Shipping from US to UK

[paragon]

Has anyone bought any used equipment, i.e. Camera and/or lenses and shipped them from the US to the UK.

If so how did the UK Customs people deal with the transaction - did they charge a "clearance" fee plus UK VAT, (our sales type tax).

I am looking at buying a used Oly EP-1 in the States

Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me

 

[Austerby]

It depends what's put on the declaration form on the packet as to what you're charged. The sender should declare the full value and you will then be charged the relevant duty. This happened to me when I bought a secondhand MP from a US dealer. I think there was a fee charged by the parcel delivery service plus the duty from customs.

If the sender does not complete the form correctly or the item is marked as a low-value gift then there may not be additional duties to be paid, unless the customs checks the contents.

Best thing is to assume that you will have to pay the appropriate duty, then if you don't you have a pleasant bonus.

 

[John Lawrence]

There are some details on charges here:

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...ntent&id=HMCE_CL_001454&propertyType=document

 

[kuvvy]

Just been hunting for the Customs slips for the purchases i made from the US but can't put my hands on them. I was hoping to give you some accurate fugures. However I can tell you that I've decided not to buy from the US again, unless some changes are made regarding imports. For instance, I bought a used CV15mm for a decent price from the US. After the UK customs got hold of it and charged Tax, delivery and VAT it was almost the price of a new one, around £30 difference.
Used items are charged and even those from private sellers. I have since bought from RFF members based in Europe and of course and there is no charge.

 

[kully]

Digital cameras don't have duty applied to them, so it will just be VAT + whatever the carrier charges (around £10-15 from memory).

 

[Paul T.]

Yes, usually the carrier charges a clearance fee, £13.50 for Parcelforce who distribute USPS Priotiry Mail. Anything over $500 usually attracts their attention; they also add the VAT on the cost of postage.

I seem rarely if ever to get taxed on lenses, and usually on cameras.

On a Nikon S2 I bought on rff a couple of weeks ago, the value was declared at $500. It attracted £50.45 VAT, £12 duty and £13.50 clearance fee, total £75.95.

 

[sara]

I usually get charged £20-£30.

I remember I ordered a tiny Rollei 35 once and my customs charge was £29.

Urgh.

 

[James24]

I have bought quite a few items from the US and had them sent to me in the UK. For example, it's not easy to source Nikon rangefinders in Europe - very few made it over here new in the 1950s. I have usually been caught by Customs, and generally allow about 25% to cover VAT and clearance fees. Some things go through without this charge, but not many.

If you can buy what you want in the UK or Europe, however, at nearly the same price, I would do so. It's so much simpler, and more predictable.

 

[hjohnb3]

If the US seller ships declaring full value you will have to pay the total of import duty (c. 7%), plus VAT (17.5% on total declared cost plus import duty), plus any shipper handling charge (eg Parcelforce £13.5 for a small parcel containing a lens). For example, I bought a large format lens for $535 off e-bay in USA, and I had to pay a total of £96 in duty/vat and fees , a 27% uplift.

That's why, unless an item is extremely well-priced from the USA, or rare (which it was in my case), it makes more sense economically to source stuff from within EU. Trouble is, German or French ebay prices in euros are high, especially now with the devalued pound.

Some sellers are known to declare a low value, most don't, but just ensure that the shipping method provides full insurance value (it does not have to match) in case of loss.

 

[brainwood]

I have bought some stuff new and S/H from Fedka and usually it gets through without a customs charge. I did send a camera back for a gaureentee repair and on its return trip I got clobbered with a customs charge and even more galling a handling fee from Parcel force. I think with low cost - under $100- items its pot luck. You could be lucky but James 24 advice of factoring in 25% is no bad thing.

My experience of importing fairly cheap items from the states is the customs charge is usually low ( VAT Import duty etc) and is fair enough but as soon as as a customs charge is liable even if only a few pounds Parcel force add a charge of own of around £17.50 ( from memory) and its this that really stings.

Chris

 

[paragon]

Thanks guys - all very helpful

It looks as if it is better to buy in the UK as at least then I will know what I am paying

I cannot make my mind up on the EP-1 versus the GF 1 - I would like to try a couple of my M mount lenses on a digital camera and of course I cannot afford a M8 or better, plus the RD1 is now few and far between............I was going to buy the LX3 until I read about these Micro 4/3 bodies

I reckon that I will go for the Oly EP 1 - it would seem that the cameras are very similar, but the Olympus has IS in the body which seems to be pushing me towards the EP 1.

