Shipping to las palmas marina

[Oscarpop]

I need to ship parts to las palmas marina.

Is this straight forward or will I get tied up in problems over tax and local tax?

I am having the items shipped tax free from the uk straight to las palmas. What I don't want to do is get them impounded by customs .

I have heard mentioned that there is a 7% local tax to pay .

Can people shed light on the complexity or not of doing this?

Cheers

 

[RobbieW]

No direct experience, do remember that the Canaries are not part of the EU and duties are likely to be payable. If you are not on the spot to deal with it I suspect you'll need to find an agent to handle the import.

 

[john_q]

Many years I tried to to get parts from the UK to Gran Caneria and the supplier used DHL. I found out after the event that DHL had a reputation for not knowing where the Caneries were and the parts got to Madrid and after a while were returned to the UK

I would suggest you ask around the marinas and ask which delivery company works and also maybe contact the ARC people /companies supporting the ARC as they will have had experiance of shipping

 

[phantomlady]

Ariadne of this parish has direct experience of this I believe...perhaps drop him a PM?

 

[tcm]

Definitely can't be too difficult - ARC and other support-type companies ship things there a lot as others say for the ARC. I had various bits and pieces sent to LP but i didn't organise the shipping so, duh, dunno exactly who to use or not use.

Worldcruising.com should be a reasonable starting point. I also rate Mainsail advice (and they are suppliers to the ARC lot pre-departure in LP) so perhaps send them and email asking about who they use.

Edit: note that unless you are with the ARC, you have to anchor outside LP marina and dinghy in from 1st November until ARC departure (sunday 22nd nov i imagine) .... or find another marina.

 

[TOKOLOSHI]

I believe you will be asked for a Highway Robbery tax to get your goods released!
lots of aggravation reports on the web!
Heres one .
17-10-14, 20:03
I have arrived, in Las Palmas Marina, Personally not part of the ARC.
However, shortly, lots of boats will be arriving, as they do every year...to do the ARC.
I had a family member, send me a 35 GBP modem, from England to Las Palmas.
This morning I received a phone call, telling me, that my modem had arrived in Las Palmas & would be delivered either
Monday or Tuesday..
Be sure to have 30 euros ready, to pay the courier.

I said , what 30 euros ?
"For Customs Clearance"
Er No, the parcel is sent from the EU, so no customs charge.

Si tu pago IGIC Canario .

The conversation ended there, but looking online, Canary island IGIC is 4 %, so by my reckoning, thats 3 euro 50cent at most..
Anybody out there, understand EU Law ?
Everywhere I look, here in the Canaries, every building project is mostly funded by the EU ?
Very soon, all the ARC boats are going to start arriving, and I bet a lot of them will have problems with rig or electronics & will probably order replacements from their own countries.

So, my question is, are these charges legal, or just a rip off by a self governing force ?
I am quite prepared to take this further, on principle, if anyone can point me in the right direction

 

[temptress]

I believe you will be asked for a Highway Robbery tax to get your goods released!
lots of aggravation reports on the web!
Heres one .
17-10-14, 20:03
I have arrived, in Las Palmas Marina, Personally not part of the ARC.
However, shortly, lots of boats will be arriving, as they do every year...to do the ARC.
I had a family member, send me a 35 GBP modem, from England to Las Palmas.
This morning I received a phone call, telling me, that my modem had arrived in Las Palmas & would be delivered either
Monday or Tuesday..
Be sure to have 30 euros ready, to pay the courier.

I said , what 30 euros ?
"For Customs Clearance"
Er No, the parcel is sent from the EU, so no customs charge.

Si tu pago IGIC Canario .

The conversation ended there, but looking online, Canary island IGIC is 4 %, so by my reckoning, thats 3 euro 50cent at most..
Anybody out there, understand EU Law ?
Everywhere I look, here in the Canaries, every building project is mostly funded by the EU ?
Very soon, all the ARC boats are going to start arriving, and I bet a lot of them will have problems with rig or electronics & will probably order replacements from their own countries.

So, my question is, are these charges legal, or just a rip off by a self governing force ?
I am quite prepared to take this further, on principle, if anyone can point me in the right direction

I had issues importing a new rudder into the Canaries. The canaries are in SPAIN and therefore in the EU but they are NOT in the single market and have their own tax structures and variable 'fees'.

