I received an email from Astro-Physics...

[giorgio_ne]

Dear All,

I have received an email from Astro-Physics. After waiting for seven and a half years, I am now in line for the purchase of a Starfire 130 GTX 🤩

I am based in the UK and I would like to know what taxes, custom duties, VAT etc. I'm expected to pay on top of the refractor price and the accessories I'd like to order.

Insurance and shipping will be communicated separately by AP and I can handle that, I do not have any idea however on what other charges I'm expected to pay, when and how...

Is there here any UK based AP customer that could kindly give me some indication?

 

Many thanks in advance.

Giorgio

[Elp]

Haven't bought one but have imported from a variety of countries.

You pay 20pc UK VAT on the total invoice amount, so the invoice should be the purchase price of your items PLUS the shipping cost. Unless your items are classed as specialised under the international commodity code system, I don't think they'll be additional import duty but check with the seller for the commodity codes (which is mandatory to declare on paperwork for export/import) and check the UK gov CC checker website. If you don't pay the VAT directly at point of sale to the seller (whom should pass it onto the courier whom remits HMRC when it enters the UK), then you pay it to the courier company when it lands in the UK whom remit HMRC and they'll also charge a small handling fee. You can handle it yourself but better for someone to do it on your behalf as getting involved with shipping requires a lot of prerequisites.

Note you'll also be charged a currency conversion fee by your payment method issuer.

Congrats if you're going to go ahead with it.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Elp

[johnturley]

I think there will be import duty (somewhere in the region of 10%), I had to pay this when I imported an Astro Physics Refractor in the 1980's, and the 20% VAT will be charged on top of everything including the carriage charges. The courier may also add on a customs clearance charge, although I avoided this by picking up the telescope from the bonded warehouse at Heathrow, and filling in the paperwork (I expect its all electronic these days) myself, so not very good news I'm afraid.

John 

Edited August 5, 2023 by johnturley

[GoldTop57]

4% import duty for a telescope into the UK

[900SL]

The courier should deal with customs etc and advise you on the amount payable. On transfer, they then clear the goods and continue onward shipping. I suggest you check with AP prior to shipping as to the courier and insurance, 

[Elp]

17 minutes ago, GoldTop57 said:

4% import duty for a telescope into the UK

Best to check commodity codes then to be sure as it adds a significant amount to the cost. I've imported camera lenses, telescope lens accessories and there was no additional duty, just the VAT.

[900SL]

oh, and congratulations!

 

[John]

Last time I imported something from the USA (an eyepiece) the import duty plus handling fee added around 22% in total to the purchase price.

 

 

[Dark Raven]

7 hours ago, giorgio_ne said:

I have received an email from Astro-Physics.

Congratulations and welcome to the club. I'm not from the UK so my recent import experience may not be relevant. All was handled by the FedEx.

Darleen and Roland were quite helpful and accommodating. In my case the accessories increased the price by 1/3 of the OTA. Telecompressor, camera adapters, rings, diagonal, barlow, adds up quite a bit. 

Here you can see what to expect when it arrives:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/395115-astro-physics-110mm-f6-starfire-gtx/?do=findComment&comment=4385162

Hope you go through with the purchase. I have not regretted it, just want more opportunities to use it.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Dark Raven

[Shimrod]

16 hours ago, Elp said:

 

Note you'll also be charged a currency conversion fee by your payment method issuer.

 

You may be charged a currency conversion fee depending on credit card. If you spend overseas it's worth getting a credit card with no currency loading fee. Travel credit cards at MoneySavingExpert.com is a useful starting point for  a list of cards which are suitable.

[niallk]

Pity you're not buying from Ireland... they sometimes just charge zero import duty / tax on expensive telescopes 😉🍻

[Cjg]

On 05/08/2023 at 17:05, giorgio_ne said:

Dear All,

I have received an email from Astro-Physics. After waiting for seven and a half years, I am now in line for the purchase of a Starfire 130 GTX 🤩

I am based in the UK and I would like to know what taxes, custom duties, VAT etc. I'm expected to pay on top of the refractor price and the accessories I'd like to order.