I would have liked to pick one up secondhand just in case I don't get on with it - the best new price that I have found in the UK is about £575, (US$950), with the kit 14mm - 42mm lens and a Oly flash and bag thrown in - I then need to buy an adapter - M to Micro 4/3 - which seem to cost around £100 - so I will be in trouble with my wife especially as the Xmas credit card bills have started to come in
- that's life - we have to keep these "far east" economies in work so that they can buy expensive German cars and middle eastern oil

(there are a few EP-1 "good buys" on US Ebay now that the EP 2 has been launched?)

Thanks again for all your comments

 

[Vobluda]

Latest limit for no tax internet purchases to EU is 150 EUR. It changes from time to time.

 

[johannielscom]

not sure if this applies to UK as well- when I started with buying & importing, I had a series of purchases enter the country without any taxes. Once they charged me the first time, I never had any parcel without charges.

 

[leicaAngst]

I once imported a secondhand lens from the US, and the thing that really pi**ed me off the most wasn't the tax and duty, it was Royal Mail's process - they send you a letter requiring you to go to a mail depot to pay the charges, and then they charge £12 admin fees too. This was an item sent via USPS - if you use a courier this will probably be slicker (since Royal Mail aren't involved) and possibly cheaper!

 

[Paul T.]

I once imported a secondhand lens from the US, and the thing that really pi**ed me off the most wasn't the tax and duty, it was Royal Mail's process - they send you a letter requiring you to go to a mail depot to pay the charges, and then they charge £12 admin fees too. This was an item sent via USPS - if you use a courier this will probably be slicker (since Royal Mail aren't involved) and possibly cheaper!

From my experience, you are far more likely to attract customs and handling charges with UPS and Fedex than via USPS/Parcelforce.

Agreed, the first time you find you have to pay a fee and turn up at the ParcelForce depot it's a real pain, but you can pay online and get it delivered to your house.

Edit: . The most outrageous time was when I received a bill for VAT, and a huge invoice for a clearance fee, from HMRC and UPS for a box of books, which some helpful editorial assistant had declared at full retail. About $600, which attracted around £100. I wrote to HMRC pointing out books were zero rated and emailed UPS telling they should have known this and could hang for their fee. HMRC were actually polite and apologetic.... UPS did eventually admit they were wrong.

 

[peter_n]

From my experience, you are far more likely to attract customs and handling charges with UPS and Fedex than via USPS/Parcelforce.

Agree completely. That works for this side of the pond too, UPS & FedEx are the worst. I gave up on UPS when Ffordes shipped me a camera and I had to pay UPS a "customs clearance" fee even though there is no import duty for still cameras coming into the US. I think you're better off with USPS/Royal Mail.

 

[valdas]

A little bit off topic - import VAT and duties are similar in all EU countries (for items shipped from outside EU), but the funny thing is with KEH. During last two years I bought from them >10 items of different value (most expensive was about 300$) and for some strange reason all packages were coming with Swedish postmarks and I did not have to pay anything... Would it be from US, I'd have to pay about 25% on top of purchase price and postage...

 

[kuzano]

I recommend USPS over Fedex or UPS

I recommend USPS over Fedex or UPS

It's been a while, but when I did quite a bit of used camera sales out of the US the fee for Fedex and UPS was a factor of 3X in price over USPS. The explanation at the time was that Fedex and UPS both do their own in-house customs. This was considered a security plus, but it also turned out that you were much more likely to pay all duties and taxes, PLUS a brokerage fee.

USPS uses the regular customs system. One way to trigger a look-see in the box is to fudge on values or do the "gift" or "return to owner" thing. I always had good experience but don't know what people on the other end paid in addition, if they did.

I do know that I shipped a Toyo 45 AII to Thailand about 6 month ago. I used USPS Global Priority. It cost me $45 in shipping and the buyer reported back he received it 4 days after I dropped it off at the US Post Office.

A half dozen items I have shipped to various countries in the last 6 months all reached their destinations in a week or less, via USPS. One ship fee for USPS.

 

[pipeclayed]

If an item is marked as a gift, can they still charge the taxes for it?