Buying things in US to ship to UK

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sendu
sendu Posts: 131 Forumite
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in Overseas holidays & travel planning
Not sure what sub-forum to put this in, but maybe people versed with travel can help?

I'm considering buying some very expensive, large and heavy electrical items (speakers) for personal use. They're sold in the UK, but the price of everything amounts to £57,500, while the US price is only $34,250. That would be about £32k after paying VAT during an import, for a saving of over £25k!

Because there is a UK distributor, I imagine that US dealers "following the rules" won't ship to the UK themselves (and indeed the online places I've found do not ship internationally; one shop with an online presence only allows you to buy one of these items (the most expensive one) in-store). They might also have instructions not to ship to a forwarding service?

Anyway, please share fine details of how you would go about getting ahold of these and saving yourself £25k.

I'm thinking:
  1. Pre-order/ reserve items where possible
  2. Fly to the US
  3. Ask my bank to increase the spending limit on my Mastercard debit card
  4. Make purchases with Mastercard debit card by going in to stores
  5. Provide a delivery address of a friend in the US
  6. Go stay with the friend until all items have arrived
  7. Arrange courier pickup of the items (will need a truck) and ship them to the UK

Am I missing anything? Any points that could go wrong?

For example, could I encounter any difficulties making very large purchases in the US with a UK MasterCard debit card?

What is a reliable courier that won't break all the items during shipment?

Is there a preferred place in the US to go to in order to do this? Maybe somewhere on the East cost for less shipment travel, somewhere with low or zero US sales tax?
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  • bradders1983
    bradders1983 Posts: 5,684 Forumite
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    Will there not be import duties to be paid once they arrive here on top of the VAT?
  • martindow
    martindow Posts: 10,218 Forumite
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    You will have to pack them well enough to travel. If they are heavy and large it could need to be strapped to a pallet. No carrier is going to take particular care so you need to have them extremely well packed. A lot of couriers will exclude delicate items entirely and if they are covered but are damaged by being rattled along the way that will be probably considered evidence of inadequate packing.

    In your calculations you will also be charged VAT on the carriage cost. Duty may apply as has been said and you can look here to find the rate
    https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff

    Tempting as the saving is, this seems quite a risky proposition.
  • Voyager2002
    Voyager2002 Posts: 15,286 Forumite
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    Beware of assumptions. Ask each dealer whether they ship internationally: even if they won't ship to the UK, they might send the goods to somewhere that is only a short drive away, like Spain or Poland. And check what sales tax you would have to pay.

    And have you tried to haggle with the UK distributor: perhaps ask to pay in US dollars.
  • mgdavid
    mgdavid Posts: 6,705 Forumite
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    'large and heavy' suggests to me they will need crating up and shipping by sea in a container. The costs will be much more than you envisage, especially with insurance given the high value and the chance of total loss or damage while on the ship.
    Suggest you talk to some courier and shipping companies first to get some facts.
    And yes there will be import duty, and the VAT is (IIRC) on top of that.
    The questions that get the best answers are the questions that give most detail....
  • tacpot12
    tacpot12 Posts: 7,969 Forumite
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    You will also have a problem if the speakers go wrong because the UK distributor will have no responsibility to provide warranty repairs.

    Have you pointed out the price discrepancy to the manufacturer/distributor and asked how the price difference is fair or justifiable?

    Have you looked at buying the speakers in Europe?
    The comments I post are my personal opinion. While I try to check everything is correct before posting, I can and do make mistakes, so always try to check official information sources before relying on my posts.
  • shaun_from_Africa
    shaun_from_Africa Posts: 12,858 Forumite
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    tacpot12 wrote: »
    Have you pointed out the price discrepancy to the manufacturer/distributor and asked how the price difference is fair or justifiable?

    The price difference doesn't have to be justifiable nor does it have to be fair and I'm sure that the manufacturer/importer/distributor is fully aware of the difference in the price between the UK and the USA.

    In a free market economy, prices can be set as high or as low as the seller wishes and if they are too high for the market, the goods won't sell.
  • NoodleDoodleMan
    NoodleDoodleMan Posts: 3,366 Forumite
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    Ask my bank to increase the spending limit on my Mastercard debit card
    10 years ago we bought the wife's car on my debit card, around £10,000, thanks to a nice windfall.

    The dealer was happy with this as long as the bank was - I called them in advance to arrange it, as a one off payment - no problem - just ensure the account has sufficient funds when the garage makes the transaction.

    That apart I think there are some issues with other aspects of your action plan, however I'm not clued up enough to comment further.

    The warranty issue, as above, may be a drama scenario.
  • slinga
    slinga Posts: 1,485 Forumite
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    Pickfords and many others will crate them and put them in a container either as part container or a full container.
    We haven't used Pickfords and I can't remember the name of the company we used to ship all our furniture from HK to UK.
    But it was straightforward and they did all the paperwork.
    It's your money. Except if it's the governments.
  • sendu
    sendu Posts: 131 Forumite
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    martindow wrote: »
    In your calculations you will also be charged VAT on the carriage cost. Duty may apply as has been said and you can look here to find the rate
    https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff

    Thanks, I hadn't thought of that, but from what I can tell, it looks like there's no duty to pay on speakers.

    Shipping remains a concern I'll have to investigate.
  • sendu
    sendu Posts: 131 Forumite
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    tacpot12 wrote: »
    Have you pointed out the price discrepancy to the manufacturer/distributor and asked how the price difference is fair or justifiable?

    I've asked, waiting for a reply.
    Have you looked at buying the speakers in Europe?

    I haven't; any suggestions? The manufacturer is in the US though, so I'd imagine it will be cheapest there.
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