[oxymoron08]

Hi,

Been speaking to David from little-tube.com about getting a Little Dot mark III shipped to England.

Im basically worried I will get ripped off with VAT and customs.

Just trying to get a rough idea of how many UK people have ordered audio products from china/USa and have had to pay VAT/Customs.

Am I worrying about nothing? If im like 60% sure to get rapped on VAT/customs I may as well buy a Graham Slee solo intro and get the psu later.

 

[AudioPhewl]

I've had three packages arrive from China in recent months, though none with LD.

On no occasion have I been stung by customs. YMMV, depending on courier. If it's delivered by standard Royal Mail delivery(it doesn't have to be sent by them in order to be delivered by them) then the chances are you'll get away with it.

~Phewl.

 

[oxymoron08]

Even if I stung on a £125 product, the total charge is likely to only be £30?

Even at £155 its still cheap compared to anything in the UK.

 

[zool]

Ask David to lower the registered package value to $35. This is what I did and I did not get charged with any VAT when it went through customs.

 

[garthfluff]

Anything that comes through parcel force at this end I've always been charged for.

 

[alan_g]

i got a little dot from ebay seller jasmine_chine and had no duty to pay as he sent it as an audio sample... result

 

[user123456]

i got a g&w t2.6f last year and got charged sixty pounds although the seller put the invoice at eighty dollars . so if customs don't believe its that cheap they will charge you what they think it's real value is,i could not be bothered to dispute the charge and just payed it. a £159 product from ornec ended up costing £270 all in.

 

[oxymoron08]

Excellent guys!

David from little-dot is really helpful, I'll probably get him to mark it as an Audio sample @ £75. Seems if i do get stung it will be for £30 ish anyway, even with the charge its still a bargin!

 

[DennyL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oxymoron08 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Excellent guys! David from little-dot is really helpful, I'll probably get him to mark it as an Audio sample @ £75. Seems if i do get stung it will be for £30 ish anyway, even with the charge its still a bargin!

I bought my Darkvoice 336 from china, which arrived in a huge wooden crate, but was not charged. I've bought something like ten items from the US, Singapore and China, and only been charged twice. Maybe I've been lucky.

I understand that if there's ever an insurance claim with respect to a shipment, you can't get more than the declared value of the item; something to bear in mind when asking suppliers to reduce the marked value of a shipment.

Another thought while we're on this. I think maybe some foreign suppliers are quite skilled at reducing the risk of getting caught for customs by choice of shipper, how they fill in the declaration, etc. One of the items I was caught for was a second hand RSA SR-71 from the US. I think the vendor was not particularly skilled in shipping abroad. I have read that quite a lot of people out of the US manage to buy RSA products without getting caught, maybe because RSA knows how to fill in the declaration, I don't know. But I do wonder whether I could have bought a new SR-71 from RSA more cheaply than my second hand one. Just a thought.

 

[hatethatgiraffe]

only thing ever been stung on was ALO interconnect!
Predator sailed through!
As did my DVD player!
And numerous other little gems like my triple fi!

 

[BigTony]

Its a bit hit or miss. I went through a bad patch of getting customs charges on everything for a while
It seems to have calmed down recently. The only item I've had customs open was a second-hand CD from the US, so there was nothing to pay. In that same week my DV 332 arrived - and no charges

I think its best to always assume the worse.

BT

 

[tranhieu]

Hi, I'm quite new to this charging things as never imported anything before, and I'm quite lost
When you pay via paypal, the price is listed in ebay, so how can you pay the additional fee if your stuff is charged?
And when are you charged? When arent you? And why?

 

[dazzer1975]

i got my little dot via jasmine chine on ebay, shipped from china but marked up as only worth 8 dollars, obviously I paid zero import charges.

I have been hit by pretty much every other import, at least from the u.s. although Justin at headamp looks after his UK customers if ya know what I mean, but I digress...

Anyway, justine chine is a great reliable and trustworthy seller for ld amps, id recommend them.

 

[dazzer1975]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tranhieu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi, I'm quite new to this charging things as never imported anything before, and I'm quite lost When you pay via paypal, the price is listed in ebay, so how can you pay the additional fee if your stuff is charged? And when are you charged? When arent you? And why?

you are charged by royal mail ultimately. U.K. customs and excise apply a vat charge, and then royal mail charge more than whatever the uk govt charge in handling and admin fees.

You have to pay the charges in total to royal mail before you can receive the parcel.

I am amazed royal mail's practices with this are legal, but apparently they are and there is nothing we can do about it... apart from hope our imported goods dont get pulled up for charging. I was charged nearly £180 on an $1100 import, the vast majority of which was royal mail charges.

however, goods that are declared as being worth less than £36 will not attract a charge, so if you can secure a guarantee in case of damage or loss from the shipper/manufacturer and they declare the goods at that £36 threshold then you've cracked it.

Additionally, goods from the eu dont attract any charges, although the pound/euro exchange rate isnt as attractive as the dollar, bargains can still be had from europe.

 

[Frihed89]

"Stung"? If you live in the UK you pay the UK's low VAT on every good and service you purchase as a consumer, no matter whether it comes from London or Bejing. Why should the Little Dot be very different. Danish VAT is 25% and duty is 9%. If the seller low balls the declared value be sure you have the ability to document that that is what you paid. Clever people can figure it out.