Importing from China? Help!

raptorman

I am looking to arrange importation of small numbers of computing goods to the UK from China and am at a loss as how to calculate import duty. I have tried looking on the hmrc website but am finding it all very confusing.

Does anyone have any tips or know of any decent web sites that cover this?

ukbill69

You will have to pay a few things, one is continer price from china shipping. 20" should be around £800-1000, then you have VAT at 17.5% and customs may charge to scan your shipment, if its your first time expect to pay around £75 and wait up to 30 more days for them to scan it. Also you have doc charges etc and they are around £250. Also delivery of a container from the port will be around £300.

raptorman

LOL

Forget that idea then. The goods I was going to import were going to be less than £500

ukbill69

Importing is a big business, thats why only us with big money import. I get 1 40" every 2 weeks into the UK. I dont own the containers, I handle the care of them, that pays as its a bit of work.

point3

20 inches?
What are you importing? :think:

martindow

20 feet I assume. I'm not sure that you necessarily need to buy by the container load. I suppose it depends on what you are going to import - if it's a niche product it is possible to compete with major importers. We import at the sort of value you are considering. We always ask the supplier to quote a price for delivery door to door rather than to a dockside or airport. The carrier then deals with customs clearance and paperwork - they will probably charge a handling fee for this (10 or 20 pounds typically). You are left with a bill for import duty and VAT. You can get a commodity code for your product from a VAT department on 01702 366077 and they can transfer you to another department who can tell you the import duty rate - this varies from item to item and the country of origin. You can then calculate the costs involved in receiving your order and see if it will be worthwhile. It is a good idea to ask the Chinese company to put this code on the AWB. VAT will be charged on the declared value of the goods plus the carriage cost and has to be paid on importation.

ukbill69

20 feet, this is terms we always type when talking about feet in the import business.

33pelter

Import, Import, Import! Try to buy British

raptorman

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Certainly plenty for me to get my head round.

Thanks martindow for your info.

I managed to find the same product here in the uk but it is around twice the price of the chinese company! Would it possibly end up the same price importing as buying british?

point3

ukbill69 wrote:

20 feet, this is terms we always type when talking about feet in the import business.

heehee
" = inches
' = feet

ukbill69

If you have a head screwed on then 20" when you talking about container loads isnt going to be 20 inches now is it lol