Great 'Buy now from the US' Hunt.

chatman

Books are particulalry good value right now. Even taking into account the postage to UK you will always be abel to better the UK prices. I recomend going to Amazon.com, search for the book you want then look at the 'New and Used Price' click on this and you'll find countless dealers that are happy to post to the UK

O.K.ANNE

i sent off for a winter padded goosedown coat from Landsend - very good value style etc - however I was charged extra of almost 50% of the cost on vat and other tax and the postage wasnt cheap either. Still glad I bought it but beware.

Art_2

Psykicpup wrote:

Does anyone know if Windows XP bought in the States would operate ok on a pc here? & if I arranged for it to be sent to a friend in Ontario & then posted on what I might be liable for in Tax etc?

There's good news and bad news.

The good news is that Windows XP bought in the US will work here.

The bad news is that you won't evade tax if it is sent from Ontaria - unless your friend can say it is a present on the declaration. Then you might be lucky.

Regards,
Art.

Sui_Generis

O.K.ANNE wrote:

i sent off for a winter padded goosedown coat from Landsend - very good value style etc - however I was charged extra of almost 50% of the cost on vat and other tax and the postage wasnt cheap either. Still glad I bought it but beware.

I buy from Lands End US occasionally but it only makes sense if you're buying around £150+ because the shipping and duty/tax are pretty high.

I bought a winter goosedown coat from them too, it cost me £14 all in, but then I bought it in the summer and had it sent to a friend in the US coming over here

If anyone buys from Lands End US you can reclaim duty and tax if you return anything to them but nowadays its easier to send it to the UK office and forget the reclaim!

HCDayantis

Art wrote:

VAT alone would add about £130 to your costs. if you also add in shipping, insurance etc it looks like your saving won't be anything at all. In addition to VAT you might also be charged import duty.

Regards,
Art.

Okay, thanks. I thought that may have been the case, to be honest. Shipping would be in the region of £60, and I have emaild HM Revenue and Customs to ask what I would have to pay to import it, I'll post their response here.


Think the 'Present' declaration would work for a laptop? They say it works through eBay...

Bumbles2

I buy designer clothes form the US, mainly jeans. Rock and Republic and 7FAM are nearly half price over there. A good website is https://www.blaec.com They will send quite cheaply and they mark the parcel so you don't get charged any tax. Bargain!

Sui_Generis

HCDayantis wrote:

Okay, thanks. I thought that may have been the case, to be honest. Shipping would be in the region of £60, and I have emaild HM Revenue and Customs to ask what I would have to pay to import it, I'll post their response here.


Think the 'Present' declaration would work for a laptop? They say it works through eBay...

Unless it has changed there's no import duty on computers but
VAT is payable.

Marking as a gift makes no difference - the recipient can be held liable for the estimated VAT and duty. So even if you genuinely send your friend or family (directly) something you've bought overseas the recipient is liable to pay if C&E deem its over the allowable limit and C&E may well either estimate the amount or refer to list price when you paid less. HTH

HCDayantis

So that'd be the 17.5% VAT we all know and hate, then?

Paying tax to both UK and USA governments - fun.

WishI'dReadSooner

Buying things from many stores is next to impossible now even for delivery in the US. Last year had no problems with many stores ordering Christmas pressies for daughters & grandaughter who live in US.

This year tried purchasing at many stores I had used before BUT many no longer will take UK credit card even for US delivery.

The worst were the many toy stores - how many money launderers want to buy T J Bearytales???

Had to resort to Amazon in the end after pulling my hair out for a total of at least 16 hrs - that was after checking their payment details - which aren't at all clear. I even phoned a few stores eg. ToysRUs to see if they would put through a manual sale - they took the order & confirmed online (as did a few others) only to send a later email stating the order had been cancelled.

None would do a manual - even though you can use your card in every store in person. Ebay, Amazon, Lands End, Sears are OK but I lost track of the stores that wouldn't take a UK credit card even for US delivery.

squidworth

Psykicpup wrote:

Does anyone know if Windows XP bought in the States would operate ok on a pc here? & if I arranged for it to be sent to a friend in Ontario & then posted on what I might be liable for in Tax etc?

I maybe missing something but what you're really buying is the license, if you can find someone with the relevant installation cd's then perhaps they could simply email you the license key you bought stateside... or i could be completely wrong of course!