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I'm not convinced, that Travelex is free for spending. The website says:
"Normal sterling travellers cheque commissions apply on purchase and reload of the GBP card. The commission payable both on purchase and re-load of the card is currently 2%."
and
"9.4 If a Card transaction or ATM withdrawal is made in a currency other than that loaded on the Card the amount will be converted into the currency of the Card. The exchange rate used for the conversion is the wholesale market rate or the government mandated rate determined by VISA in effect the day the transaction is processed, increased by 5.75 %."
and
"7.2 The foreign exchange rate used for placing of funds on the Card through an Agent (and any commission charged by the Agent) is determined by the Agent."
Another tip for getting round duties etc on imports is to ask the sender to write 'Warranty Replacement' on the customs form attached to the package...it's worked for me several times!
From my experiences of shipping stuff here from the US, the initial duty is calculated on a variable scale, usually around 6-7%, on the declared cost of the goods plus shipping cost. Then there's VAT @17.5% on all of that, and another charge by the deliverer (eg, Post Office) for handling all that for you and collecting the dosh. All this mounts up, especially if you use air freight.
Sometimes a well-meaning sender will inflate the value of the goods, in case of loss. You pay for this dearly when the charges are calculated!
Last edited by Team_Twister; 21-11-2007 at 9:25 AM..
Reason: Omitted title
Something not mentioned in the article is state dependant sales taxes (not applicable to online buying I know)
I travel frequently to New England, flying in to Boston, Ma, I always make sure I do my shopping over the border in New Hampshire though as there's no sales tax there, versus the extra 5% I'll get charged in Massachusetts.
My sister lives in Concord, MA., which is west of Boston and I fly over to see her once a year. I believe Nashua, New Hampshire is about a one hour drive (depending on traffic) from Boston, and Nashua is loaded with malls, outlet stores, Costco and tons of other clothing, computer stores, etc.
The other option for Boston travelers is the Wrentham Outlet Mall in, you guessed it, Wrentham, Massachusetts. They have a website:
I would guess that it is a good 1 - 2 hour drive from Logan Airport in Boston, but it's worth a day out visit. I picked up a pair of Timberland boots for $75.00 (£36.00).
Also a ton of other Ralph Lauren shirts and ties all reduced prices, that would normally sell for £50.00+ in Debenhams or John Lewis.
Another note is to avoid flying out in the winter. Boston winters are horrible and they get snow drifts of up to 3 feet at a time. Sometimes this snow will stay on the ground for month's at a time, and also much colder than here in the UK.
If there is a 'nor-easter' (horrible snow storm from the NorthEast), the driving conditions could be very dangerous for us Brits who drive on the wrong side of the road...ha ha.
Learning to drive on the right side is difficult enough in the best of weather conditions.
On second thought.......how about Orlando for winter shopping?
On another note, my sister used to ship me over items that were under the VAT allowance and she would put 'gift' on them and it would make it through customs no questions.
The U.S. Mail used to have an International Envelope that she would stuff full of goodies and the cost for posting was only $10.00 for the envelope, items were all small.
Now the U.S. Mail has discontinued the service and the costs have gone up considerably. I guess they got wise to all the Ebay purchases using this service and it wasn't making any money?
My best suggestion is to have a friend or family member who can send stuff over. I have never tried any of these forwarding companies.
Something not mentioned in the article is state dependant sales taxes (not applicable to online buying I know)
I travel frequently to New England, flying in to Boston, Ma, I always make sure I do my shopping over the border in New Hampshire though as there's no sales tax there, versus the extra 5% I'll get charged in Massachusetts.
We do mention this in the article under the sales tax bullet and say:
Five US states don't charge this tax; Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon; so shopping there can be cheaper.
To add to my earlier comments on buying from the US, some later thoughts I forgot to include...
