Buying In The US Discussion Area

Former_MSE_Natasha

This thread is specifically to discuss

Buying In The US

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YAM_3

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."

ashpole

Do we know exactly when the personal customs allowance will be going from £145 to £290?

rjm67

I would be interested to know if anybody has used any of the mail forwarding services, and whether they were any good?

Saltydog

I have used Fedex several times. Excellent service, 2 days from Caifornia-Glasgow.

Team_Twister

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!

inkbm

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.

You can check out the various state taxes at:
http://www.retirementliving.com/RLtaxes.html

teddyco

inkbm,

Great point!

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:

http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=10

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?

teddyco

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.

Former_MSE_Archna

inkbm wrote: »

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.

You can check out the various state taxes at:
http://www.retirementliving.com/RLtaxes.html

Hi inkbm,

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.

HTH

Former_MSE_Archna

ashpole wrote: »

Do we know exactly when the personal customs allowance will be going from £145 to £290?

Hi ashpole,

HMRC weren't able to confirm when this was changing but keep an eye out in the weekly Martin's Money Tips email and we'll give you a heads up! HTH