Import Duties - eBay

[Moley RUFC]

Looking a couple of nice interior carbons upgrades for the Alfa. Sellers are based on Hong Kong or China and advise that import duties are not included. Value of the goods in total is around £160.

How do I go about understanding what I’m likely going to have to pay if anything? Any advice?

[227bhp]

There will be a more precise answer, but I CBA TBH because you can Google it, roughly speaking it used to be the case that if something was $200 it eventually cost £200 with duty and shipping costs.

[Cold]

As you're not importing personally (such as bringing stuff back from a holiday etc) but just relying on the postal and/or delivery service you'll quite possibly be hit with an admin charge on top of any VAT or import duties that are liable.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/importing-goods-from-o...

[soad]

What about the customs clearance fee, by the courier?

[mcflurry]

Afaik there's duty depending on the item, 20% vat and £8 or so for the couriers admin..

[red_slr]

I work on 25% as a rule of thumb.

However 8 times out of 10 the sellers in China don't complete the paperwork correctly and nothing happens and the package just arrives.

IME items from the US are the other way around, 80% of the time there are duties to pay.

If you can find a seller within the EU there are no duties (for now!).

HTH.

[Moley RUFC]

Thanks for the info. For clarity do I wait for a bill or need to prepay?

[Wiccan of Darkness]

If you're hit with customs charges on something that enters the country, the courier will drop a note through your door informing there's a fee to pay. If it's parcel force, you pay the charge plus handling fee of £8 when you go to collect the item.

I suggest you ask the vendor to put a nominal $39 as the value on the CN22 and the description of 'car parts'. Any documents with the parcel should allude to sender, recipient and details of items but not the value; the receipt/invoice be emailed directly to you.

Whichever courier collects it from customs will pay the customs charge upfront, and then they reclaim it from you. If you don't pay, then the items are either returned or destroyed.

Option 2 is to send them an empty box with your return details on the box, they use the same package to "return" the items to you, clearly marked return to sender. Returned items do not incur customs charges.

[languagetimothy]

red_slr said:

I work on 25% as a rule of thumb.

However 8 times out of 10 the sellers in China don't complete the paperwork correctly and nothing happens and the package just arrives.

IME items from the US are the other way around, 80% of the time there are duties to pay.

If you can find a seller within the EU there are no duties (for now!).

HTH.

I've imported guitars from the US to the Uk and yes add about 25pct to the cost.. from there.
includes various taxes and import duties. I've always had to pay them. The delivery company won't release or deliver it until its paid.
However, one my mates hasn't had to once... doesn't know why but kept quiet.
It's a bit risky, but sometimes people ask for the valuation on the insurance etc be considerably reduced therefore reducing your tax bil.....so I've heard... erm... cough.... anyway....

[Nickyboy]

Wiccan of Darkness said:

Option 2 is to send them an empty box with your return details on the box, they use the same package to "return" the items to you, clearly marked return to sender. Returned items do not incur customs charges.

Doesn't work quite like that, to avoid charges the package will have to have outgoing customs paperwork with relevant air waybill numbers to match the goods

[227bhp]

Moley RUFC said:

Thanks for the info. For clarity do I wait for a bill or need to prepay?

Prepay to what degree? Ffs It's irrelevant, you'll be notified, just get the stuff ordered! If you want to complicate matters try finding out the commodity code...
Two things in your favour; one has already been pointed out and that is the Chinese have a knack of getting goods through without picking up any charges (maybe they have some kind of trade agreement).
The other is that at Christmas time it gets so busy that a lot of stuff gets pushed through without forms being filled in, so you don't pay anything.

As an aside and purely for conversation for others and that is the Meercans can spend several hundred ££ over here and pay no import duty, whereas we pay it from a much smaller amount upwards. I don't have the figures to hand, but ours is about £10 - £15, but it's dependent on what it is.

Edited by 227bhp on Saturday 16th December 00:14

[red_slr]

£18 for VAT and duty kicks in at £120 although its a bit more complex than that with some goods but generally speaking that's the limit.

[Moley RUFC]

Thanks for the advice all. Parts ordered

[bimsb6]

Getting items shipped as warrenty exchange seems to work with avoiding duty.

[Nickyboy]

bimsb6 said:

Getting items shipped as warrenty exchange seems to work with avoiding duty.

Again, you need the outgoing paperwork to match the item to prove it was a warranty item

[bimsb6]

Nickyboy said:

bimsb6 said:

Getting items shipped as warrenty exchange seems to work with avoiding duty.

Again, you need the outgoing paperwork to match the item to prove it was a warranty item

Its worked for me with no paperwork .

[Squadrone Rosso]

I had a watch sent as a Timing Instrument once. Didn’t ask for this but it worked well

[bimsb6]

Had a buell exhaust sent as bent tubing samples .