Customs duty

[Busdriver 6209]

What is the story with customs duty when buying stuff from abroad. I recently bought some bearings from USA and got stung with import duty. Want to buy waterproof esc and some servos from Hong Kong but they are not so cheap if import duty gets stuck on. Is there a way round it?

[Wooders28 4722]

You get import duty from the USA if the value inc shipping is over £35 (if I remember right), then it's 10% import duty, and then , 20% VAT (you pay tax on tax!? 🤬). The chances are, you'll also get a process fee from parcelforce.

I've not had any duty to pay coming from Hong Kong, but all items always seem to be cheap, so 🙄🤷‍♂️

[Busdriver 6209]

That sounds about right re USA. Think I'll stick with China and maybe split free delivery orders to keep totals down.

[TwistedxSlayer 1290]

Never been hit with import duty from Hong Kong or anywhere that isn't the USA.

[Superluminal 3750]

Bare in mind that the post office / parcelforce fee is about £13 which they will not release the item to you unless its paid in addition to the duty. I got stung by this when I ordered a couple of line marking pens from Japan. The duty was only a couple of quid but i was still asked to pay the "handling fee" or bribe.

Strangely never been a problem ordering from china (Rcmart etc) where some orders have been worth a couple of hundred pounds.

[Ray_ve 1043]

Similar here in the Netherlands. Any goods above 22 euros from non EU countries should pay import tax, sales tax and some handling fee.

Packages from America are on the radar and get frequently intercepted.
But strangely, all china packages that are shipped as free shipping or regular shipping, Team Bluegroove packages and MCI decals all pass without additional taxes so far. Maybe luck?? Although MCI decals are send as regular envelope, not a big box.

Only had to pay once for a china package that went via DHL, unavoidable and I knew this in advance so no issues there.

So hopefully, the UK will remain in the EU, otherwise Tony Tamiya Parts may get expensive to import too!

Edit: items between 22 and 150 euros do not get import tax, but still require sales tax.

[Wooders28 4722]

2 hours ago, Busdriver said:

Think I'll stick with China and maybe split free delivery orders to keep totals down.

When I say, seem to be cheap, I've heard, stories 🙄,of a £45 motor and esc coming through as a $99 toy spares, (not too bad if the wife intercepts either...)

[frameskip 63]

For those in the UK, this page is worth a read: https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

My experience is that you are likely to get stung on anything with a declared value over £15. Chinese sellers are savvy to this, and typically declare an artificially low value. Almost everything I have received from the US or Japan over £15 has come with a ransom note.

[Wongataa 42]

6 hours ago, Busdriver said:

What is the story with customs duty when buying stuff from abroad. I recently bought some bearings from USA and got stung with import duty. Want to buy waterproof esc and some servos from Hong Kong but they are not so cheap if import duty gets stuck on. Is there a way round it?

Not really.  I work out what the price is with all the correct tariffs and VAT added.  If it gets through without attracting the fees or less fees than I was expecting I consider it a nice bonus.  Some sellers may be naughty and declare lower values for the goods to try and reduce the duty you might be charged.

If you want to look up the import & export duty for anything you can do so here: https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/sections.  Just find the category the product you are look at fits into.  once you have the duty add it to the cost of the goods and the postage.  Then work out the VAT due (20% in the UK) on the price you just worked out.