When you get "fined" its either a withdrawal of privileges or you'll end up buy a 100 quid handbag as compensation
I usually stick with the EU or the Far East. EU doesn't qualify for duty etc and the cheap Chinky stuff just seems to slip through. US I always seem to get bummed Some of the sellers may mark the value down, some won't. remember that if they mark it as $10 and it goes missing, this is probs all the can claim back. Annoying really as spares from the US are often more keenly priced, even with the delivery charges.
Some sellers on eBay use their global scheme which takes shipping and all relevant taxes into the asking price.
I recently got a part delivered from the US, rip off customs scum charged me £37 for an item that cost £100, was fuming.
When they say Fine, it normally means things aint Fine and she is now thinking up ways of making you pay for your error a thousand times over ...............
According to the Urban Dictionary this is the meaning: "Fine Fuck off and die used when a girl wants to end a conversation. she doesn't want to talk to you anymore and is annoyed. boy: crap crap crap lie lie lie girl: fine!"
Just a thought. I didn't accidentally order something from Israel recently and although we are happy for them to join us Europeans in a kick about and karaoke I'm fairly sure they are not in the EU. Now this fictional item was quite a small item, certainly no set of pipes, but it got through customs fine. Although in reality it didn't because this is all fiction. Maybe at Christmas with the increasing work load and massive increase in presents being sent more stuff will/would get through. Just a thought.
I used to buy and sell many ducati parts in the US.I sent quite a bit of 999RS stuff out and lots of high quality ducati performance kit. I found when buying just factor in the import duties and parcel force £12 handling charge.The vast majority of it from the US always seemed to get picked up by customs.I managed to get some kit from a US ebay seller and saved over £700 compared to UK/EU prices.Had to pay import duties plus handling fee but who gives a fuck at that price lol.
I've ordered from Israel with no charges from customs. Like Matt says though it really depends on the price, as even with charges et al, if you're still saving a chunk of cash its win win.
You'll have fun with this. I spend a lot of time in the US while not resident there and have sampled all-shapes of purchasing stuff from there. My observations are as follows: 1) If you're in the country, buying stuff from a shop in person, all is well and good. Be aware though that US prices are typically advertised WITHOUT State Tax. They add this at checkout and you can't claim it back. This, as the name implies, varies from State to state. It often approximates to 10% or so. 2) Most on-line US companies will not accept a Non-US credit card unless shipping to the billing address of the card. Very few companies indeed will ship to a hotel for fear of credit card fraud. The order may well APPEAR to go through on-line but you'll find that the Status then goes to "Pending" or "Hold" for an extended period of time. They almost never call you but a call to them uncovers that they won't ship to non-billing addresses for fear of CC fraud. 3) US companies willing to ship to the UK are fine but yeah, be prepared to get killed with duty (and sometimes a significant delay) at Customs and Excise when the goods arrive in the UK. Some (smaller) items will slip through sometimes but calculate likely duty while working out any potential savings. 4) Talking of calcs, work out the £/$ exchange rate carefully. The "spot rate" quoted on most foreign exchange websites is NOT what you'll pay. Check the rates charged by your bank/credit card company, they can be a LOT worse. If you keep all those factors in mind, you'll get no nasty surprises! Good luck! FBB
Based on the invoice accomnpanying the goods. If there isn't one they'll hold good until you produce one. Beware presenting false documentation to Customs and Excise, they'll have your balls!
Yup. Plus 2.5% Customs Duty on goods over £135. Note they charge Vat on good price plus shipping to you pay 20% more for that too (f*ckers!) Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad - GOV.UK
No worries. Wish the reality was as good as it first appears when looking at those US$ eBay prices! :-(
