buying used from the states?

[nightfisher]

If i bought a used ep from a chap in the USA would i pay duty on it, the total would be $62.50 including shipping

[Ruud]

Please tell us what happens.

What eyepiece did you buy?

[Uplooker]

Hi Jules,

Yes is the answer. You would have to pay VAT, thats 20%. Thing is you pay VAT on the item value and the postage. Plus you get charged a handling fee by the Post Office / courier for dealing with the Customs element.

This applies whether or not the item is 2nd hand.

[moriniboy]

Also depends if the seller put the full value on the postal form. 

[Ben the Ignorant]

There is so much choice in used gear within Europe, plus one store or the other is always offering a discount on some piece of equipment, it's quite possible to find what you want without the risks and the fees if you shop around. Or pay a little more for peace of mind, which is quite valuable.

What is the eyepiece (no need to disclose who the seller is) you want to buy?

[Piero]

Unfortunately yes.. 

Hopefully a new trade deal us-uk will cut off this extra tax. 

[Louis D]

The UK is unbelievable in this respect.  The US grants $800/day/individual duty free on imports, new or used.  There is also no sales tax (VAT) applied to any imports from anywhere in the world.

[MarsG76]

Here it's upto $1000 tax free.. but second hand is never taxed....  I imagine for second hand items its the same in the UK???

 

[ronin]

I suspect you will find it is very dependant on who the shipper or final delivery is performed by.

PO/Parcel Force appear to have the view that as they apply an Administration charge it is to their advantage to apply VAT charges whenever possible and sting you for the priviledge. They in effect cannot make a loss, even if they collect for HMRC only pennies.

Have found that FedEx appear to have a value limit below which they do not bother, the last time this occurred was on items I bought and found (as a ball park figure) that under £100 value they didn't bother and above that they did. This is based on experience of 3 or 4 items that I purchased all around the £100 mark. The ones above I got charged, the ones below nothing charged.

I have the vague memory that HMRC do not bother themselves if the collected amount is (more corrrectly was) below £18 and some pence. To them processing the paperwork was not worth the charge.That was when VAT was 17.5%, which would kind of match to a value around £100.

However the EU had some "guide line" that EU countries "should" charge on values that were quite low. I think it was not an EU Law but the PO/Parcel Force took the approach that if they followed this suggestion and additionally applied an administration fee they could collect a fair bit of imcome. So they applied it, and when asked they blamed the EU.

Part of the problem is that it is Used but also Import.

[nightfisher]

I think i will drop this idea, the eyepiece is a Celestron Halloween 40mm plossl, its going to work out at aprox £67 on arrival if duty and PO fee`s are applied, a fair chunk of money for an old EP

[moriniboy]

Its the Royal Mail charges that sour the milk on lower priced items , this was $50.

[Alfian]

An interesting and useful thread. I once toyed with importing some nice binos from the USA but it was all the add-ons that killed it. Its a pain when a good second hand deal gets scuppered because some involved in the process wants a piece of the action. It makes you wonder if smaller charges were applied it would encourage more trade so everyone "wins".

[tooth_dr]

I was in the states recently. A PST delivered to door was just $599 from Amazon. So that's about £480. Didn't buy one but super value.

I bought sunoculars at £24 delivered, priced £50+ over here. I used them over there and were under my allowance anyway so no issues.

When I upgrade to a CCD or similar it's going to be tempting to buy it on holiday  

 

[DAVE AMENDALL]

It was'nt so bad a few years ago when the pound was strong against the dollar. I remember buying a number of items direct from Lumicon and other US suppliers in those days even with customs duty. But nowadays with the weak pound,it's not really worthwhile 

[carastro]

I can't believe we have to pay customs duty on 2nd hand goods, that is really taking the mickey.  

Carole 

[ronin]

As Moriniboy says it is the PO that upset it all. HMRC would not bother for £2.23, whereas the PO make their money by the £8 Handling fee.

2 hours ago, Alfian said:

An interesting and useful thread. I once toyed with importing some nice binos from the USA but it was all the add-ons that killed it. Its a pain when a good second hand deal gets scuppered because some involved in the process wants a piece of the action. It makes you wonder if smaller charges were applied it would encourage more trade so everyone "wins".

It was binoculars where I found that over £100 I go charged but under that I was not. The one I did not get charged on was a spotting scope at around £90. That came in "free" whereas the earlier 2 sets of binoculars at £123 (if I recall) were charged VAT. Was not overly bothered as the cost was such that I paid for the good set and the lower spec set were free compared to cost here. £123 and £22 is £135 and the good set alone cost £136 here at the time, so the second set were in effect a freebie.

As said this was all with FedEx and I have tended to use them owing to the lack of problems, immaterial of what is often said. The binoculars were impressive in their delivery from Deluth Minnisota to Shipley Yorkshire in 2 days. Watching the tracking progress was amazing. Another aspect of FedEx for me is that they are not that far away, 2 junctions down the M11 to Stansted.

I do not think we pay VAT on UK used goods but it is still an import so possibly a grey area, I do not believe it is applied to goods bought in the UK (EU as well I suppose now). However guess the PO will apply the charges "to be on the safe side", and get their Handling Charge. They basically have identified a way of getting money out of you, and not a lot you can do.

Did get something from the US recently and that avoided charges. Mainly as the shipping cost was undefined. The package used a franking system where it is prepaid and deducted from the senders account, it meant however that there was no cost on the label. In effect it read no charge. That I suspect kept it down sufficent.

Convinced that if you want a good item tha costs a bit then you could get a cheaop 3 day break from Virgin and still come out on top. Especially if purchased at NEAF.

[Alfian]

These binos were well over the £100 mark and not available in the UK (Oberwerks), but given the much better exchange rate then it would have been a good deal compared to buying them now! Oh well, benefit of hindsight and all that.

[Dave In Vermont]

What about 'gifts?' It used to be that marking things as 'gift' got around the VAT and such.

Not sure if it was the UK or another part of Europa this was though.

Dave