Looking for advice about customs charges for imported guitars.

Legionreturns · October 2018

McSwaggerty said:

Whitecat said:I

Schnozz said:

How does CITES work then, if you were buying from thomann or somewhere? Is that an additional cost?

While we are still in an EU customs union (and possibly if we continue to be, temporarily or forever), CITES does not apply between other countries in the union.

Whats gonna happen after Brexit then?

I suspect that this is another question that is wrapped up in all the complex guidance issued by the government in their comprehensive advisory notice. To make it easier to cross reference, I've printed it in full below:

"Brexit means Brexit"

carlos · October 2018

Whitecat said:

Yes, VAT is also charged on the shipping fee, which is a joke but it is what it is...

If it wasn't like that you know the guitar would be advertised for £300 with £600 shipping fees, right?

Whitecat · October 2018

carlos said:

Whitecat said:

Yes, VAT is also charged on the shipping fee, which is a joke but it is what it is...

If it wasn't like that you know the guitar would be advertised for £300 with £600 shipping fees, right?

Which would be a difficult scam to pull off since the courier charges are laid out very specifically on their own paperwork.

RiftAmps · October 2018

Whitecat said:

Yes, VAT is also charged on the shipping fee, which is a joke but it is what it is...

Why? VAT is currently charged on all UK shipping services (excluding Post Office USOs - https://www.royalmail.com/information-vat-and-postal-services/), so this is only applying the same rules. The parcel will be transported from the aeroplane to your delivery address by a UK workforce and service centres, which amounts to the same 'work' as shipping any other domestic parcel. Why should we get to take advantage of those services and not pay VAT like everyone else, just because the item originated outside the EU?

I will, however, admit that a proportional VAT charge would be better, so only charged on the UK/EU part of its journey. I don't think it should be charged on the international leg, which it currently is. How you'd go about setting that up I don't know and would probably be a nightmare to manage.

Still, being able to get an item from t'other side of the world in just a few days, not weeks/months is incredible and I'm quite happy to pay for that.

Gassage · October 2018

You pay VAT on shipping, which is often forgotten.

a top tip is use FEDEX as sometimes they forget to charge

Whitecat · October 2018

RiftAmps said:

Whitecat said:

Yes, VAT is also charged on the shipping fee, which is a joke but it is what it is...

Why? VAT is currently charged on all UK shipping services (excluding Post Office USOs - https://www.royalmail.com/information-vat-and-postal-services/), so this is only applying the same rules. The parcel will be transported from the aeroplane to your delivery address by a UK workforce and service centres, which amounts to the same 'work' as shipping any other domestic parcel. Why should we get to take advantage of those services and not pay VAT like everyone else, just because the item originated outside the EU?

I will, however, admit that a proportional VAT charge would be better, so only charged on the UK/EU part of its journey. I don't think it should be charged on the international leg, which it currently is. How you'd go about setting that up I don't know and would probably be a nightmare to manage.

Still, being able to get an item from t'other side of the world in just a few days, not weeks/months is incredible and I'm quite happy to pay for that.

You just described my complaint - it's the proportionality of it... the great bulk of the service is handled elsewhere, and in many cases we are talking about the same multinational company handling it.

They should charge a handling/delivery fee on this end + VAT - then deduct that from the fee paid on the other side - this would be acceptable and fair to me.

Whitecat · October 2018

Gassage said:

a top tip is use FEDEX as sometimes they forget to charge

And sometimes they threaten to send your account to collections before you even receive the VAT invoice...

VAT invoice posted to me 2nd class...
Threatening "you pay now or big trouble!" letter sent first class a few days later...

Guess which one came through the letterbox first?

I wrote a very grumpy email of complaint about that to them but never got a reply...

Hydra19 · October 2018

Sounds right about the charges, but I would never buy a guitar I have to pay £743 extra for. I have always gotten the sellers to mark the guitars down so I pay max around £100. I also have a few vintage guitars that I brought over from the States and this way I didn't have to pay duty for. I just don't see the value if I can avoid the extra cost

You could think of visiting the states to pick up the guitar and save yourself some money, I think a return flight will be less than £743.

Last year I bought a great Strat from Reverb but had it sent to the States as I was going to be there. There were no tax charges at all. The seller offered free shipping as well, when flying back to london, I took the neck off and put the body and neck (well wrapped) in my suitcase and just put it back together when I got home.

£743 is almost the price of a another guitar or amp for me, so I personally could not afford such an increase in price.

Good luck with the purchase and hope it gets to you safe and sound, and not too expensive

WiWi · October 2018

Customs seem to check most USA imports but if you buy from another country there's a chance you'll get away with the package not being checked and having to pay VAT.
Also check what the sender wrote as the items value, sometimes they may give its full price rather than the discounted price you may have paid, if this is the case contact the sender and they may give you the difference back.

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Looking for advice about customs charges for imported guitars.

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