Most - not all - mail order purchasing in the US is free of State Sales Tax (eg 6% or 7% in Florida, varies from county to county). This only has to be charged, apparently, if the mail order company has an outlet in the destination state, or of course if they're shipping within the same state. So if you buy by mail order there's a pretty good chance you won't be charged sales tax, unless you buy from a big store with multiple outlets.
The original article mentions US voltage, which is of course different to the UK, and that some electronic items will accept both. Beware though, if you plan to use a transformer, that the US frequency (of the AC voltage) is 60Hz, and UK is 50Hz, so it's not only voltage that you need to check.
That said, I brought back with me several years ago a power saw that you can't buy here, and it runs just fine via a building site 110v transformer...and US service personnel in the UK have access to 230/115v transformers as a matter of course, so they can use their own vacuum cleaners and so forth.
I wanted to know what are the pitfalls of ordering this from the USA? The same watch on Ernest Jones is £950, using Martin's guide I worked out that it would cost me £800 at the most, is that correct?
Would the watch be well packaged and the parcel tracked when it's sent? Would I have any problems with Customs?
Many US shops are willing to ship things. When I buy things in New York, for example, I try to have them shipped, which means that New York Sales Tax is not payable: what I save in Sales Tax covers the cost of shipping, and I don't have the extra weight to carry in my luggage.
I am a little confused over the duty and VAT. I want to buy a pda on e-bay. From the states its much cheaper, espcecially as I believe there is no duty on a pda. But would I still have to pay the 17.5% VAT?
In Martin's article about buying from the states - In the section under Customs duty and VAT , under Customs clearance charges, it says that if "shopping online from the U.K., if there are duty and /or VAT chargers, the delivery company will pay this on your behalf"
Does this mean that the e-bay seller will cover my duty ( which in this case I don't need to pay) and my VAT charges. In other words, is it covered in the price I pay? This is the part I'm confused about . Thanks
When a US person leaves the UK, they can claim back the VAT they paid of stuff they bought.
There does not seem to be a similar facility to allow us from the UK to claim back the sales tax when we leave the US.
However, when I investigated this, I am sure I came across some sort of certificate of foreign residency thing you could register for prior to buying anything in the US which you could then show to the retailer so that they need not charge the sales tax.
I can't remember the name of it or anything, but it could be a useful tip to save even more money if we could identify it.
In Martin's article about buying from the states - In the section under Customs duty and VAT , under Customs clearance charges, it says that if "shopping online from the U.K., if there are duty and /or VAT chargers, the delivery company will pay this on your behalf"
Does this mean that the e-bay seller will cover my duty ( which in this case I don't need to pay) and my VAT charges. In other words, is it covered in the price I pay? This is the part I'm confused about . Thanks
Hi misterspoon, I think you have slightly misunderstood the article - from what I understand, the 'delivery company', probably Royal Mail, will pay the duty and VAT charges and you will then have to pay Royal Mail these fees before they will hand over the item.
I was looking at this article today and spotted something wrong. Oi! are you there!
(Formerly the article stated "that goods over £7 are liable for customs duty" This has since been corrected). The HMRC site says that is the amount of DUTY is less than £7 then they'll waive it.
Let's say I'm looking at a strobe light. Customs duty is 2.6% on this item. If the item is say £50 then the duty would be less than £7 so this would be waived and only VAT @17.5% is charged and £8 by the Royal Mail.
Do I understand it correctly that the percentages are added on the total cost (including delivery)?
Sounds like there is no real way of estimating exactly what customs, VAT etc etc you might end up paying - looks like pot luck!
If anyone can work out the extra charges on Lost 3 and Heroes Season 1 from the US, I would be very grateful (I am sure a few other fans would be also!)
Hi pmorrison. Thanks for the explanation.
The seller tells me he uses USPS global prority to post the item. But I wonder if royal mail will take over from this side?
He also said that he puts a lower price on the package and that his customers are very rarely charged any extras.
Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps. Take care over copyright. Use excerpts and links rather than copying long text. This site asserts copyright on all comments posted on the board.
Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps.
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