Shopping online from USA

glennhalstead

Hi,

Does anyone have any advice / experience with shopping online from the US?

I'm one of these folks looking for a WII for Christmas and I'm thinking of getting one from the US, perhaps ebay and possibly using one of these American address forwarding services such as http://www.myus.com/.

I'd be really grateful of any advice / experience that anyone can share.

many thanks

Glenn

tonyhamm

I know the WII is about the size of 3cd cases, but weighs 1.2Kg.
Retails around $250 in the US. whichi is around £121

Have looked at that service - $27 upfront and then $2.50 per 100g, $1.25 over for express service..

$27
$25 - 1KG
$5 - 400g over with packaging.

---

$57 - £28

So total price is about £149?
Thats pretty good, but will it have vat and duty slapped on?

egamar

tonyhamm wrote: »

Thats pretty good, but will it have vat and duty slapped on?

It's a gamble. It should, but not everything is spotted inbound. It depends also on how the shipper declares it, as well as how the carrier clears it through Customs this end.

It's a lottery I'm afraid.

Best to do calculations assuming Duty then VAT will be applied, and have a pleasant surprise if it isn't.

There is a 'de-minimis' value (a small amount) below which HMC (or whatever their new fangled name is) don't bother to collect Duty and/or VAT, but I don't recall what it is right now.

Google something like - customs duty "de minimis" - and you might get a result.

If the next question is 'what is the duty?" I haven't a clue. Could be 14%, could be 5%. It is possible to find out, but I'm getting tired ... sorry.

woolfek

Be careful, as they charge you import duty, and its seems complicated to me as to what bracket different products fall into. But with the $$ so weak at the moment I'M sure you wont go to far wrong!

egamar

woolfek wrote: »

But with the $$ so weak at the moment I'M sure you wont go to far wrong!

Nearly, but not always I fear. The 'normal' thing we angry Brits see is $/£ equivalence in pricing: If something costs $200 over there it costs £200 over here.

Keeping numbers simple:

If something costs $200 over there. at the moment you might just get away with paying £100 for it (especially if you use the Nationwide Card) but perhaps a bit more. Much more if you don't pay off your cc in full every month.

Tonyhamm calculates £28 for shipping.

Duty, let's say 10% (although it could be as much as 14% or as little as 5%) adds £12.80 (it's calculated on the cost of the goods PLUS freight and insurance - the 'landed cost').

Then there's the local UK service charge for 'Customs Clearance and Handling" (this can be a perfectly legitimate charge, but is often abused and sometimes, but rarely, included in the price of transport). This might be £12.50, it might be £25 it could be £3. Let's say £12.50 for the sake of choosing a number.

That gives us a sub-total of £100+£28+£12.80+£12.50 = £181.30

Then add VAT @17.5% to the whole lot - another £31.73 for a grand total of £213 !!!

Now, fair enough, if there's no Customs Clearance charge and the duty is only 5% the grand total comes out to £158. Of course, if you get away with the duty and VAT entirely, the saving is brilliant - but unreliable!

It seems then that the final price can range from a saving of £42 to an extra cost of £13. I am not a gambler, so I wouldn't risk £13 for the sake of £42 (odds of 13-4 ish) so I would suggest definitely finding out what the duty would be and finding out what, if anything, the UK customs clearance charge would be (which means you have to find out the carrier's name and who their local agent is and whether they make a charge at all).

There is also a genuine issue of compatibility, warranty and servicing for these 'grey' imports and although the cost/value of that is difficult to assess, it is real nonetheless.

It's not quite so clear-cut. However, if you're going to the US and don't mind risking getting stopped in the green channel and clobbered for duty and VAT, it's a bargain! Oh, and I'm not condoning smuggling, just observing that it is possible.

shandypants5

Dont forget the voltage difference too..
US electrical goods will have a US plug and/or Powersupply.
So you will need to add the cost of buying a suitable UK lead or whatever it needs to operate over here.

egamar

shandypants5 wrote: »

Dont forget the voltage difference too..
US electrical goods will have a US plug and/or Powersupply.
So you will need to add the cost of buying a suitable UK lead or whatever it needs to operate over here.

It's interesting you should say that: you are dead right about the plug, but less so these days about the voltage and frequency - I find often that electrizzical whatnots seem to cope with British/European/USA supplies without user intervention.

Having said that, the wife bought a £3 hair-dryer from Asda and it kept cutting out after a very short time. She went and bought another one. When I got round to looking at the duff one I found the voltage screw was set to 120V! Daft, dangerous and a waste of £3. .

I can only assume that the supply chain got screwed and goods destined for Walmart in the US got sent to the UK by mistake or Mr. Wong (whose job it is to check the voltage screw) was off sick that day. Not very good QC by Asda, though: they were my favourite supermarket but they get worse and worse the more the Walmart disease spreads through Asda's system .... ahem - sorry - rant over.

shandypants5

yeah its shamefull how dangerous stuff like that can happen in these big stores.

Your right the voltage probrably wont be an issue, but a freind of mine got a nintendo DS from USA on holiday and the charger itself physically wouldnt go in a uk socket. So he had to buy another uk one.
Could have used an adapter I suppose..?
but still its another small extra cost to reduce your "bargain" a little.

egamar

shandypants5 wrote: »

but still its another small extra cost to reduce your "bargain" a little.

Absolutely right, and probably invalidates whatever warranty you had ....

[Deleted User]

I shop via the web in the US for vitamins ie solgar omnium. Cheapest here for 90 is £48 plus p+p

In the US they charge $7 p+p and the total cost is £19

I make sure I am below that tax level of $36

Its a no-brainer bargain as delivery usually takes only a few days

Alexandria

I must be really lucky because I have often bought things from the US and never had any customs or duty charges slapped on! In fact I didn't even realise it could happen.
Saying that its mostly clothing or baby slings I have bought and not electrical items so perhaps thats the difference?