when buying an item from overseas (outside of the EU) I find that having paid a premium price for it in the first place the taxes that are levied on it are grossly disproportionate to the price of the item and reduce the pleasure of recieving it exponentially. There are ways of ensuring however that stuff comes through and recieves the right amount of tax.
VAT here in the uK is around 15%, not to mention the carriers admin fees (I thought I had paid the effin postage already) and import duty is a good whack too. It is my belief that I have recieved some items and paid incorrectly. disputing this has led to refunds.
Take the case of the Deck jacket I got from HPA before Eastman carried them.
New item, sample of merchandise, had to cough up. didnt like it but there it is no issue with that beyond a slight grumpimness at a hundred quid nearly on something I'd already bought :x .
Now.. if an item is an Historical artefact it attracts zeeero import duty and VAT at 5%. I would suggest that a vintage military leather jacket is just that. If an item needs to reflect an insured value, Marking it as such on the shipping label may be a good way to ensure that the UK recipient pays only a minimal customs fee.
If an item is a gift rather than a sample of merchandise it will be exempt any charges up to a certain value and if it is a gift then often it will have NCV or no commercial value. If it is marked as such it will usually find its way to the recipient without issue. Used leather jacket, gift, no commercial value (because it is used) should mean that the poor lads and lasses at customs are able to better spend their time vetting the high value items being smuggled in in bulk and not tardy themselves with the occasional low value purchaser.
Everyone wins and more importantly no-one is behaving dishonestly .
Anyone outside of the EU shipping stuff to us limeys may be happy to recieve this information. Certainly when I ship overseas I ensure that my items are labelled in such a way.
Anyone else have shipping tips to offer?
tim.,
VAT here in the uK is around 15%, not to mention the carriers admin fees (I thought I had paid the effin postage already) and import duty is a good whack too. It is my belief that I have recieved some items and paid incorrectly. disputing this has led to refunds.
Take the case of the Deck jacket I got from HPA before Eastman carried them.
New item, sample of merchandise, had to cough up. didnt like it but there it is no issue with that beyond a slight grumpimness at a hundred quid nearly on something I'd already bought :x .
Now.. if an item is an Historical artefact it attracts zeeero import duty and VAT at 5%. I would suggest that a vintage military leather jacket is just that. If an item needs to reflect an insured value, Marking it as such on the shipping label may be a good way to ensure that the UK recipient pays only a minimal customs fee.
If an item is a gift rather than a sample of merchandise it will be exempt any charges up to a certain value and if it is a gift then often it will have NCV or no commercial value. If it is marked as such it will usually find its way to the recipient without issue. Used leather jacket, gift, no commercial value (because it is used) should mean that the poor lads and lasses at customs are able to better spend their time vetting the high value items being smuggled in in bulk and not tardy themselves with the occasional low value purchaser.
Everyone wins and more importantly no-one is behaving dishonestly .
Anyone outside of the EU shipping stuff to us limeys may be happy to recieve this information. Certainly when I ship overseas I ensure that my items are labelled in such a way.
Anyone else have shipping tips to offer?
tim.,
