Yes, it's ridiculous. As Davidt notes, you should expect to pay 20% plus handling charge when importing anything into the UK. I've had more than a few USA proposed deals that didn't work because buyers didn't want to pay the UK taxes and duties -- and I understood why.
Friends,
I am very astonished about reactions here on customs fees and duties. Nothing is ridiculous.
I am collecting items since 50 years and its absolutely normal to pay fees, when you get something from abroad unless its inside a tariff free zone like the EU (or inside the US or UK).
Btw. the custom fees for a watch in the EU is 1€ or so neglectable, but in any way we have to pay 19% VAT even for imported used items, as for everything we buy new in a shop.
There is minimum, like in the EU parcels under 150€ are not controlled, what makes a big problem with huge mass shipments from China.
Theoretically we get the VAT refunded, when we export anything we had paid VAT before inland, but that needs documentation and burocracy.
So is there a free trade agreement between UK and Australia or Canada? No I guess.
The used watch prices in Japan or US seem to be lower than in EU or UK, so I imported many over the years and paid. And in most cases I made a profit by increasing values of the watches in my drawer.
(I pay my income or car tax without complaining.)
Konrad
The used watch prices in Japan or US seem to be lower than in EU or UK...
This is because the US price is always quoted before tax, while EU prices are generally inclusive of local VAT. In Japan, I think they assume prices are for export, so they are also usually quoted before VAT (especially on eBay, where most are priced in USD).
This doesn't mean that there isn't tax here, as most US states have use tax that is different in each of our states. eBay generally handles this tax for the buyer on US sales.
We used to have a general $800 exemption from customs duty on imports for private individuals, but this has been repealed in our latest tax law, passed a couple of weeks ago. We'll see how strict the US Post Office will be with this change very soon.
gatorcpa
I thought I would give an update in case someone is considering importing a watch from Australia into UK.
I did go for it. It took one week to arrive. I had to pay VAT as I expected and £12 for handling fees, nothing else. There were no import duties.
Similar to what was mentioned above, I spent less in total than I would for a similar model in similar condition in the UK. I understand prices are slightly higher in the UK vs US for example, but for this particular scenario, it is definitely worth it.
Hope that is helpful for anyone considering importing a watch from Australia into the UK.
