[bernado]

I'm thinking of purchasing a Little Dot MKIII but scared because of potential import/handling fees and delivery times - I'm in the UK. Can onyone describe their purchasing experiences to me?

 

[vvanrij]

I live in the Netherlands, and it shipped really fast (took 8 days), and customs let it pass. I was a bit surprised they let it pass, because I already 'in-calculated' the extra importing fee. So, this is my story

 

[bernado]

Who did you buy it from? It seems there are a couple of options

 

[Golden Monkey]

ONLY buy from Little Dot )they sell on Ebay as well, or direct from them via paypal), or I suppose here or Audiogon. For more info, go to Little-Tube.

 

[DoubleEs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vvanrij /img/forum/go_quote.gif I live in the Netherlands, and it shipped really fast (took 8 days), and customs let it pass. I was a bit surprised they let it pass, because I already 'in-calculated' the extra importing fee. So, this is my story

I think this really depends on what is declared on the custom form. When I bought the Pico, the full price was declared by Justin so I had to hand over a chunk of £££ to the custom guys, whereas the Predator was declared much less so I paid nothing

 

[vvanrij]

I have no idea, I didn't ask for anything specificly. I bought from Little Dot, and really advise you to do this! They have great support and warranty!

 

[anadin]

The only advice I can give when purchasing items from outside of the EU is to always ask the seller if he/she can mark the packaging as a "gift" and a "low value" item.

That way your have much more of a chance of it getting through the dreaded UK customs without added charges.

 

[alan_g]

they could also put on the declaration that it is a repair...
i was thinking about purchasing a darkvoice 336 and asking them to declare as a repair

 

[breakfastchef]

I beleive David at Lillte Tube knows how to ship his products so as to avoid import fees. Contact him directly via PM or email from the link in a prior post.

 

[vvanrij]

Hmm that repair thing is brilliant! Never thought of that!

 

[wordsworth]

couple of points regard sending as repaired. first the uk gov knows people might do that so you are issued a repair code when you send the package to the company which then uses the same code when they send it back, if they send it with a code which doesn't have a corresponding outgoing code they will charge. Not tested this but after reading up on this I found this out. to send out for repair you have to fill in a form first.

Secondly make sure that if you do ask them to send as repair that it is listed as repaired within warrenty and no cost is given for the repair as they will tax you on the repair and the shipping costs plus a handling fee which can all mount up.

I have had items sent listed as repaired (they actually were repaired but I never filled in the out going form) and they were not charged, so this is the approach I would take also over just getting the item listed at a low value especially if it is large and heavy (shipping can be taxed as well). Try to avoid fedex as they actually employ teams of people to do the tax collecting for the UK customs so all packages get caught going through them With other carriers I have read that only 15 - 20% get checked to see if the value is over £18.

 

[bernado]

Thanks for the replies. It's a bit of a gamble isn't it. I'll have a pair of HD650s in a couple of days, hence my interest in valves. I've placed a wanted ad here for EU valve amps so we'll see. I'm not expecting much response so I may chance it.

 

[wordsworth]

regarding using asking them to list it as a gift this only increases the the tax free limit to £36 but doesn't remove it as some think. I have been told that customs tend to be more suspicious of parcels with gift listed on it.

 

[vvanrij]

Hmm sounds logical, still odd that they let mine pass. So far I'v passed through customs:

MKIVse
Grado SR-325i
Sextett
Zero + opamps
Denon AH-C700

all new, not bad

 

[DoubleEs]

With thousands and thousands of parcels coming into the EU everyday, a few are bound to slip through. I recently bought some tubes from a dealer in the US, full declaration was made on the custom form, in bold black ink - 'Radio Valves - $250' and marked as gift.

I didn't have to pay any custom or VAT on it