how much aprox will i pay for imported item please tax customs

meandme2

hello, i have bought a collectable item on ebay for £530 plus £40 shipping... it was bought from ebay germany so it is being shipped from germany to me here in the uk.
does anyone please know how much i will be charged for vat customs etc...
i have no idea
i tried to look all day yesterday and today but i am stumped .
if the item i bought costs £530 with £40 shipping and £530 insurance then does that mean i will be charged vat and customs on £1100? if so how much aprox will i need to pay extra vat/customs.
i hope someone can please help.thankyou

DullGreyGuy

Lets ignore the "insurance" for now...

£570 is the landed price
Based on its price its likely to get 2.5% duty so £584.25
VAT is 20% on full price inc duty so £701.10

As such taxes will be £131.10 plus you will have to pay a fee to the courier which is normally a percentage with a floor around the £10-£15 mark. Duty does vary depending on exactly what the item is but this value typically goes to 2.5%


What on earth are you buying that the insurance is the same price as the item? What is the insurance, some form of warranty for 5 years or just insurance for the goods in transit to you? If it's just shipping insurance to get it to you then yes you need to add the insurance to the landed price and basically double the numbers above. However, at that landed price you are above the 2.5% duty threshold and would need to check what the tariff code is and the associated duty rate.

meandme2

thankyou for your help dguy
it is something i really wanted that is so hard to find.
the insurance was to be in case it got lost i think.
i know i,m a bit dumb sorry but do you mean i will need to pay around £300 extra for vat and duty for it is delivered to me. - so it cost me £570 to buy with shipping cost and now i just need to pay an extra aprox £300 for vat and duty.
is that right?
----
i could have it sent without insurance and hope it did not get lost..if i done that then i would pay then just around £150 vat and duty (plus courier fee). have i got that right?
thankyou for help once more.

DullGreyGuy

You need to know the fully landed cost which includes price of the item, price of delivery inc any insurance on the delivery. It wouldnt include extended warranties etc.

To that you apply the duty, between £135 and £650 landed price items are typically 2.5% or less. Over £650 you need to look up exactly what the item is in the tariff codes to see what the duty percentage is, may be higher or lower than 2.5% but there aren't too many very high percentages.

VAT is 20% on most items and is applied to the total of the fully landed cost and the duty.

Handling fee is normally a few percent with a minimum of £10-£15 

This assumes we aren't talking anything like alcohol or perfume where excise also applies.

 There are plenty of calculators where you can enter all the details inc what the item is and will give you their calcs (inc what they've mapped your item to being) and then all you need to do is add the courier's handling fee on top. 


I dont know what you are buying but paying the price of 2 for the chance that 1 gets lost or damaged in delivery seems exceptionally excessive. Insurance is typically a few percent of the sum insured not 100% (and I work in insurance)

Spoonie_Turtle

I think we're being sidetracked by 'insurance' - does the £40 postage already include coverage up to a value high enough to cover the whole item value if it goes missing? 

If so then the 'insurance' is irrelevant, you've paid £570 for it and work out the VAT and customs based on that.

se2020

You will pay based on the total amount of money you have paid.

So £530+£40.

I expect it would have been something like 
£530+£15 for basic shipping
£530+£40 for fully insured shipping.

You will pay vat+duty based on the total amount.

meandme2

thankyou everyone. great

prettyandfluffy

If the seller used EBay global shipping, it won't cost you any more than you've already paid.

se2020

prettyandfluffy said:

If the seller used EBay global shipping, it won't cost you any more than you've already paid.

AFAIK global shipping only charges duty/vat up front for purchases under £125.
Over £125 and you still pay on import.