I'm sure there have been many threads about this previously but I'm struggling to find one that answers exactly what I'm looking for so sorry if this has been asked before. I am waiting to import a watch from the us to uk. The watch plus shipping totals to around 1500 dollars. The duty and tax seem to be around £500 from looking at a few websites but wondered if this figure seems correct from other people experience. Also is there anything I or the seller needs to do about paying the duty and tax or will the shipping company contact me directly with a bill when the item lands in the UK?
Secondly when buying in dollars through PayPal do you usualy pay through PayPal conversion rate or your own credit card?

Any help would be great thanks

 

You will be liable for UK VAT (usually 20%) plus some fees. I'd budget 25% of the cost of watch AND shipping. The shipping company will normally send you a bill before or sometimes after they deliver.

Credit card currency conversion and fees usually better than Paypal but you may want to check that as it depends on your card fees.

 

Sounds about right as a little research would have shown the op....

 

I have researched it but just wanted to check with others that I wasn’t missing something obvious

 

Yep, budget for 25% duty

 

You'll get good exchange rates with most credit cards, just make sure you use one that doesn't have a surcharge for foreign currency purchases (can range from 1 to 3%).

 

No expert, just stating what I did. Shipped a watch, just $500 though. Put the nicely wrapped watch in a USPS box, hand wrote the address and sent it off. Phoenix AZ to small town in Wales in 10 days. No declarations, no nothing. Dumb luck? My theory was don’t tell they won’t ask.

 

Wow. 25%. And i thought 18% to the Philippines is high.

 

Yes that about covers it. For me and my hobbies (watches, shooting and cameras predominantly) it really knocks out any appeal which the often-lower $US ticket price can be tempting with.

It all applies on gifts too so the generous "gift" of a watch from your long-lost cousin still takes a hit.

EBay's Global Shipping Programme at least gives you the figures up front and then you're done, no extras.
VAT on cost of shipping feels harsh but that's how it is.
"Admin/handling fees" of often £15-£20 charged by the UK courier/shipping company? Well you can always try the argument that if they hadn't informed you of this beforehand you can't be liable but if they're holding your watch and won't release it until you've paid you really have no choice, do you?

"How do you go about claiming a refund on all these charges if the goods are returned for refund in full?" I don't have any direct experience but I'll bet it isn't easy.

 

Can it be shipped as watch parts and incur a lower duty ?

 

I wonder what impact Brexit will have for UK watch market - Will it be 20% on anything from Europe.
A hop over on the shuttle or ferry and wearing it back starts to look a cheap option.....

My last US import to UK came via Royal mail and I could pay the customs fee online / set a new delivery date. They do charge a small handling fee as well. I paid £424 via Paypal for the item. Customs fee + handling charge on top was £90.61

 

Yep, just luck, and actually pretty dumb. Were they to inspect that package (and most are) it would most likely either be seized as it is in fact smuggling or at best the recipient would get a demand for the VAT and a healthy admin fee on top. They have got pretty tough on this in recent times.

No, the rate is the same, unless you falsely declare a lower value and if you do and they detect it see above.

 

wont that be some sort of tax evasion and your good might be seized if caught (for misdeclaration) in addition to any other criminal/civil penalties?

 

is there no tax free limit in UK? Here it’s about USD180. So anything below gets in free of customs duty and VAT.

 

The de minimis limit for the UK is £18 (around $23). For the US it is $800 USD. Very different gravy.

 

Wow. Never been updated? Ours used to be same to UK until it was updated a few years back.

 

Yep - here in Canada ours was $20 for decades, but I think they did increase it to a whopping $40 not too long ago. Between $40 and $150 only taxes will apply, and after $150 both duty and taxes apply.

This is often kept low to protect businesses in the country, rather than for tax revenue purposes as many believe. Pretty sure that for most packages it costs more in labour to process and collect the money on small purchases than they were collecting, at least here.

 

Once again I see how stupid the barriers to international trade. They are but stumbling blocks before our welfare! GBP 500 for a purchase ofUSD 1500?? Let's just hope that it's less as some suggested above but still 25% or more of a total USD1500 purchase is still big bucks!

Never tried the US to UK option but I was thinking about doing it once I'll be back to London. But considering all above, I guess I will keep sticking the "import via a visiting friend" option

 

On a $1500 USD purchase, the total tax take would be more like £250/ $320 so not quite as grim as you may think. Its 20% plus a fixed admin fee of £10-£20

 

Don’t forget if the carrier collects on your behalf your may also be charged an admin fee by them on top, either a flat rate or a percentage.
I usually budget 23-27% for import duty and on the rare occasions it’s less (or even missed off entirely) I take that as a bit of luck. When deciding on an out of EU purchase I always assume I’ll be paying it though.