Insurance and shipping will be communicated separately by AP and I can handle that, I do not have any idea however on what other charges I'm expected to pay, when and how...

Is there here any UK based AP customer that could kindly give me some indication?

 

Many thanks in advance.

Giorgio

Congratulations! 
I received an email from Darleen at A-P 2 years or so ago and took delivery of a Stowaway. Customs and import duty added to that by the shipping company, at Stansted was a painful £777, from memory.

Think you can  definitely expect to pay 20% VAT and any extras DHL / FedEx etc add into the bundle.

Good luck,

Chris

[Giles_B]

Ditto that - last year I bought my Nagler zoom second-hand from a seller in the USA through Astromart. I paid $350 (£290 at the time) for the zoom, but then had £75 of fees added for customs and import.

There was no UK stock at the time, so saving money was not the primary motivation, however, the total came to close to the price of a new zoom (£400 at the time) once customs was factored in.

 

[Louis D]

When importing expensive items into the US, it can sometimes be to the buyer's benefit to break-up the purchase into sub-$800 chunks to come in under the $800 de minimis allowance per day per person to avoid import duties/tariffs.  The downside is paying multiple shipping fees.  Thus, shipping accessories separately from a new OTA can avoid fees on them.

[giorgio_ne]

9 hours ago, Cjg said:

Congratulations! 
I received an email from Darleen at A-P 2 years or so ago and took delivery of a Stowaway. Customs and import duty added to that by the shipping company, at Stansted was a painful £777, from memory.

Think you can  definitely expect to pay 20% VAT and any extras DHL / FedEx etc add into the bundle.

Good luck,

Chris

Did you pay £777 and an additional 20% VAT on top, or the £777 amount covered  VAT + Customs + Import Duties?

 

[Elp]

If your total purchase amount is say 1000 and delivery is 100 the total shipping invoice amount is 1100, you then pay the 20pc VAT, any duties and handling fee on top. Taking the example above on duty at 4pc and say a handling fee of 50, you multiply the 1100 by 1.24 and add the 50 so the total is 1414. It's just a rough calculation which has never failed me.

[Captain Scarlet]

On 06/08/2023 at 23:23, niallk said:

Pity you're not buying from Ireland... they sometimes just charge zero import duty / tax on expensive telescopes 😉🍻

Not for me they didn’t unfortunately. For my Stellarvue in February I got charged 23% for the VAT and 4.2% for the Customs, as expected.

M

[Captain Scarlet]

For currency conversion, I used my Revolut account, which with their “premium” level allows unlimited amounts of currency conversion at close to mid-market fx rates. You can then remit directly in usd to astro-physics. Premium costs a few £ per month and you’re committed for a year iirc, but what you save in fx rate should easily outweigh that.

At least, that’s what I did.

(and congratulations by the way)

Cheers, Magnus

Edited August 9, 2023 by Captain Scarlet

[Cjg]

On 07/08/2023 at 21:13, giorgio_ne said:

Did you pay £777 and an additional 20% VAT on top, or the £777 amount covered  VAT + Customs + Import Duties?

 

£777 was the total, including VAT I paid over and above the purchase price from Astro-Physics.

[gusdozzin]

On 06/08/2023 at 02:56, Dark Raven said:

Congratulations and welcome to the club. I'm not from the UK so my recent import experience may not be relevant. All was handled by the FedEx.

Darleen and Roland were quite helpful and accommodating. In my case the accessories increased the price by 1/3 of the OTA. Telecompressor, camera adapters, rings, diagonal, barlow, adds up quite a bit. 

Here you can see what to expect when it arrives:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/395115-astro-physics-110mm-f6-starfire-gtx/?do=findComment&comment=4385162

Hope you go through with the purchase. I have not regretted it, just want more opportunities to use it.

Although the price was increased, it didn't really matter to me. Because free spins no deposit nederland allow me not to save. Their bonuses always make me happy.

Hello. Are you by any chance from the Netherlands? I'm trying to calculate the total cost of imports so I can plan my budget in advance

Edited April 29 by gusdozzin