 

[tcm]

I believe you will be asked for a Highway Robbery tax to get your goods released!
lots of aggravation reports on the web!
Heres one .
17-10-14, 20:03
I have arrived, in Las Palmas Marina, Personally not part of the ARC.
However, shortly, lots of boats will be arriving, as they do every year...to do the ARC.
I had a family member, send me a 35 GBP modem, from England to Las Palmas.
This morning I received a phone call, telling me, that my modem had arrived in Las Palmas & would be delivered either
Monday or Tuesday..
Be sure to have 30 euros ready, to pay the courier.

I said , what 30 euros ?
"For Customs Clearance"
Er No, the parcel is sent from the EU, so no customs charge.

Si tu pago IGIC Canario .

The conversation ended there, but looking online, Canary island IGIC is 4 %, so by my reckoning, thats 3 euro 50cent at most..
Anybody out there, understand EU Law ?
Everywhere I look, here in the Canaries, every building project is mostly funded by the EU ?
Very soon, all the ARC boats are going to start arriving, and I bet a lot of them will have problems with rig or electronics & will probably order replacements from their own countries.

So, my question is, are these charges legal, or just a rip off by a self governing force ?
I am quite prepared to take this further, on principle, if anyone can point me in the right direction

Hum. Chill pill first, then consideration of the fact that Spain was a dictatorship for 40 years, and what those officials with or without guns say... is what goes. 27 euros not to have a heart attack. Alternatively send any female to collect goods - completely different charging scale. often applies.

 

[TOKOLOSHI]

Note! The report was from another! although we did experience similar problem trying to extract a UK shipped life-raft out of customs the day before the Start in 2000! So little has changed?

 

[MailASail]

Hi, I'm not sure if tcm was referencing me, but we do ship stuff to Las Palmas and have some experience of the challenges

Firstly, the bad news is you need to get things in context. Those of you looking to vote UKIP and boot us out of the EU should become aware that being able to freely post something to another country without tons of clearance cost and bureaucracy is *NOT* the norm and something you get only within certain groups of countries, especially it's a negotiated right within the EC countries...

So, for example when I get some of our products shipped in from Switzerland, I pay the cost of the courier, I also have to pay VAT on the import (of course, as you would expect), but then I need to pay £20-200 per parcel for the pleasure of DHL clearing it for me, THEN I need to pay interest on the clearance cost, despite that I clear this same day (usually another 1% or more). However, if I ship or receive something from an EC country I simply pop an address label on it, nothing else, done...

So be aware that the Canary Islands are
- NOT part of the EC, so you need NEED to fill in clearance paperwork (expect to pay to have this done for you, it's not practical for most people to do it themselves)
- There *IS* tax in the Canary Islands. I think IGC is currently 7%. Expect to have to pass a complicated process to pay that before the shipment will leave the EC (ie leave Madrid)
- Spain is a .... fairly relaxed country... Expect local customs to add time, cost and delay to all of the above. Remember this is a culture where if you ring up a company in August you might be told that everyone is on holiday until September... How do you get around that? ...Wait until September...

So, my advice is that:
- Cheapest, fastest and most reliable way to get anything to the Canaries is to get someone to hand carry it... Easyjet, et al are fairly inexpensive, if you line things up it should be possible to get there and back again in 24 hours. Seriously, if you can do this, do this...


- Next cheapest and next most reliable is to use a good courier, I quite like Fedex. AND you MUST pay a local agent to receive the goods. Expect to pay the local agent a random amount of money to handle the clearance. I believe any local vat registered business can do this for you, but why are they going to do it for free? You will need to pay the 7% (or whatever it is) IGC, plus clearance, plus obviously the courier costs.

Expect your parcel to get stuck in Madrid and chase it regularly, basically if some small thing is missing from the paperwork it will sit there until YOU chase it (no one is going to ring you, forget about waiting and hoping...). Note it's not uncommon to need to run up every day for several days as it will randomly transpire that your previous call didn't actually give them all the info they need, again they won't "do something" they will just leave it sitting there until YOU do something.

Finally, remember these warehouses are absolutely immense in size. Expect your parcel to get damaged or lost forever if you don't clear it quickly. My rule of thumb is to prefer not to ship anything (anywhere) on Fridays because it means it's sitting in a warehouse all weekend...

