Importing guitars - time in Customs?

[fbloke]

Hello.

I've just bought a guitar on ebay from the USA. It's arrived safely at Heathrow and Parcelforce have just let me know that it's in Customs and Excise awaiting clearance.  I have two questions:

1. How long does this typically take?

2. I'm aware that I'll need to pay US export duty and also VAT. How do they go about billing me for this?


Anyone know the answers?

Thanks,

Mike.

[WezV]

with parcelforce i normally get a bill in the post first and then they deliver soon after that is paid.  normally adds about 3 days

[Matt77]

Once it has been cleared the status should change to calculating customs charges. As soon as this has been done you can call parcelforce and pay over the phone or you can collect from a depot and pay on collection. It can take weeks if customs mess up  :x, but when I got something from Japan last year I was able to collect from the Parcelforce depot 2 days after it came in to the country

[Philly Q]

^ What they said.

It doesn't take long for the Parcelforce letter to arrive, but as Matt says if you track the order you can speed up the process by phoning and paying as soon as it clears Customs.  It's all very efficient really (touch wood).

NGD thread to follow?  :)

[JDC]

I had my agile in 5 days but I had the bill for duty afterwards, as for cost, the guitar was £550 (I think) with case and delivery, then duty was £128 so 25% ish

[The Norwegian Guy]

I live in Norway, but customs here take about 1-3 days.

[fbloke]

Thanks for all the replies chaps, very helpful and encouraging.  I'm keeping an eye on the tracking status daily so I'll pay over the phone as soon as it clears.

Pictures will be posted up as soon as I'm in possession - it's a 1971 cherry red ES345. Blues heaven. But will the original pickups be good enough?  Is a set of Stormy Mondays on the cards...?

Mike.

[HTH AMPS]

Thanks for all the replies chaps, very helpful and encouraging.  I'm keeping an eye on the tracking status daily so I'll pay over the phone as soon as it clears.

Pictures will be posted up as soon as I'm in possession - it's a 1971 cherry red ES345. Blues heaven. But will the original pickups be good enough?  Is a set of Stormy Mondays on the cards...?

Mike.

pickups in a '71 Gibson are going to be T-Tops, they're fine pickups - starting to get sought after.  the set I had were a little on the weak side for my tastes (7.5k, as they all are), but they will certainly be great for blues.

[fbloke]

It's cleared customs, been through the national Parcelforce hub and been delivered to my local Parcelforce depot, all within the space of 24 hours.  I'm so excited a bit of wee just came out....

[fbloke]

It's arrived and I'm trying to post pictures but the forum keeps timing-out before the thread can post.  Any tips?

[Philly Q]

Put them in Photobucket or somewhere and use [img] links?