Importing a marker from the USA
- Thread starter superbully
- Start date
If you get the sender to label the package as "Gift" cant you avoid customs somehow?
Im out to buy a ****load of new stuff sometime soon (marker,barrel,hopper,tank) which is about (no bull****) £200 cheaper in US stores - But nobody can give an authoritive answer on what the additional costs will be.
Personally, from the quality of some of the UK paintball shops, Id feel safer dodging customs than emailing my CC number to a yahoo address!
Im out to buy a ****load of new stuff sometime soon (marker,barrel,hopper,tank) which is about (no bull****) £200 cheaper in US stores - But nobody can give an authoritive answer on what the additional costs will be.
Personally, from the quality of some of the UK paintball shops, Id feel safer dodging customs than emailing my CC number to a yahoo address!
loply
The definitive answer is that if the customs guys pick out your parcel, they will charge you:
17.5% for VAT
5% import duty
of the $ amount that is declared on the package by the sender
But they then convert that $ amount to £ on their own exchange rate which is never favourable to you, the reciever and adds about another 2% on top
So all in all, if something from the states is more than 25% cheaper than the UK then it is probably a good deal. if the difference is less then you might end up losing out. I only say might as Customs don't hit every single package, I'd say the hit rate is about 2 of 3.
Your other point - if the sender declares it to be "Gift/sponsorship - value $0" then 23% of $0 is 0.00 - yup?
The definitive answer is that if the customs guys pick out your parcel, they will charge you:
17.5% for VAT
5% import duty
of the $ amount that is declared on the package by the sender
But they then convert that $ amount to £ on their own exchange rate which is never favourable to you, the reciever and adds about another 2% on top
So all in all, if something from the states is more than 25% cheaper than the UK then it is probably a good deal. if the difference is less then you might end up losing out. I only say might as Customs don't hit every single package, I'd say the hit rate is about 2 of 3.
Your other point - if the sender declares it to be "Gift/sponsorship - value $0" then 23% of $0 is 0.00 - yup?
I see.
Thanks for that, usefull info
Maybe the store will just give me the gun as a gift, afterall, I plan to give them a gift of some money, maybe theyll give me a gift back on an unrelated note?
Thanks for that, usefull info
Maybe the store will just give me the gun as a gift, afterall, I plan to give them a gift of some money, maybe theyll give me a gift back on an unrelated note?
update
Just for everyones info : I british, but living in Belgium. My original plan was to get some stuff sent to UK and then next time I'm over there go pick it up.
Like people have said here the US price would have to be alot cheaper to make it worth the while to getting it into the UK.
I have been doing some further investigation and the Belgian customs are even worse, (I thought they would be because i got stung by em before on just bringing in some small silly thing - that's why i've been posting here to see if UK is any cheaper) The doune here (customs) even charge on gifts coming in !!! can you believe it! It's all on their official website - i'll give the link to those that don't believe me - you have to be able to read dutch though!!
Just for everyones info : I british, but living in Belgium. My original plan was to get some stuff sent to UK and then next time I'm over there go pick it up.
Like people have said here the US price would have to be alot cheaper to make it worth the while to getting it into the UK.
I have been doing some further investigation and the Belgian customs are even worse, (I thought they would be because i got stung by em before on just bringing in some small silly thing - that's why i've been posting here to see if UK is any cheaper) The doune here (customs) even charge on gifts coming in !!! can you believe it! It's all on their official website - i'll give the link to those that don't believe me - you have to be able to read dutch though!!
Done it
Well..... I have got a marker now.
It's second hand and I imported it from the states. The price was so right that I just couldn't resist.
I got the seller to put a little letter in the bow that read to the effect of "thanks for letting me borrow your marker, I am returning it to you, blah blah"
I did this because after my research on the Belgain customs site I found out they can't charge you duties on stuff coming into the country that is already your property !!
So I have an autococker now, that I got at an amazing price and just paid $35 to get it over here (with bottle, barrel, the lot). Only took 7 days to get here.
Signed
a delighted, New cocker owner
Well..... I have got a marker now.
It's second hand and I imported it from the states. The price was so right that I just couldn't resist.
I got the seller to put a little letter in the bow that read to the effect of "thanks for letting me borrow your marker, I am returning it to you, blah blah"
I did this because after my research on the Belgain customs site I found out they can't charge you duties on stuff coming into the country that is already your property !!
So I have an autococker now, that I got at an amazing price and just paid $35 to get it over here (with bottle, barrel, the lot). Only took 7 days to get here.
Signed
a delighted, New cocker owner