, cheapest price in UK was £1200. His friend, a musician, was
in the States at the time, bought it there for £800 and put it in with his
band's gear coming back, saving £400. Any wonder it's known here as Rip Off
Britain (ROB).

Kenny

"Laszlo Lebrun" wrote in message

Anyway, why are American guitars the same amont in pounds as they are in
dollars? I can't see any excuse, although of course they don't need an
excuse if people will pay it.

one of the explanation is that the pound prices include VAT, US prices
not....

 

[NY]

Anybody who knows about paperwork costs will tell you that 8 to 14 GBP is
reasonable. Really.

When you order an item that costs a few tens of dollars and then find that
you end up paying over twice that after duty and ParcelForce costs, you
don't regard it as "reasonable". I don't think it is reasonable to have to
pay the carrier an extra charge (no matter how small it may be) when
sufficient postage has already been paid by the sender to cover delivery to
your house, and you are having to pay an extra cost that is incurred only
because customs decide to charge VAT.

Hence my suggestion to bypass this charge (legally) by getting customs to
send the VAT bill directly to you.

 

[Wolf K]

one of the explanation is that the pound prices include VAT, US prices
not....

Another is that exchange rates have nothing to with buying power.


Best,
Wolf K
kirkwood40.blogspot.ca

 

[John Williamson]

Thanks for the replies. A friend some years ago was looking for a
specific Gibson guitar, cheapest price in UK was £1200. His friend, a
musician, was in the States at the time, bought it there for £800 and
put it in with his band's gear coming back, saving £400. Any wonder
it's known here as Rip Off Britain (ROB).

Kenny

"Laszlo Lebrun" wrote in message

one of the explanation is that the pound prices include VAT, US prices
not....

To bring it back slightly less off topic for the group, it has been
traditional for decades for the GBP price to be the same number as the
USD price for computer parts and software. A lot of retail items are
priced at a psychological break point of x99, and this doen't always
bear much of a relationship to the cost of production.

For guitars, if they are made in the USA, shipping and "evaporation" en
route will account for a part of the difference. Try adding the postage,
import VAT and carrier fees to the US web price, and the UK based online
dealer price *should* be slightly lower. Or you could take a holiday
over there, and pay the duty and VAT yourself when you fly back.

£8 equates to about 30 minutes of time for the carrier at their standard
charge out rate, IME. The deal can take an hour to do, if it's a bit out
of the ordinary.

 

[Scott]

I'm in N. Ireland, looking to buy a guitar and prices much cheaper in US.
If I buy online from US would I be liable to pay import duty, VAT or
anything else on top of cost price?

Kenny Cargill

What conceivable relevance does this have to Windows 7?

 

[s|b]

I'm in N. Ireland, looking to buy a guitar and prices much cheaper in US.
If I buy online from US would I be liable to pay import duty, VAT or
anything else on top of cost price?

It depends. Is the guitar compatible with Windows 7?

 

[Mellowed]

Anyway, why are American guitars the same amont in pounds as they are in
dollars? I can't see any excuse, although of course they don't need an
excuse if people will pay it.

Soon Obama Care taxes will make US prices the same as the UK. We're
following the lead from the UK.

 

[mick]

Soon Obama Care taxes will make US prices the same as the UK. We're following
the lead from the UK.

......and then the UK will up prices back to the same level as before :/

 

[Iceman]

I'm in N. Ireland, looking to buy a guitar and prices much cheaper in US.
If I buy online from US would I be liable to pay import duty, VAT or
anything else on top of cost price?

Kenny, please stick to Windows 7 subjects in this group, when you start a
new thread. Find a suitable forum for other subjects.

And why not ask the customs authorities?

 

[Martin Edwards]

Any wonder it's known here as Rip Off Britain (ROB).

Another nick is Treasure Island?

 

[Martin Edwards]

.....and then the UK will up prices back to the same level as before :/

Betcher ass.