Shipping Goods from the US - import charges?

[Jonny_H]

I am looking to buy a lot of Harken kit for a friend who is kitting out his boat. The RRP of the kit in the UK comes to £2,200. I have just had a quote for the same stuff from West Marine in the US of £1,350 including postage (bargain!) - but what import charges am I likely to have to pay when it arrives?
I assume VAT @ 17.5% (£250) which still makes a saving of £800, but will I get charged anything else??

Thanks

Jonny

 

[michael_w]

You will get charged import duty, and VAT on top of the duty as well. ie a tax on a tax.

 

[rivalranger]

I recently bought some kit from West Marine who delivered using FedEx Express. They (FedEx) paid my VAT up front to customs and then claimed it back from me to speed up the delivery. So expect a £4.50 admin fee for this service (not that I was given a choice), I also paid VAT on the delivery charge which was (incorrectly) converted from dollars to pounds at a one for one rate. However, if I want to claim back this overpayment of VAT FedEx want a £50 admin fee to talk to customs.

 

[Jonny_H]

Anyone any idea how much the import duty is likely to be??

I checked on the TARIC > http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds/en/tarhome.htm

But there isn't a catagory for chandlery (the kit is all blocks, cleats, shackles, travellers etc) - the closest catagory I could find was 'Block and tackle for hoisting, not for skips or aircraft or chain operated - Other' - which has a zero import duty - anyone any other ideas what catagory it would fall under??

Thanks

Jonny

 

[rivalranger]

There was no import duty charged on my $60 anchor foot switch.

 

[Jonny_H]

Incidentally - the only item listed if you type in 'boat' (marine / yacht don't work), is fenders - which have a 2.5% duty.

How odd that only fenders are listed under 'boat', nothing is listed for 'yacht' and 'marine' throws up all sorts of wierd stuff about about fish oils!

Any suggestions very welcome!

Jonny

 

[rivalranger]

I've just re-read the FedEx 'A Guide to your Duty and Taxes Invoices', they will charge you a admin fee of 2.5% of the combined Duty & VAT charge or £4.50 (whichever is greater)

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Give the HMRC Customs Tariff Classification Enquiry helpline a call - they should tell you precisely what your liability will be. There will be some additional admin fees as well from your carrier, but the big cost will be duty and vat. Tel: +44 (0)1702 366 077.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[Lizzie_B]

typically duty is between 0 and 3% . For example, last time I checked a whole sail boat under 39 ft was 1.5%, 39 ft and over it was 0%. It still makes a good buy.

VAT is charged on the 'Landed Value' which is cost of goods, carriage, any insurance and port and import duties all added together.

However, I have still found I save money on that type of item (ie deck hard ware). Bought a load of Harken blocks in the defenderUS sale two years ago - some of the 3 inch blocks were as little as $15 a pop.

 

[Swagman]

We shipped a watermaker from West Marine straight into Spain via FedX and paid VAT but no duty.
Worked out around half the price or ordering same unit from UK.
JOHN

 

[Jonny_H]

Thanks guys. I think that by starting off nearly £900 cheaper then even with all the taxes etc it will still save quite a lot getting the stuff sent from the US.

Isn't this bizarre though - surely UK chandlers can order from Harken US and therefore sell items much cheaper than the UK RRP list?

I have emailed the EU TARIC people to see what the import duty will be - I'll keep you informed if I ever hear back from them!

Jonny

 

[KevB]

Last year I bought a Standard Horizon CP1000 chart plotter from the US. This is what it cost.

The The purchase price was £613 including postage.

Import Duty was another £22.81
VAT £114.26
Parcelforce clearance fee £13.50

Total £763.57

 

[SimonJ]

If you use West or any other large reputable company who have a contract with Fedex (for example) they,FEDEX, will deal with it all "properly" ie collect VAT and appropriate (if they get it right) duty, on behalf of the customs. IF you were to get a friend or small business which does not have such a contract with a carrier to send, say, a parcel with contents declared on the green slip and annotated as a "birthday present" it is quite possible nothing will be charged & presumably no law broken. Whether you choose to proceed in that direction of course ......
I have recently found buying things abroad you get the best exchange rate with a Nationwide Debit or Visa card.

 

[Jonny_H]

Re: Shipping Goods from the US - import charges - UPDATE

Just to keep you updated ....

Still waiting to hear back from the EU guys at TARIC (no surprise there then), but spoken to a few UK chandlers who I know quite well, and they have said they are not allowed to buy from Harken US (only from Harken UK), however they can actually source goods cheaper by buying from another chandler in the US (West Marine for example), paying all the VAT and Import duty, than they can from Harken UK.

Infact, upto 15% discount on Harken UK prices by going through a US chandler. So that means that West Marine take a cut, the UK chandler takes a cut, and its still 15% cheaper than getting from Harken UK?!

Anyway, the long and the short is that my £2,300 of UK RRP goods will cost around £1,650 into the UK from West Marine(Including all charges), or £1,800 from a friendly UK Chandler who buys via the US (but has all the bits we need in stock at the moment) - for £150 difference I think we're going to go with the UK chandler as the delivery time is 2 days vs 3 weeks from the US (plus no exchange rate risks).

So who says we're not getting ripped off in the UK?!

Jonny