Please bear in mind that most of the above applies to ANY international shipment. Yes, ship something to the USA and be prepared for a whole bunch of paperwork. Sure, someone here is bound to have had an experience of slipping something past, but I can assure you that when we ship an Iridium phone to the USA, we need to file a massive bunch of paperwork, including FCC details of the items, details of country of origin of all parts, etc... It's NOT a 10 second process to ship something outside the EC...


- Your third option is to engage a courier to ship it and just hope.... Good luck.... It does seem to get there about 30% of the time, usually in less than 2-3 weeks. For this reason you will likely here a bunch of opinions that it's possible to do it without a clearance agent, and yes, occasionally we have managed this. However, the problem is unless you ask someone who ships tons of stuff, all you are hearing is "small sample" and if you *NEED* your parcel not to get lost, it's not terribly good advice. I would definitely insure your parcel well in this event, and whilst I have lost very few parcels, definitely enter into this assuming it could happen (usually it will either come back to you, but it might cost you for the return trip as well...)


Finally, note all of the above assumes you want to pay the 7% IGC (and a bunch of 10 euro notes for clearance). If you really, really want to try and dodge the IGC there *IS* a "ship in transit" kind of approach. You WILL need a specialist shipper because it involves *a lot* of paperwork and you can assume that you will spend quite a lot in cost to achieve this. So usually it's not worth it unless the item is of substantial value.


So, we come full circle. If you want to buy something from us, and you want it VAT free. Simply receive it here in the UK, we will give you a VAT reclaim form, you jump back on the plane and get the form stamped. Done. No clearance cost, no vat, instant receive. Sure you have the cost of the flight, but I bet it's not so different from the cost of the courier and clearance fees (plus random delays). Hence my first suggestion above...

Good luck with your shipment!

Ed

 

[MailASail]

I believe you will be asked for a Highway Robbery tax to get your goods released!
...
This morning I received a phone call, telling me, that my modem had arrived in Las Palmas & would be delivered either
Monday or Tuesday..
Be sure to have 30 euros ready, to pay the courier.
....
So, my question is, are these charges legal, or just a rip off by a self governing force ?
I am quite prepared to take this further, on principle, if anyone can point me in the right direction

I just looked. My most recent shipment from Switzerland to here in the UK cost me £53 for UPS to "clear it" (plus VAT, plus the courier cost, that's just the admin charge). DHL charge me a flat £10 ish per parcel I receive (internationally)

These charges are ONLY for things from *outside the EC*. Shipping within the EC requires no significant paperwork, taxes or charges. I pretty much just stick anything in a box and if it qualifies, zero the VAT, and off it goes. Simples.

I understand what people *hope* happens when you ship something, but the reality is that for your 50p a day, or whatever UKIP claim it costs each of us to be in the EC, you get a SUBSTANTIAL reduction in a lot of bureaucracy! If anyone cares I can can probably find a link to just the customs forms each exported parcel needs to leave the UK, it's around 18 pages long, personally I looked at it once (years back) and decided it was well worth paying someone to fill it in for me every time...

Sorry, but shipping, especially to certain countries, has a lot more going on behind the scenes than one might expect!

Ed

P.S. If anyone wants to really ship as cheap as possible, the terms to search for a "freight forwarder". A courier is a "door to door" service, so you are paying a premium for someone to deliver it and do your paperwork. If YOU drive it to the airport and fill in all the paperwork (and both ends) then you can just pay for the actual freight cost. Expect this to be an "interesting experience" the first few times you do it.

 

[temptress]

Hi, I'm not sure if tcm was referencing me, but we do ship stuff to Las Palmas and have some experience of the challenges

Firstly, the bad news is you need to get things in context. Those of you looking to vote UKIP and boot us out of the EU should become aware that being able to freely post something to another country without tons of clearance cost and bureaucracy is *NOT* the norm and something you get only within certain groups of countries, especially it's a negotiated right within the EC countries...

So, for example when I get some of our products shipped in from Switzerland, I pay the cost of the courier, I also have to pay VAT on the import (of course, as you would expect), but then I need to pay £20-200 per parcel for the pleasure of DHL clearing it for me, THEN I need to pay interest on the clearance cost, despite that I clear this same day (usually another 1% or more). However, if I ship or receive something from an EC country I simply pop an address label on it, nothing else, done...

