Can't understand a few things about charges when buying from US........please help!

Tunstallstoven

Hi there

I've found a few pieces of music gear really cheap on a US website - even with the postage included.

I've taken a look at this page:

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014&propertyType=document#P18_1693


and it has left me with a few unresolved questions.

1. Is it true then that regardless of anything else, if the order is below a total of £135 I pay no Custom duty?

2. If so, does that £135 figure include p+p and VAT?

3. The same section says "duty is waived if the amount of duty calculated is less than £9". But elsewhere it is said that "Where the value of gifts is below £630 per consignment a flat rate of duty of 2.5 per cent will be applied, but only if it is to your advantage."

This seems to contradict the idea that there is a different percentage rate for different types of items. It also cannot be right because to reach £9 at 2.5% the total amount would have to reach somewhere between £350 and £400.


Hopefully someone can help me out of my confusion!

Many thanks

Max

Tunstallstoven

Hopefully someone here knows more about this than me....

Also, I wasn't positive that this was the right forum to post in. So if anyone thinks there's a more appropriate forum please let me know and I'll ask a mod to move it.