Buying from abroad

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mooch

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I was wondering how many people buy from abroad and get stuff shipped here? Looking at some lenses through ebay and was wondering on how many people get stung by customs?

The prices look good but not if another 30% is tacked onto the price.
 
I was looking at getting an L-plate bracket for my A700 and the only place for a decent fit is B&H in the states. The duty is a lot though and it will be expensive. I haven't done it but wouldn't recommend it without working out all the costs first. Do have a google, there are quite a few people with good experiences and knowledge.
 
Have been stung very badly when a Canon body never arrived from HK despite being paid for, I am now very wary of dealing overseas.
Admittedly this was six or seven years ago and I think there are more reputable dealers out there now with huge feedback statistics, but you takes your chance so to speak.

Some traders offer to refund you the import tax IF you get charged and IF you fill in the traders claim form.

All seems a bit of a lottery to me and personally I can't be hassled with it.

But to look on the bright side - at least I wasn't charged duty on the body that never arrived.
 
It is a lottery, I've bought a fair bit of other gear (shooting,hides,astronomy) from the states and been lucky most of the time, but when I haven't been lucky I found theres more that just duty on the price of the goods to pay.

Firstly you pay vat and import duty at current rates on the invoice total, so they charge you on the shipping and insurance as well!!
Then theres the £8 flat fee to parcel farce for working out what to charge you or if to charge you and then deliver to you, criminal in my mind.

Also a lot of companies stateside etc will now charge VAT at source, so you have to pay it to them at checkout, in europe you need to watch out as this can often mean companies trying to charge you 19% vat instead of 17.5%, I actually had this with adobe when I upgraded to CS5, they did sort it out though.

In other words, darling and broon did as much as they could to shut any loopholes and make sure that not only did they get their cut but that you have to pay them/there agents for working out their cut and them taking it from you.
 
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Recently, everything coming in from outside EU seems to have been hit for duty. I had a shipment from the US which had a value of £20. After the post office had put thier £8 handling fee and VAT had been added, it cost over £30.

Of course the sender can underdeclare it, but the problem with that is that any shipping insurance will only cover up to the declared value.
 
It completely depends on your luck and where you buy from.

If you get lucky and don't have to pay anything then you save yourself a bunch. If not then you probably pay around about what you would buying from a local store.
I say its still worth it if you want to try and save yourself some cash.

DigitalRev told me I may or may not get charged.
Customs check what is leaving the country and may decide just to skip your package.

My D700 + 50mm was classed as insured for just under £200 - Obviously we know its worth nearly £2000 or more...
However a couple of years ago I got a D90 2 lenses a back pack and a bunch of other gear and I got charged over £400.00
 
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As posted -luck of the draw. If bought (non photographic stuff) from the far East & the States. Sometimes the bits have been held by customs sometimes not. When they come the import duty & Vat (also on carriage) are due. An internet search should tell you what duty's due & then add the vat. If it's still cheaper then happy days. I've had to pay duty on delivery (to the courier) though claimed it back as it wasn't actually due.
 
I've had some small bits, replacement LCD screen for Blackberry, screen protectors and most recently a rubber eyecup and I've never had an issue but I would worry about something large like a 70-200 or a camera body.
 
I bought My 40D and 17-55 f2.8 from Digital rev. Both were on one of their "we will pay vat and tax" offers.
Both times I was caught and had to pay vat and tax. Digital Rev paid it back to me the same day.. Their stuff was sent a very funny route.. Kong Kong---Birmingham---Hamberg--- manchester.
 
Also remember stuff from outside the UK may not have a warranty.
 
I've imported some stuff and it can add up to 30%, depending on where you get it from. The example below is for a £1,000 lens imported from Hong Kong with shipping of $30 and insurance of $20.



Parcelforce will charge a small handling fee as well.


http://www.dutycalculator.com/
 
TCR4x4 said:
Also remember stuff from outside the UK may not have a warranty.
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Yep, you need to check what warranty they offer, main reason why some-things are cheaper is because its a sellers warranty (rather than a manufacturers one) which means you'll have to ship it back to HK or where you bought it from to get it repaired. Its a risk you take.

Also if your doing it legit, then for lenses, there's a 6.7% import duty charge on top of the 17.5% Tax that you would have to pay, for camera's you only have to pay 17.5% Tax
 
What sort of charge would be made on a 30 year old LF lens value approx $200.
 
How about dropping Kerso a PM? He send the stuff from Scotland, but purchased in the US. He always comes up trumps and is cheaper than UK stuff. Perhaps not stuff from the far east, but at least you know you'll not get stung for any other hidden charges.
 
iancandler said:
Then theres the £8 flat fee to parcel farce for working out what to charge you or if to charge you and then deliver to you, criminal in my mind.
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Allow me to correct a misconception you have about these charges. Firstly, PF do not decide when or what the charges are - that's down to HMRC working in the hub at Coventry or Heathrow inbound reception. Next, before PF can take the parcel out of customs bond they pay the duty/charges on your behalf so the £8 fee is intended to cover the interest on that payment plus insurance against you refusing to pay. It is a one size fits all fee to make administration easier ... sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Delivery to your door (on at least two separate occasions if you're not at home the first time they try) or to an alernative address/local post office of your choice is already paid for by the sender.

All-in-all it's a very reasonably priced service. The alternative is that HMRC write to you with a demand for the duty and then you go and collect it from London. Could you do that for £8 from anywhere in the UK?
 
Bristolian said:
Could you do that for £8 from anywhere in the UK?
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£8? Parcelforce charged me a clearance fee of £13.50 on some tripod stuff :cautious:

Import duty - £19.79
VAT on import - £83.23
Parcelforce clearance - £13.50
Total - £116.52

(Imported from RRS, USA - in Aug 2009).
 
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Ozei said:
£8? Parcelforce charged me a clearance fee of £13.50 on some tripod stuff :cautious:

Import duty - £19.79
VAT on import - £83.23
Parcelforce clearance - £13.50
Total - £116.52

(Imported from RRS, USA - in Aug 2009).
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Sorry, Ozei, I was responding directly to Ian's post but yes, there are two fixed charges. The higher rate £13.50 is triggered when the rate of duty exceeds a particular figure rather than by the actual amount charged. It's not unheard of for the PF charge to be higher than the duty owed.
 
Bristolian said:
Sorry, Ozei, I was responding directly to Ian's post but yes, there are two fixed charges. The higher rate £13.50 is triggered when the rate of duty exceeds a particular figure rather than by the actual amount charged. It's not unheard of for the PF charge to be higher than the duty owed.
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Ah thanks Steve, that explains it.

I can see how the PF charge could exceed the duty - if the import is of relatively low value they'd still have to do the same amount of admin etc.

I have to say PF were hyper-efficient getting my stuff through.
 
Im no aiming for the moral high ground, as I've tried to avoid / evade tax before, but in this day & age should it be encouraged?
If the government got all the tax it was due for whatever, would the various public services be under threat. I was shocked when a plumber didn't take cash for a small job. TBH now Im ashamed I asked him.
 
I guess people even think about this option because of the usual price difference in UK market and abroad. On some of the bodies/lenses you will be paying lower even after including import duty/tx/Vat etc. Why don't we have a B&H like prices in UK :thinking:
 
I would never buy from overseas.

The only online retailer I would trust now is Amazon, even if it is slightly more expensive.
 
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