Will I get stung for tax if I buy this?
Discussion
I've been hankering after a 17" Apple MacBook Pro for ages and I've found a seller on eBay with loads of positive feedback who can sell me a brand new sealed-in-box one for the equivalent of the US price. That's a saving of over £400.
My concern is that I could have a huge tax bill to pay when the delivery bloke arrives with it. The item description states that there is nothing more to pay than the item price. The company is US-based but ships the items from within the UK. Does this offer scope for a legitimate 'get-around' for the import taxes or is it too good to be true?
Are there any tax experts here who can explain how such a situation can exist legitimately or advise me to run away quickly?
The item is no 370066203395
I can't post a link because the URL is really long and refuses to format correctly when I paste it in.
My concern is that I could have a huge tax bill to pay when the delivery bloke arrives with it. The item description states that there is nothing more to pay than the item price. The company is US-based but ships the items from within the UK. Does this offer scope for a legitimate 'get-around' for the import taxes or is it too good to be true?
Are there any tax experts here who can explain how such a situation can exist legitimately or advise me to run away quickly?
The item is no 370066203395
I can't post a link because the URL is really long and refuses to format correctly when I paste it in.
This Mac will be shipped from within the UK via Royal Mail, but it's a US company. They also ship some items from the US and these have the following notice: **This item may be subjected to customs import tax/fee when it enters your country. If customs/tax is charged, we will refund all of it back to you.**
I just want to be sure that they're not using some type of rule that allows the tax to be deferred when it's a US company that stocks items and ships them from within the UK if the tax is going to have to be paid as some later point. Basically, if what they're doing is legitimate then I'm happy to buy the item, but I don't want to end up paying the UK price - if I was prepared to do that I'd just buy one from my local Apple reseller.
I just want to be sure that they're not using some type of rule that allows the tax to be deferred when it's a US company that stocks items and ships them from within the UK if the tax is going to have to be paid as some later point. Basically, if what they're doing is legitimate then I'm happy to buy the item, but I don't want to end up paying the UK price - if I was prepared to do that I'd just buy one from my local Apple reseller.
jeevescat said:
I can't see how you can be clobbered for anything, the item is landed in the UK and will be shipped to you from Egham, therefore no duty can be levied surely.
That's how I see it. I'm just curious as to how they can charge the US price for a legitimate UK sale of an Apple item - Apple are notorious for not doing discounts and dealer margins are apparently very tight, so there's little or no scope for discounting by 'resellers', certainly not by such a huge amount. I wondered if, by having the company in the US but a means of shipping from a UK location to UK buyers, they were exercising some type of dubious tax-dodge that might catch up with them, and more worryingly, me, at some later juncture.jeevescat said:
I suppose they are buying them in the states, shipping them to the UK, and then the onus is on them to get them past customs without having to fork out any duty. Whether anyone can come after you later for it I don't know. Kind of modern day smuggling.
Well the duty normally includes duty on the shipping costs and the item combined, which can make the money saved importing one item not very competitive, but if they can send a whole container load via ship the duty will be pretty small on a cost per item basis. If they are able to exploit the money differences US$ vs UK£ then they should have a viable business proposition.jeevescat said:
I suppose they are buying them in the states, shipping them to the UK, and then the onus is on them to get them past customs without having to fork out any duty. Whether anyone can come after you later for it I don't know. Kind of modern day smuggling.
That's what I'm concerned about. I don't know enough about customs and excise, so I can't be sure, but I was wondering if the import duty on a piece of stock could be deferred until such time as the item was sold to a customer. In that case I might be sold something that I subsequently have to pay duty on, even though I've bought it from within the UK.thepeoplespal said:
Well the duty normally includes duty on the shipping costs and the item combined, which can make the money saved importing one item not very competitive, but if they can send a whole container load via ship the duty will be pretty small on a cost per item basis. If they are able to exploit the money differences US$ vs UK£ then they should have a viable business proposition.
That makes sense, but whether that can account for such a large saving, I'm not sure.The UK Apple store quotes £1,799.00 for this item.
The US Apple store quotes $2,799.00 for this item.
At the current GBP/USD exchange rate a US one works out at about £1,411.00, some £388 less than the UK price, but at £1,329.00 the eBay item is some £82.00 cheaper than the US price! I can't see how they're managing to pay import duty and shipping and undercut not only the UK price, but also the US price, even if they're getting them for trade price in the first place.
BigMansZetec said:
If you want a cheaper Mac, have a look at the refurbished section on the Apple store. I just brought a a Macbook and saved about £150, and it is in perfect condition, you would think it was new, and it still carries the same warranty as a new one.
Just another option.
I've looked at that option but the discounts aren't big enough.Just another option.
Toni896 said:
If the warehouse is bonded then surely once good leave it to customer duty is then required.
I'm not quite sure I understand that sentence.A bonded wharehouse is technically still on the Tex Free side of Customs. That way they can ship it anywhere and only incur the local tax.
As soon as good leave the bonded side of a warehouse they become liable of tax. I am not saying this is what will happen it is just a basic clarification of a bonded warehouse.
V.
As soon as good leave the bonded side of a warehouse they become liable of tax. I am not saying this is what will happen it is just a basic clarification of a bonded warehouse.
V.
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