Buying from the US - Import Duties?

[digitaldave]

I'm considering buying a scope direct from the US manufacturer, but one thing I'm wary of is the import duties that I'll get hit with when it arrives. Has anyone bought a scope direct from the US, and if so, what sort of duty did you have to pay? The scope in question is a Stellarvue SV102ED, so if anyone's imported one of those, even better .

Thanks,

Dave.

[Milamber]

Best bet is to budget for around 20% in total, it may be less but it will not be more. Remember that VAT and import duty are payable on the total sum you paid, so that incudes the shipping charges... There is no longer (and hasn't been for some time) the cjhoice of calling things "gifts" and bypassing the duty system - neither is asking the seller to put a lower value on the import forms... but this is more for warranty issues.

Arthur

[blinky]

It is a bit hit and miss whether you get charged import duties or not. Bear in mind if you do get caught and asked to pay them then I think the duty is calculated as a percentage of the total cost of the item + Postage + Vat so this can work out to be quite a bit.

[Merlin66]

I agree with Blinky, seems to be a bit of hit or miss. Usually there's the VAT and the 8GBP (minimum) service charge from the Royal mail, and any additional costs ( Duty etc) will be based on total price ( including freight and insurance) - 20% is a good all up estimate.

BTW getting warranty support over here from US suppliers is not easy! They claim you should have purchased the goods through their local agents in the first place!!

[Ben Ritchie]

Request USPS (i.e. standard post) rather than UPS/FedEx seems to help ease the passage through customs - my experience is about 50/50. The downside is that it ends up with Parcelfarce on this side, and if it does get trapped by customs it spends a week doing nothing before you get hold of it....

Agree with the suggestion of expecting +20% (I assume 22%, but VAT is 2.5% cheaper at the moment) and treating anything less as a bonus

[Andrew*]

I think 20% is a bit conservative TBH - you will almost always pay 15% VAT, 4% import charge and a handling charge - could be £15-20 for a larger item. And that's without postage from US. Aim for 25% and you won't be disappointed.

Andrew

[astro84]

Hello,

I'm considering buying a scope direct from the US manufacturer, but one thing I'm wary of is the import duties that I'll get hit with when it arrives. Has anyone bought a scope direct from the US, and if so, what sort of duty did you have to pay? The scope in question is a Stellarvue SV102ED, so if anyone's imported one of those, even better .

Thanks,

Dave.

I have purchased a few scopes (and mounts) direct from the US to the UK - including Stellarvue refractors.

The last SV scope I imported direct from Stellarvue in Aug 2008 had the following SH costs:

Shipping: US$88.00

Customs (VAT/import duty, etc): £138.65

Hope this helps..,

Regards,

astro84

[ZOG]

I paid £83 import VAT and handling on a £500 item from Australia, and this didn't include import duty as they classified it as duty free.

[SteveP]

Dave

I've bought a few things from the US - not just astronomy stuff but also some expensive US-made hifi ... although that was when the £-$ was more in our favour. Overall though, I've found that it's been advantageous to do this

The facts about importing can be got from the HRMC website but they can take a bit of finding amongst all the legal blurb. But to summarise

You'll pay for three extra items in addition to the scope itself and the shipping

1 VAT - 15% on the declared value of the item including shipping (this is shown on a customs declaration form prepared by the dealer)

2 Duty - it varies by item but for scientific or electronic related stuff is about 5% of the cost of the item, excl shipping this time

3 A fee to the courier - I've paid anywhere between 0 and £12

It's not cheap and you need to weigh it up against the UK prices.

You might be lucky and pay nothing for duty & VAT ... it's the luck of the draw

A word of caution though. Before you do this, make sure you understand the warranty issues. Some warranties from US sellers are NOT accepted by UK dealers/distributors. It depends very much on the manufacturers approach. And therefore if there are warranty issues, the item may need to be returned to the US dealer. I know of this from personal experience and it can be a PITA to get resolved

Good luck

Steve

[johninderby]

20% plus £13.00 clearing fee is about right. One thing I have noticed recently Customs seems to have tightened up their system. I import from the US for my business (not big orders but about £500.00 to £1,000.00 at a time) and absolutely NOTHING has gotten through without charges in the past 6 months. It doesn't seem to matter what shipping method is used or if just addressed to me personally.

Don't always assume that importing is cheaper. I took a quick look and the Stellarvue SV102ED with Feather Touch is actually about £100.00 cheaper here than it is imported after paying the shipping, import duties and VAT. Work out the costs very carefully before deciding to import. Of course if it's out of stock in the UK it may be worth importing anyway.

John

[mike bacanin]

The above posts are pretty much spot on regarding the duties etc.

Don't always assume after sales will be poor from USA.

when i dealt with Moonlite for instance, the service was terrific,above and beyond normal.

Believe me i've encountered truly awful customer service here in the UK on occasions!

Mike

[digitaldave]

Thanks for the replies everyone . I'm hoping to get a quote for the shipping soon, so I should be able to come out with an approximate cost. I've always assumed that I WILL have to pay the duty, so I'm just trying to work out how much it will be, no if I will have to pay it in the first place.

As for after sales service, I'll check to see what their policy is regarding this. I know US customers have said Vic gives excellent service, but they are domestic customers. Hopefully their overseas service is as good. Of course, it'd be even better if I didn't need any after sales service... .

Dave.