So be aware that the Canary Islands are
- NOT part of the EC, so you need NEED to fill in clearance paperwork (expect to pay to have this done for you, it's not practical for most people to do it themselves)
- There *IS* tax in the Canary Islands. I think IGC is currently 7%. Expect to have to pass a complicated process to pay that before the shipment will leave the EC (ie leave Madrid)
- Spain is a .... fairly relaxed country... Expect local customs to add time, cost and delay to all of the above. Remember this is a culture where if you ring up a company in August you might be told that everyone is on holiday until September... How do you get around that? ...Wait until September...

So, my advice is that:
- Cheapest, fastest and most reliable way to get anything to the Canaries is to get someone to hand carry it... Easyjet, et al are fairly inexpensive, if you line things up it should be possible to get there and back again in 24 hours. Seriously, if you can do this, do this...


- Next cheapest and next most reliable is to use a good courier, I quite like Fedex. AND you MUST pay a local agent to receive the goods. Expect to pay the local agent a random amount of money to handle the clearance. I believe any local vat registered business can do this for you, but why are they going to do it for free? You will need to pay the 7% (or whatever it is) IGC, plus clearance, plus obviously the courier costs.

Expect your parcel to get stuck in Madrid and chase it regularly, basically if some small thing is missing from the paperwork it will sit there until YOU chase it (no one is going to ring you, forget about waiting and hoping...). Note it's not uncommon to need to run up every day for several days as it will randomly transpire that your previous call didn't actually give them all the info they need, again they won't "do something" they will just leave it sitting there until YOU do something.

Finally, remember these warehouses are absolutely immense in size. Expect your parcel to get damaged or lost forever if you don't clear it quickly. My rule of thumb is to prefer not to ship anything (anywhere) on Fridays because it means it's sitting in a warehouse all weekend...

Please bear in mind that most of the above applies to ANY international shipment. Yes, ship something to the USA and be prepared for a whole bunch of paperwork. Sure, someone here is bound to have had an experience of slipping something past, but I can assure you that when we ship an Iridium phone to the USA, we need to file a massive bunch of paperwork, including FCC details of the items, details of country of origin of all parts, etc... It's NOT a 10 second process to ship something outside the EC...


- Your third option is to engage a courier to ship it and just hope.... Good luck.... It does seem to get there about 30% of the time, usually in less than 2-3 weeks. For this reason you will likely here a bunch of opinions that it's possible to do it without a clearance agent, and yes, occasionally we have managed this. However, the problem is unless you ask someone who ships tons of stuff, all you are hearing is "small sample" and if you *NEED* your parcel not to get lost, it's not terribly good advice. I would definitely insure your parcel well in this event, and whilst I have lost very few parcels, definitely enter into this assuming it could happen (usually it will either come back to you, but it might cost you for the return trip as well...)


Finally, note all of the above assumes you want to pay the 7% IGC (and a bunch of 10 euro notes for clearance). If you really, really want to try and dodge the IGC there *IS* a "ship in transit" kind of approach. You WILL need a specialist shipper because it involves *a lot* of paperwork and you can assume that you will spend quite a lot in cost to achieve this. So usually it's not worth it unless the item is of substantial value.


So, we come full circle. If you want to buy something from us, and you want it VAT free. Simply receive it here in the UK, we will give you a VAT reclaim form, you jump back on the plane and get the form stamped. Done. No clearance cost, no vat, instant receive. Sure you have the cost of the flight, but I bet it's not so different from the cost of the courier and clearance fees (plus random delays). Hence my first suggestion above...

Good luck with your shipment!

Ed

Agree with all of this. When we shipped our new rudder, we used an agent, cleared it in Madrid and it still got stuck in customs. Admittedly we were shipping 'in transit' because of the value and the insurance company was helping. It took 1 month to build the rudder, 2 days to get to madrid and 2 1/2 months to clear the paperwork. Then 4 days to get to the Canaries.

Loking back and discussing this with longterm canaries residents it would have been quicker, easier and much cheaper to have hired a van in the canaries, taken the ferry to Spain, dr8ven to france, ferry to UK, picked up the rudder and driven back.

We consider this all part of voyaging.

I remember trying to get a spare part into Portugal just after they had joined the EU. Ended up having a second one and carried....

Mind you, just has similar to issues helpi a friend get parts from Singapore to Thailand and we are in Singapore....