Great 'Buy now from the US' Hunt.

webwiz

stoneman wrote:

Remember, there is no "£" sign on U.S. laptops

You mean that there is no £ sign on the keyboard. The computer will produce one - I am using a PC with no £ to type this! There are several different ways to do it - I have got used to FN-F11 to turn on numeric mode then alt-0163 but there are alternatives that are easier to remember. Once you have produced the first £ in a document obviously copy it to get any others you need.

mitziwaltz

Just wanted to add to the previous plug for Powell's Books (based in Portland, Oregon). Should you have a chance to visit, set aside several hours to enjoy the bookstore. It's a city block in side on multiple floors, with used and new books shelved together--so you can get the shiny new hardback for a gift, the vintage first edition for the collector, or the el-cheapo paperback for a reading copy. They have a great coffee shop in store also, and a special collector's room for very pricey stuff. As well as satellite shops around town, some of which specialise (cookbooks, computer/tech books, travel etc.)
When you order books from Powell's online they usually come from one of their huge warehouses, though if necessary they'll send a worker out to pluck them right off the shelf.
Oh, and speaking of workers, unlike Amazon they are a fully union shop that pays reasonable wages and gives employees health benefits (very important in the US where millions have no access to health care at all).
So --highly recommended! (and one of the things I miss about living in Portland)

g60jet

Art wrote:

Sorry you are wrong on this. All items imported from abroad are subject to the appropriate tax and VAT.

Sending something marked as a gift does not mean it won't be caught by Customs and Excise. It is possible that they could turn a blind eye to certain items marked as gifts but officially they should charge on them.

I know people who use this ploy and actually get away with it on many occasions but sometimes they are asked to pay up.

I think the reason some get away with it is that C&E don't inspect everything that enters the country but only inspect a random sample and it is these items that eventually get charged.

BTW, the limit before VAT is payable is £18 and not £15.
Every little helps.

Regards,
Art.

Art Seems your correct...just lifted this from royal mail
Import value thresholds
For goods moving within the EU, import duties and taxes do not usually apply. However, for goods imported from non-EU countries, Customs charges do apply, these may include import duty, excise duty and import VAT. Goods with a value exceeding £18 (for commercial items including internet/mail order purchases), or £36 in the case of gifts between private individuals, are generally subject to Customs charges. Normally charges are calculated upon the declared value (plus shipping costs for commercial items). Further general information can be obtained by contacting HMRC.

I was alway under the impression that gift were duty free....however the first £36 is... but I've yet to pay import duty on gifts. From memory the US postal service forms, dont ask for a value on gift parcels....maybe thats the answer. I'll check an amazon one soon.

lynedoch

Great tip. I love Amazon but didn't realise my options!

wezalmemunygon

g60jet wrote:

Art Seems your correct...just lifted this from royal mail
I was alway under the impression that gift were duty free....however the first £36 is... but I've yet to pay import duty on gifts. From memory the US postal service forms, dont ask for a value on gift parcels....maybe thats the answer. I'll check an amazon one soon.

Gifts only get the higher limit when sent from one private individual to another. Something coming from Amazon or any other company will only get the lower limit, regardless of whether it is marked as a gift or not. The value has to be stated on the customs decl.

If you've got away with it in the past it's just pure chance. I've had things from US Amazon well over the limit that I haven't had to pay charges on (not marked as gift). It all depends how busy customs are and whether they can be bothered checking things. Chances are at this time of year more things are likely to go through unchecked.

It's a waste of money paying for gift wrap if you don't actually want it gift wrapped.

crispyduck_2

My vote goes for ebay as most send the package as personal item or will be pretty liberal with the price description, cna save you extra, the bigger the stores the more obvious the packaging and the greater likelihood of getting picked out inbound through C&E.

Good luck and happy Christmas everyone!!

B

ayoward

g60jet wrote:

here are MY USA buying tips.

Electrical goods these days run have split transformers so they with run on US or uk voltages. However CHECK before you buy. adaptor transforms are cheap though. However thing like TV's DVD players and Car radios are different in the US. the TV signal is different so wont work, car radios from the US have different steps on the dial, so you may not be able to tune in to some uk stations.

With the advent of HD and digital on TVs, will the US TVs still not work over here? For example, I was in the US last week and really wanted to buy an LCD TV and ship it home, but I was worried about whether it would be compatible. The TV had no SCART sockets, but I reckon I could overcome that with a cable that would have a SCART socket on one end and the RGB composite on the other, but if I were to get an HD TV, I would also upgrade my Sky box to Sky+ HD to take advantage of the HD and that signal would go through the HDMI cable. I would imagine that that would be a standard on both sides of the pond? Therefore it would only be the analogue TV that would not work, am I right? So in essence, I could buy a ridiculously cheap American TV and have it work over here? Sam's Club (part of Wal Mart) had a 50" Philips HD Plasma TV for $1800. Tell me where you can buy a Philips 50" HD Plasma screen over here for roughly £900!!! Interestingly, CNN had a news discussion on while we were waiting for a flight home that was discussing "Would Jesus shop at Wal*Mart?" but that's a topic for a new thread.

poggle99

WishI'dReadSooner wrote:

It's not your TV that is the problem. It depends on the DVD player you have as to which DVD's you can play.

Indeed - to close the loop, though our TV is PAL-only, my DVD player says it can handle NTSC or PAL, and I can successfully play Region 1 DVDs. Great!

:T

Cheers,

Rachael

bakerlad1983

http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/info/multiregion/hackable.asp


allows u to find a code or way for most dvd players to play any region dvds u like

Pink_butterfly_3

https://www.birthdayexpress.com is a brilliant website for kids parties. I got a fabulous spread for my daughters first birthday - I also bought a massive pink bear chair which was amazing! The postage was quite reasonable too.

The customer service was amazing too as I had a bit of a problem with the bear chair, as it didn't arrive when it was supposed too. I phoned up on Friday and they told me they'd send another one. It arrived Monday morning!!!!