Importing Postal Items from the US to the UK


Recommended Posts

Does anyone know if all parcels are stopped coming into the UK or does it purely depend on what is written on the label?

 

About 10-15 years ago I was sent a parcel by someone in the US.  I don't remember how it was marked but I didn't have to pay anything extra.

Around the same time, a family member paid for a T-Shirt from the US.  They ended up having to pay additional monies

Another example is when I purchased something from a well known arty website.  They marked the item as a gift so I didn't have to pay anything.

 

So will it depend on the sender marking the item as a gift?

 

I wanna purchase something but the only place that sells it is in California, but I don't want to get stuck with huge import fees.

 

Item is worth $85 / ?55, with postage at $40 / ?25.

Adding the 20% (?16) VAT I would pay plus any other charges will make the 92mm water cooler nearing ?100  :/

Not sure it's worth it for -10?C in the case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I regularly receive parcels from Australia and have never been asked to pay VAT (or seen any sign that my parcels have been inspected\tampered with).  Having said that, I've never attempted to import electronics and it's possible that they target these specifically.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never had to pay import duty on anything I ordered but I've never ordered anything with value over ?15 (Remember shipping cost doesn't count towards the value of the import).

 

Personally i'd just order your liquid cooling unit from the UK, by the time you've paid the import VAT and shipping you probably won't save any money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ Yeah, the biggest problem is that a 92mm cooler doesn't exist in the UK :(

The only place is online through eBay, of which I have gone and bought it now so will see what fees I'll end up with.

Still convincing myself it's a good buy which will hopefully hold it's value in years to come due to it's uniqueness. But then it should be good to last years, especially if the processor is nice and cool. First time with liquid cooling too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I regularly buy model car parts from Hong Kong and the USA. I can tell you know that anything from HK is usually marked as gift or commercial sample, and because of this you pay no import fees.

The USA is different, everytime I pay import fees. Ranging from about ?10 on a ?30 exhaust system. To ?25 for a ?100 chassis kit.

Ive tried several times to have the items marked as they are in HK (gift etc) but it would seem that most USA business avoid doing this. Im assuming as to not be caught using some kind of loophole.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.