Buying stuff from america

mufc802 · 3 Mar 2013 at 21:46

Probably a stupid question but if I bought something online which ships from America costing say $799 which converts to around £550 would it actually cost me £550? The same item costs £650 in the UK. I've never bought anything online from another country before so just wondering..

ste_bla · 3 Mar 2013 at 21:48

+ Postage?

And if package caught at customs;
+ VAT
+ Import Duty
+ "admin fee" ~£20

+ Potential warranty issues

cheechm · 3 Mar 2013 at 21:48

Would probably actually cost more than £650. So better to get in in this country.

ElliorR · 3 Mar 2013 at 21:48

You'd have to pay VAT and import duty, chances of getting away without paying are slim.

mufc802 · 3 Mar 2013 at 21:51

I know about the shipping costs but I wasn't so sure about VAT. Sucks if it gets added to the price. It's a DJ controller but with fancy coloured knobs that you can only get from dj tech tools in America.

arknor · 3 Mar 2013 at 21:57

mufc802 said:
I know about the shipping costs but I wasn't so sure about VAT. Sucks if it gets added to the price. It's a DJ controller but with fancy coloured knobs that you can only get from dj tech tools in America.

you could get lucky and it never gets looked at in customs but if the item is properly declared for what it is on the customs info thing then its highly likely it will get vat added

cheechm · 3 Mar 2013 at 21:57

mufc802 said:
I know about the shipping costs but I wasn't so sure about VAT. Sucks if it gets added to the price. It's a DJ controller but with fancy coloured knobs that you can only get from dj tech tools in America.

Which one out of interest?

mufc802 · 3 Mar 2013 at 22:01

cheechm said:
Which one out of interest?

https://store.djtechtools.com/trakt...&utm_content=S4-Sale-Splash-1&utm_campaign=S4

Traktor Kontrol S4. Already have an S2 but want the S4.

cheechm · 3 Mar 2013 at 22:07

Guess you could just buy the knob pack (https://store.djtechtools.com/chroma-caps-knobs-and-faders.html) which wouldn't be subject to any of the fees ste_bla talks about.

ElliorR · 3 Mar 2013 at 22:37

The knob pack

Can't you get them from Ann Summers?

CREATIVE!11 · 3 Mar 2013 at 22:48

I bought something that cost like 90 quid from America once,

Didn't get nailed with VAT.

n3vrmind · 3 Mar 2013 at 23:01

Some american retailers will label it as a gift meaning that you wont get done for VAT, but if customs find out theres no guarantees about what will happen

n111ck · 3 Mar 2013 at 23:30

My US launch PS3 got through marked as a $1 toy.......

Ohnoezfail · 4 Mar 2013 at 00:17

My bag of holding had me pay almost double the price to get it :/

arknor · 4 Mar 2013 at 00:38

n3vrmind said:
Some american retailers will label it as a gift meaning that you wont get done for VAT, but if customs find out theres no guarantees about what will happen

The receiver is responsible for how things are declared not the sender afaik so it could get you in trouble

memyselfandi · 4 Mar 2013 at 02:56

n3vrmind said:
Some american retailers will label it as a gift meaning that you wont get done for VAT, but if customs find out theres no guarantees about what will happen

Erm all marking it as a gift does is raise the threshold when VAT is applied to £36 ... The cost is well over that so gives you no gain with the possibility of pain if Customs discover the fraud.

atpbx · 4 Mar 2013 at 08:51

My launch day PS3 came from Hong Kong, and I didn't get stung with VAT.

All my collectables (which cost me around £200 a pop) all come from Hong Kong, Malaysia and the US, and I never get stung with VAT.

memyselfandi · 4 Mar 2013 at 09:00

Well you're lucky ... sometimes you get things come through particularly on normal post without charges ... but you should always assume, when looking at prices and deciding to make a purchase, that you will have to pay otherwise you could get a nasty surprise.

Personally I've been charged 4 or 5 times since Christmas for various amounts (normally the VAT charge is less than Post Office handling charge on most of them) latest being 3 CDs last week ... and I've got another two which I'll probably get charged for today too ...

Raymond Lin · 4 Mar 2013 at 09:23

It is a lottery and one that the odds are not on your side.

I used to buy a lot of DVDs from American before the .co.uk site and Play took off, the Post Office didn't catch items as often then (Amazon always label items correctly with prices on the sticker).

If you send it via courier then it is almost certain you will get stung for it. The last 2 items I bought from the states I could not source from the UK at the time so had to buy from the US, so there was no comparable price, each got stung good and proper. It was a nightmare trying to find £50 in cash I tell you, I had to raid my piggybank and give the UPS guy £20 in change as I only had £30 in notes in my wallet.

tom_e · 4 Mar 2013 at 09:28

cheechm said:
Guess you could just buy the knob pack (https://store.djtechtools.com/chroma-caps-knobs-and-faders.html) which wouldn't be subject to any of the fees ste_bla talks about.

You would still be subject to all of the charges mentioned as they're all over the threshold for non gifts. That's going by the value pack prices.