If you are thinking of buying from USA

[mike bacanin]

I've purchased many items from USA,mainly eyepieces. I'm currently experiencing a big delay with my just purchased Meade 8.8 UWA.

Thinking i could have this well in time before the 24th Dec, i asked the seller to use USPS Express Mail international, which is a fast 4/5 day global service insured and tracked.

Well, USPS did a great job, the ep was into UK customs within 36 hrs.

Then the fun started!

I checked tracking and 3 days later still awaiting customs charges.

Be aware that any item sent Express ALWAYS gets delivered by Parcelforce, as they pay the duties on your behalf,you pay the duties prior to their delivery or when you collect from their depot.

I made 2 calls to UK customs. No sir,we have cleared the item, its Parcelforce that have not done their bit.

6 DAYS, yes 6 DAYS after entry into customs, and Parcelforce finally paid the duty. By now it was too late to deliver before xmas, and it will now be 29th before i can collect.

no wonder this company is called PARCELFARCE.

They are a total joke.

I managed to speak to the MD's secretary, who has promised a refund of most of their "handling" charge.

I would advise you to use either USPS 1st class international, or USPS Priority Mail International instead of Express, as with these 2 services, you have a good chance of the item sailing through,avoiding customs, and and avoiding the dreaded P company. Not always but a good chance.

What should have been 5 days has become 14 days. With 1st class i've received items without duties in 5 days .

Btw, don't be afraid to buy from USA, i have bought around 50 eyepieces,some really great items,at a good price even allowing for duties.

Just be prepared for delays when Britain's finest get invoved!

Mike

[womblemaster]

i once bought a NIkon ep from a seller in kansas on ebay.

The muppets sent it fedex. Ended up paying import tax of £5.50+ £6.40 admin charge!

IVe had other stuff arrive via uspa, and paid no import tax.

Can you shed any light on this process, is it random, which parcels they pluckout and hammer with tax??

[skye at night]

Not bought from US for a while now as the dollar/pound rate is so poor...

plus the hefty duties..

AND if it is Parcelfarce who get to handle this side.. then they also take a hefty admin fee for taking yet more money off you...

Worth going with UPS or similar and asking seller to 'declare low'..

Of course that would be not quite legal and I would Never DO That!

Steve

[mike bacanin]

i once bought a NIkon ep from a seller in kansas on ebay.

The muppets sent it fedex. Ended up paying import tax of £5.50+ £6.40 admin charge!

IVe had other stuff arrive via uspa, and paid no import tax.

Can you shed any light on this process, is it random, which parcels they pluckout and hammer with tax??

It seems to be random to me.

I've had items around $600 USD sail straight through without customs involvement.

of course even with duties applied, you can still end up with a good deal, depending on the seller's price initially.

my post is really to highlight the problems that can happen when P get involved.

just digressing a bit, i recently had to post a heavy CG5 mount. Parcelforce were totally unhelpful,letting me struggle on my own with an injured wrist to get the large box into the depot, and then told me he would not ship due to weight, leaving me to struggle back to the car again.

DHL, on the other hand , were superb, nothing too much trouble.

Mike

[syd_malicious]

I think most of the parcel companies are as bad.

Recently had a DHL delivery - put a card through the door saying I was out even though I was in, they didn't knock (I was in the next room), They would only hold it at the depot and then I was talked to like a 5 year old when I went to pick it up. I will never use DHL again. Having said that Parcelfarce are worse!

Using USPS is the best option.

[Saturnalia]

I can recommend Interparcel for UK and European deliveries - excellent online service and they collect from your door.

I haven't tried them to the USA.

[roundycat]

I just bought some adaptors from OPT in the US. Total cost was around £300 and the package arrived very promptly. The man would not hand it over until I had paid the tax, about £70. When I mentioned this to OPT they said they could have declared it to be worth fourpence for the customs but if it was lost I would only be able to claim fourpence. Swings and roundabouts.

Dennis

[digitaldave]

I recently ordered some non-astro kit from the US, some high end headphones and an amp and DAC to drive them, both from separate suppliers. The amp/DAC was sent via UPS took two days door to door, but I had to pay about 30% extra for duties, handling etc. Good service IMO. The headphones came via USPS, but took just over a week (similar to Mike's experience), and I paid less as they were declared at a lower value - although as Dennis said, the problem with this is that if you need to claim, you can't claim the full amount. I was able to track the parcel, and it only took two days to get into the UK customs, then there was a delay of about a week getting it to the Parcelforce depot. There was a further complication in that I got a letter with the charges on saying 'come and collect it', but this was obviously generated by someone else, as when I went to the depot to pick it up, I was told it wasn't there and it hadn't been released by customs! So I had to go back the next day .

Overall, I've had reasonable experiences buying from the US, the only hiccup being the recent delay with USPS. I expect to pay the duty and handling, so this doesn't bother me, as the things I buy are either not available in the UK, or I'm saving quite a bit on buying from here.

Dave.

[Astro_Baby]

My Stellarvue finder came via Fedex and arrived three days after order which from Califormia is pretty good going. OPT said they could write the invoice down but I was too nervous in case the thing got lost. Weirdly duty on the Stellarvue finder was a lot less than on the ES1400 eyepiece on a percentage basis. No idea why.

[Saturnalia]

AB - I am interested in the F50M - are you in the UK...?

[Capricorn]

Ordered a few items from the US and by and large all been good. Usually FedEx have been the better overall.

One item via DHL caused an arguement as they tried to charge me the wrong duty rate. Not optics etc.

FedEx charged duty on one set of items but didn't on another.

MB's problem seems not to be buying from the US but that the package was handled via ParcelForce, who owing to a "problem" last Christmas I wouldn't trust.

[Astro_Baby]

Yes - Saturnalia I am in the UK. I bought The Stellarvue from OPT in the states and the ES-1400 EP from Skies Unlimited in the states as well. Both dealers were easy to deal with and hassle free. I'd normally go to Steve at FLO or Astronomia but neither of these could get these products.

The exchange rate is not very much in our favour right now. I also tried contacting Stellarvue directly but they never answered their emails. By the way if the F50M is what yo want make sure you check stock with any dealer you talk to because they are often on long lead times.