Ali Express import help!

mark123

After a bit to drink yesterday late into the morning i ordered a dave grohl replica for £210 delivered ,but waking up this morning ive realised import duties and the rosewood cites 
Anyone know What do i have to do ? (apart from drink less!)

KrisGee

You need to cancel your purchase and buy a real guitar.

mark123

KrisGee said:

You need to cancel your purchase and buy a real guitar.

well thats helped me mate !

Modulus_Amps

erm, it will have real rosewood on it, surely at that price it is pretend rosewood?

Ask the seller about Cites

A large number of Chinese sellers under declare a products value so you may not have to pay too much on import, don't ask though as that may get you in trouble

Sassafras

Alcoholics Anonymous (as you've realised).

robgilmo

Drink more, then you will buy more expensive guitars from the UK and won't remember a thing, imagine your surprise when a 10k vintage Lp turns up on your door step.

mark123

what will happen ?will i get an e mail off customs to come and collect and pay import dutyon it ??

Arktik83

mark123 said:

what will happen ?will i get an e mail off customs to come and collect and pay import dutyon it ??

You won't get an email from customs, the courier that is carrying the parcel will pre-pay the duty and vat and invoice you along with a handling fee of usually around £10 - £15. 

You'll have to pay Duty and VAT on both the shipment value declared and the cost to send it to you I would say unless the seller has built the duty in to the price you have paid them then you wouldn't pay Duty and VAT as the sender has pre-paid it.

How much you pay depends on how much the sender declares and if UK Customs buy that and not decide to prize it open and assign the guitar to a tariff code.

You can always refuse the item and it's sent back but that doesn't mean the duty is removed, you would usually have to prove that you sent it back then it gets waived.  Chances are it'll be one of those little "There's a fee to pay" cards and you'll have to settle that online.  Some couriers will just hand the parcel over then send you an invoice later on.

With regards to CITES, I'm not so sure.

rico

My concern is that you've bought a fake.

KrisGee

rico said:

My concern is that you've bought a fake.

This is what I meant in my reply above.

kswilson89

I've imported a couple of acoustics since the CITES regulations came into place. Both guitars had back and sides made of rosewood. I took bit of a chance with the CITES regulations potentially causing some hassle with the whole process but neither guitar was flagged up for any CITES violation. You may just get away with it, you will have to pay import duty and VAT though.

OilCityPickups

If you bought a US branded guitar on Ali Express it will be a fake. The quality of the fakery can be very varied ... and if it has Fender on the headstock it's an very naughty illegal fake that you can't ever legally re sell ... at least while it has Fender on the headstock. 

Hattigol

I don't think the OP is under any illusion that at £210, it's the real deal!

Adey

The seller will probably under declare the value to about £80 and call it a "starter guitar".

When it turns up, customs will slap duty relative to £80 on it and the post office will send you a letterbox invoice to pay the £30 or so. Once you have done this, they will deliver in a couple of days to you.

No problems...

prowla

Adey said:

The seller will probably under declare the value to about £80 and call it a "starter guitar".

When it turns up, customs will slap duty relative to £80 on it and the post office will send you a letterbox invoice to pay the £30 or so. Once you have done this, they will deliver in a couple of days to you.

No problems...

...and then you'll have one of the finest genuine counterfeit guitars money can buy!