Cheaper in the US?

[Guest]

Hello,
Depsite the possible legal implications, it seems far cheaper to order electronic equipment from the states. Assuming your buying a product you know is of good quality from a brand you can trust, then surely there is not too much risk involved. I have found a Raymarine DSC VHF radio for $199 that about £150. I would be interested to hear what people think and if anyone has had any problems before.
cheers,
ian

 

[Twister_Ken]

That's $199 plus 17.5% VAT that customs will want equals $233 @ $1.45:£1 equals £161.


Far cheaper?

 

[brianrunyard]

When I brought something back they charged import duty and VAT, came to about 25%.

 

[Guest]

I heard somewhere that VHF radios are exempt from import duty which would only leave VAT at 17.5%?

Probably be easier to buy one out there if you happen to be going over there.

 

[pvb]

Little risk and usually exceptional service...

If you're paying by credit card, there's little risk involved and you'll find that most US companies actually understand the concept of customer service.

West Marine used to quote a guaranteed UK price including VAT, duty and delivery to your door. I've bought stuff in this way and it worked a treat. Don't know whether they still do this, but you can easily call them on Freephone 0800 895473 (1300-2200hrs GMT) and ask them - how many UK mail order chandlers offer a Freephone number??

If the VHF you have in mind is the Ray 53, West Marine have it at $195 at the moment.

 

[Guest]

Re: Little risk and usually exceptional service...

thank you
have looked at west marine website. it seems stupid to pay through the nose for identical products.

 

[Guest]

Yes you can,, due to the strength of the pound and the lack of duty and vat, get gear [not only electronic ] cheaper from the US. But pay the correct amount of the aforementioned and you will be close to the price here, the biggest problem is if your new "cheap" kit goes wrong. If the serial number is not of a official import unit, the warranty will require you to send it back to your overseas supplier, there is one company in the UK that sells "grey imports" and as customers have found out warranty is a horror story.
Also as far as radios are concerned if your radio type and model is not approved by the Radio Communication Agency then you will not get a licence and will be liable to huge fines if caught transmitting on these sets.
Finaly re radio there is a difference between the DSC sets as sold here and the States; check out the features first.
regds,
adobe

 

[pvb]

Let\'s be realistic...

If the kit fails, a US supplier would handle a warranty claim just as well (if not better) than a UK supplier.

The RCA is unlikely to find out what sort of radio you're using.

Regarding the differences in DSC, what do you think happens to world cruising yachts which have a problem in a different country from the one they left? What happens to ships which criss-cross the world? Do they have different radio sets for the particular countries they visit?

 

[kdf]

Agreed. Value in the US is much better than the UK (and the rest of Europe for that matter). The units from the US will work fine - be aware however that a US DSC unit is not a European DSC. In the US the are Class F Dsc whereas in Europe we are class D. The difference being that the class D is a much more capable in terms of screen size (ability to send your own dsc messages), has a seperate transmitter/receiver for the dsc (the US version cannot receive dsc messages if you are talking on the VHF).

 

[gtmoore]

Re: Let\'s be realistic...

According to the RYA VHF book, the US has some quite different channel allocations to the International standard. It even states that it would be very unwise for a UK resident to purchase an American VHF radio for use in the UK and that it would be unable to receive and transmit on many of the international channels.

If the sets for sale have a switchable US and International setting then I guess this would nullify the above argument (except for Type Approval perhaps).

It also says that RA staff carry out regular inspections of equipment on UK registered vessels - anyone ever experienced this?

 

[PeterGibbs]

West Marine are strongly recommended for service and resonable pricing. Deals can be done with distributors in the USA (get distributor list from manufacturer's website) but on a lot of gear their discounting is less aggressive than here. The £ is low against he US$ now so savings are less, prompting the question is it worth it? Import duty is leviable in the UK on electronics plus VAT. I recommend only major brands are considered.

What is often done is to order a gizzmo and have it delivered to a friendly address in the USA incurring only state sales tax (about 5%) then return with it to the UK.

For the sake of good order I should add that technically bringing in goods purchased overseas with a value more than the personal allowance must be declared on entering the UK. This allowance is miserable! But.....

PWG

 

[Guest]

Re: Let\'s be realistic...

who pays for the warranty post ?
i'm afraid you have things abit wrong. please read the rest of the threads and the vhf query above this one.
commercial ships use a differnt standard of DSC and the GMDSS requirements for commercial and rec vesssels are not the same either.
adobe

 

[Guest]

Re: Let\'s be realistic...

warranty might be honoured but you will pay for shipping
re licence you obviously don't have one or you would know the answer to this.
commercial DSC is different to rec and GMDSS rules are aimed at commercial to rec boats
read the other threads

 

[david_bagshaw]

Dont forget the fowarders charge to collect the vat , plus vat!!!!

was charged £ 6 .00 on a memory card of about £45.



In my experiance (for what it is not worth) As a rule of thoumb item up to £100 value if it appears to be half price in the states , by the time you get it in your hands, paid handling charges , higher post costs, VAT, phone calls etc will be about 1/3 cheaper than home bought


Incidently last time we had to declare new equipement for the Ra, they wanted to know the serial no, so had it not been type approved, it would have been illegal to use. Also the Dutch are quite keen on this sort of thing as well, for when we were stopped for a routine inspection coming up through Rotterdam, again the radio licencing, both disc & operators licence were throughly checked.

David
www.yachtman.co.uk

 

[milltech]

Re: Let\'s be realistic...

Much as I would like to its hard to argue against these $ price differences, but personally I would not go this route for a radio.

The savings are not worth the agro. Nasa's new DSC radio will probably hit the streets at £249 in a month or so anyway.

With all product groups, check the specs, the delivery set can often be very different there to here.

Boat Junkie