Proxy Service (Buyee etc.)

[DHR]

Interested if people have used and been stung by proxy services such as Buyee?

I'm trying to figure out the approximate final price of some items I'm interested in, and it's fine until consolidation comes up, then the dreaded £135 value from a customs perspective (which I now believe includes the value of the shipping costs), plus VAT whacked on top of that?

My understanding so far is...

Value of item bought outright - £100

Domestic shipping example - £20

Proxy Fees + International shipping example - £50

That totals £170 which means you get hit by +20% VAT, processing fees (parcel force etc) plus customs depending on what the original item is given the item total, plus shipping is over £135.

Am I going mad or does that make sense? Intrigued to hear if anyone has tried the services, specifically from Japan

 

[413x]

Interested if people have used and been stung by proxy services such as Buyee?

I'm trying to figure out the approximate final price of some items I'm interested in, and it's fine until consolidation comes up, then the dreaded £135 value from a customs perspective (which I now believe includes the value of the shipping costs), plus VAT whacked on top of that?

My understanding so far is...

Value of item bought outright - £100

Domestic shipping example - £20

Proxy Fees + International shipping example - £50

That totals £170 which means you get hit by +20% VAT, processing fees (parcel force etc) plus customs depending on what the original item is given the item total, plus shipping is over £135.

Am I going mad or does that make sense? Intrigued to hear if anyone has tried the services, specifically from Japan

Was gonna get a jacket from ebay USA.. But the customs + vat + courier handling BS etc just came up as too much for me.

 

[Martynt74]

I think you can usually get the Proxy to put a lower value on it, but then that also opens up risk if there are issues with shipping etc.

 

[Tephnos]

Interested if people have used and been stung by proxy services such as Buyee?

I'm trying to figure out the approximate final price of some items I'm interested in, and it's fine until consolidation comes up, then the dreaded £135 value from a customs perspective (which I now believe includes the value of the shipping costs), plus VAT whacked on top of that?

My understanding so far is...

Value of item bought outright - £100

Domestic shipping example - £20

Proxy Fees + International shipping example - £50

That totals £170 which means you get hit by +20% VAT, processing fees (parcel force etc) plus customs depending on what the original item is given the item total, plus shipping is over £135.

Am I going mad or does that make sense? Intrigued to hear if anyone has tried the services, specifically from Japan

The £135 does NOT include shipping costs. Shipping costs ONLY apply (and are charged with VAT) if you exceed the £135 limit. I sometimes buy things from FromJapan and have never been stung by keeping shipments under £135, regardless of the cost of shipping.

Make sure you avoid EMS though. It goes through ParcelForce which are by far the worst for opening packages and making up their own values. Go with Fedex instead (or airsmall small packet for stuff under 2kg).