Import Duty

[Chas B]

I have purchased a cartridge from a Japanese ebayer. Delivery is expected 8th September but I have a notice of Import Duty to be paid (from DHL).
In my past purchasing of items from abroad, getting items through customs was a matter of luck but at least you had a chance of getting lucky.
So does this mean that all imports will now require the duty to be paid in advance? No more 'getting lucky' with customs?

[struth]

often depends on the way they are couriered. with big compamies you will certainly pay.. snailmail is a bit of luck/badluck

[prestonchipfryer]

Win some, lose some unfortunately.:)

[StingRay]

Probably a DHL method?

Last time I had to pay at the post office. £8 PO handling fee has put me off ordering cds form the USA, it is not worth, the PO fee was about 1/3 of the price.

[Sherwood]

I have purchased a cartridge from a Japanese ebayer. Delivery is expected 8th September but I have a notice of Import Duty to be paid (from DHL).
In my past purchasing of items from abroad, getting items through customs was a matter of luck but at least you had a chance of getting lucky.
So does this mean that all imports will now require the duty to be paid in advance? No more 'getting lucky' with customs?

In addition to the duty you will almost certainly have to pay an admin fee. For low cost items this can be as much as the duty.

[Swann36]

Its interesting what you say a couple of years ago i bought Stax Headphones (Earspeakers as Stax call them) and matching headphone amp (Energiser) from 2 seperate Japanese authorised dealers within a week of each other...both sent via DHL the headphones first ...like you i got an "import duty invoice" for both... interestingly the headphones was for the full amount ..i knew it was costly beforehand ...the amp which followed a week or so later had a much much lower duty than i was anticipating, i duly paid online and waited, well both arrived in the same delivery to me the headphones seemingly being held "awaiting customs clearance" until the amp caught up, following the online tracking once the amp was showing in the UK ..both left customs the very next day....upon opening the boxes and reading the customs declarations i noticed that the amp was only priced in Yen and the headphones were priced in US dollars (both exactly as i had paid) .... so i'd have to guess that someone got the yen to pounds conversion wrong and by a factor of 2x based on what i had actually paid versus what i expected ...so i think its still possible to "get lucky" with customs ..

StingRay ... you are so right about the PO handling fees it really kills low cost items from abroad ...

[Chas B]

Win some, lose some unfortunately.:)

I guess what I'm asking is are the days of 'win some, lose some' over? Are all items now having duty slapped on before they even reach our shores?

[Sherwood]

I guess what I'm asking is are the days of 'win some, lose some' over? Are all items now having duty slapped on before they even reach our shores?

No, duty/vat has always been levied by couriers on behalf of HMRC. Sometimes, items delivered by ordinary postal services would get through the net but not always. IIRC items below £18 were not charged, though this figure may have changed now.

[Macca]

Under 30 dollars value IIRC.

[Sherwood]

Under 30 dollars value IIRC.

I seem to recall that a single cd or dvd would get through without additional charges!

[Macca]

I think duty on hi-fi is 20% and then you've got VAT at 20% and you pay VAT on the freight charges too. Can all get a bit frisky if you don't take it into account when buying from outside Europe.

[Marco]

I'd just taken delivery of this cartridge loading plugs kit (and an LP I bought) from the same company in the States: https://store.acousticsounds.com/d/60043/DB_Systems-DB_Systems_DBP-6_Phono_Capacitor_Loading_Kit-Turntable_Accessories

The total was just under $60... It arrived within 4 days, delivered straight to my door by Fed-Ex, and I paid bugger all import duty or taxes.

I'm expecting a rather different story though when the $1300 MC cartridge and SUT I've bought from Japan arrives!:)

Marco.

[Sherwood]

Spme vendors undervalue goods to promote sales. Chinese vendors have even offered to do this for me as a sales incentive.

[Macca]

What commodity code did they use though? Some things are exempt from duty and some from VAT.

Or although it is a US company it might have actually shipped from within the EU.

[Marco]

Commodity code? No idea, mate. I'm pretty sure the items came directly from the States, as all the communication I received came directly from their office in Kansas.

Marco.

[Macca]

Commodity code? No idea, mate. I'm pretty sure the items came directly from the States, as all the communication I received came directly from their office in Kansas.

Marco.

Yes more of a rhetorical question really. The commodity code should match the description of the goods on the commercial invoice, that's how they calculate the charge. If it doesn't match then they will either check or change it to the right code. Obviously, otherwise you could use the wrong code in an attempt to avoid the taxes.

But you can't have a code for every individual item under the sun so sometimes it is debatable as to what code it should be charged under. That can cause a lot of issues if someone thinks they have been charged too much when the code gets changed on clearance as someone decided it was not suitable for the goods. It gets complex.

[mikeyb]

Bills for imports can arrive days/weeks later.

The limit is now only £15 on new goods and expect to pay around 30% plus collection fee over your initial outlay.

£100 item plus £10 postage would work out like this:

Import duty of 5% - £5 so now you’re at £105, add the postage to that, £115 now, then add 20% VAT to £115, now your at £138.00, now add the collection fee which varies depending on which courier/postage company used but on items like this example you’re looking at around £8-£12, so your £110 initial buy has now hit £146.00, which is why I usually estimate for about 30% added to anything you import from outside the EU.

These figures are all approx of course.

[Marco]

Yes more of a rhetorical question really. The commodity code should match the description of the goods on the commercial invoice, that's how they calculate the charge. If it doesn't match then they will either check or change it to the right code. Obviously, otherwise you could use the wrong code in an attempt to avoid the taxes.

But you can't have a code for every individual item under the sun so sometimes it is debatable as to what code it should be charged under. That can cause a lot of issues if someone thinks they have been charged too much when the code gets changed on clearance as someone decided it was not suitable for the goods. It gets complex.

Yeah sure, the whole process has always been somewhat 'hit or miss'. I do agree though, that often the best way of avoiding getting stung for import duty is to opt for shipping via 'snail mail', as, IME, that often does result in things slipping through 'the system'.

However, the corollary of that is that you lack the protection/piece of mind of a speedy, insured and trackable service, and so often whether your item(s) get there or not is in the lap of the gods, and if it does, it will not happen quickly, versus the former, where you get the complete opposite, but which will almost certainly 'trigger the system' and thus attract the associated charges.

I guess it depends on what you've bought. It might not matter so much if it's something small and fairly inexpensive, but if it's the opposite then that's a different kettle of fish... Personally I'd always opt for the speedily expedited, fully insured and trackable service, if it was something that was really important, and gladly pay the charges accordingly!:)

There are times in life when penny pinching is almost certainly going to be a false economy....

Marco.

[RobbieGong]

I think duty on hi-fi is 20% and then you've got VAT at 20% and you pay VAT on the freight charges too. Can all get a bit frisky if you don't take it into account when buying from outside Europe.

Yep