Importing from the USA

[ELIMINATOR]

 Not Randy's fault at all, but, I have had to pay customs duty on the fork brace and fork seal clean of £16.15...... $26

I struggled to bring myself to buy it once or twice due to the shipping costs. This has killed the possibility of buying anything else.

there again, I already have the spin on oil adaptor and the carb. rebuild kit. If I order anything else, I will be contacting the American arm of the company I work for and see if they can ship it along with their normal deliveries. I had thought about doing this with the fork brace, but didn't.

[jscgdunn]

Don't get me started.....ebay items with free shipping to US address but $24 to Canada and now they have an additional import fee.  Some carriers also charge a "customs brokerage fee"  (ie UPS).  USPS does not so it must not be a regulation.

It is well known that Canadian prices are much higher than US prices.  For example I looked at a Michelin Pilot 3 rear tire yesterday.  Could it get it on line from a Canadian shop for 265.  US price was 157 IIRC with free shipping to US address.  Not sure how it is "free trade".

My strategy is to have a US address to drop ship to....hard to do that with the big pond in the middle!

Jeff

[FJ111200]

Fookin' stealth taxes.
And another one is when you buy secondhand parts, which have had the original tax paid on them, the ba$tards at HMCE want to get in on the act for their share.
Have you heard that saying, "please don't steal, the government doesn't like competition". CNUTS!
At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask. Daylight fookin' robbery.
What i've done in the past to get around the problem is to get the vendor to declare on the export form that the contents are a gift.

[ELIMINATOR]

£8.15 was VAT, £8 was the handling charge!!!!!!!!!!!!

[racerrad8]

What value did they base the VAT on? I have been told by many that "usually" when the value is kept under $40.00 they do not have to pay duty.

I cannot help the handling fee they charged, but I am interested in trying to keep all of my packages from receiving duty fees.

I have been asked by many to mark the packages as "gift". But as  business I cannot do that according to the USPS and the pacakge might be sent back if they are found to have been purchased items inside.

Did you have any duty fees on the other orders from me or just this one?

Let me know, Randy - RPM

[Capn Ron]

It is well known that Canadian prices are much higher than US prices.  For example I looked at a Michelin Pilot 3 rear tire yesterday.  Could it get it on line from a Canadian shop for 265.  US price was 157 IIRC with free shipping to US address.  Not sure how it is "free trade".

When I rode through Canada, the prices were a big eye-opener!  An inexpensive hotel was $80/night, low-grade fuel was over $5/gallon, breakfast at Denny's was $18, tax on a bottle of water was 15%.  I was only there a month and I'd tour Canada again in a heartbeat, but it must be frustrating getting hit like that year-round.

My strategy is to have a US address to drop ship to....hard to do that with the big pond in the middle!

Jeff

When I lived in San Diego, I managed a bicycle shop at the beach.  Two Australians walked in and asked for two of our most expensive mountain bikes.  Okay...they were around $1,200 each and we only sold about one a month so this was good!  They said these would cost around DOUBLE where they were from due to import taxes, local taxes, fees, etc...  They told me they were flying back home in two days and if they brought high-end bikes back with them, they could sell them for a premium in Australia and pay for their trip!  I suggested I just sell them two that were still in the original shipping boxes from our stockroom.  They said they would have to have me assemble them, they would then ride them on the beach for the day, then I would re-box them so they could claim they were used bikes.  That would get them around some specific import fee.

Cap'n Ron. . .

[jscgdunn]

They said they would have to have me assemble them, they would then ride them on the beach for the day, then I would re-box them so they could claim they were used bikes.  That would get them around some specific import fee.

Cap'n Ron. . .

Yes,  we all get maze-bright quickly when it costs us!

[Sabre093]

I got my forks out of Cali shipped to Ontario,Canada and he marked 50$ value and I paid the shipping fees...When I received them UPS tacked on another 47$ for brokerage fee's..And I got a bill 3 months later from Fed-Ex on frt rim I got from Fred for another 20$...I'm thru with those idiots...got mail from Can Post and US Post with no surcharges and i'm ok with little extra wait..

[fj johnnie]

I live close to the border, and have opened a US post box. All my stuff is shipped there and brought across the border in my car. If you don't bring too much stuff you don't pay duty. This is way cheaper than sending stuff through ups or whoever. All my tires etc come from places like bike bandit et al. Anything else from Randy. Simply pick up across the river and bring it on home. ( we cross the Niagara River to go to the US )

[ELIMINATOR]

Randy, I was not charged on any of the previous items. I have no idea on what they based their charges on, just got a leter demanding the money before they would deliver.

[racerrad8]

Hmmm, that seems pretty vague. Hopefully when you get it there is some sort of detail of the charges.

Keep me posted, Randy - RPM

[keand3]

Being a customs and border controll officer my self, I can relate to the issue you mention. (well for my contry at least  )

I have to agree with Randy, is seems pretty vague and narrow minded to demand VAT for that small amount... And motorcycle parts is toll free between US and UK IIRC... VAT kicks in at a sertain value (don't remember the accutual value at the time)
Who is demaning the fee? Govermental post office, freigh handler or UK customs?

[Alf]

I live in Canary Islands, part of Spain but not inside the VAT zone.

If you order from Mainland Spain the charges (import tax, VAT & handling) make the order so expensive that it is not a viable way buying things to the US.

First the import tax (4,1% I think) is calculated
The courier charge the handling fee to make the DUA (custom documentation. It depends from courier to courier. i.e. Correos charge 12 EUR and pirates like DHL 50 EUR, but this is a document that you can do yourself)
And then you add the import taxes and fee to the invoice and you apply VAT on the total of that quantities (23%)

And no, there is not a minimum value to apply VAT

So lets make an example

- invoice USD 65, more or less EUR 50
- Import duties 2 EUR
- Courier fee (Correos is the delegated USPS agency in Spain) EUR 12
- VAT (50+2+12)*0.23 = 14.72

Total fees: EUR 28.72. Grand total = 78.72 EUR similar to USD 102.33

So I order from Randy items that Spanish FJ owners ask me for and then I send those to mainland Spain like a "gift". Because in fact is true, I don´t win money  

I hope this helps

[ELIMINATOR]

Parcelis labelled externall with the price in $. The tax they charged me was too much, even if the price was in £, It was too much. Probably too much like hard work to complain.
 

[ELIMINATOR]

Well engineered incidentally. It has that lovely to the touch, feel about it. I should point out that I work in QC, in a high precision business.