Importing form the States.

[roland_rat]

Hi guys,

I ordered something from the States a couple of weeks ago.  Anyway it arrived at pacel forces depot. Last Friday I got the slip through the door saying to ring up and pay the import duty etc. I did this early Friday evening. Monday I was all exited expecting to find a parcel waiting for me when I finished work.  It is now Thursday and still no parcel.  Anyone else had similar issues when imorting form the states?

[Frank]

When I bought a strat on ebay once, Parcel Farce tried to deliver it and "couldn't find my apartment building". This struck me as odd as my building is 15 storeys high and perched on top of a shopping centre.

So naturally, they sent it back to the depot. And lost it. For six weeks. Then sent it back to the bloke I bought it from. So that was nice.

Phone Parcel Farce or see if you can track it online?

[roland_rat]

Cheers Frank

[DoomBuggi]

When I bought a strat on ebay once, Parcel Farce tried to deliver it and "couldn't find my apartment building". This struck me as odd as my building is 15 storeys high and perched on top of a shopping centre.

So naturally, they sent it back to the depot. And lost it. For six weeks. Then sent it back to the bloke I bought it from. So that was nice.

Phone Parcel Farce or see if you can track it online?

That's F*@ked

[darkbluemurder]

There is basically two ways import parcels are handled:

1.) Normally an import parcel does not make it to my door but is withheld at the customs office, and I get a written notice from them to act as importer of record and pay import duties and VAT. I then will go to the customs office, do all the formalities and pay duties and VAT and take the parcel with me.

2.) Sometimes the shipper does the import on my behalf and delivers the parcel. In that case I get an invoice from them for customs duties and VAT they paid on my behalf. I had one case where the shipper had problems to deliver. It turned out that the address was misquoted. In that case they informed me by email so I could instruct them to keep the parcel and I would be collecting it at the depot. 

Of course if the value of the parcel is below a certain threshold no duties/VAT arise.

Cheers Stephan

[Philly Q]

Hi guys,

I ordered something from the States a couple of weeks ago.  Anyway it arrived at pacel forces depot. Last Friday I got the slip through the door saying to ring up and pay the import duty etc. I did this early Friday evening. Monday I was all exited expecting to find a parcel waiting for me when I finished work.  It is now Thursday and still no parcel.  Anyone else had similar issues when imorting form the states?

When you paid, was it online, and did it actually give you Monday as the delivery date?  It normally shows a delivery date, which you can change if you like (including paying £12 extra for Saturday delivery if you want).

But anyway, just stick the tracking number on the Parcelforce site and you'll probably see they "attempted delivery" but didn't leave a card, and/or it's being "held" at the depot.  Then you should be able to rearrange.

[clyde billt]

Whenever I have stuff come from the US, which is every couple of months, I go round to the parcel force depot where it is being held and pay there, then take the item away with me.
The only time I paid online I printed out the receipt and took that round.
I haven't tried to get them to deliver 'cos I'm usually too excited and generally the post office is a bit rubbish

[Philly Q]

Yeah, depends what's most convenient.  My local depot is miles away and a pain in the arse to get to.  Plus I don't drive, so there's no way I can collect a boxed guitar!  :lol:

[roland_rat]

Thanks guys.  I went on there site again and think I have got  delivery organised for Monday.  If I do not get delivery I will make a point of going to the depot and try and pick it up.

Cheers for all teh advice guys.

[roland_rat]

Parcel arrived yesterday! Cheers again guys for the advice.

[Attica!]

I just wondered, I'm buying a Solderless Kit from the states as it works out slightly cheaper than from the UK, would I be charged import fees? I know they do on orders for big items and expensive items. But what about something for £25 thats extremely small?

[Philly Q]

I just wondered, I'm buying a Solderless Kit from the states as it works out slightly cheaper than from the UK, would I be charged import fees? I know they do on orders for big items and expensive items. But what about something for £25 thats extremely small?

Depends whether they declare the full value on the Customs declaration or not.

If it comes by ordinary post, you currently have a "personal import limit" of £15 (excluding shipping) per package.  If the declaration shows a value higher than that, you'll theoretically be charged VAT at 20% (not too bad...) PLUS an admin fee of about £8.  Which is annoying on a low value package.

Having said that, quite a lot of small packages get through the post unscathed, I guess because they have such high volumes to deal with.

[Attica!]

Cheers for that. prob better from Thomann then

[HTH AMPS]

From memory, the 'gift' limits are £36 from individual to individual, however this lowers to £16 when you buy from a company.

[Philly Q]

From memory, the 'gift' limits are £36 from individual to individual, however this lowers to £16 when you buy from a company.

It was £36 and £18, respectively, but it's currently £40 for gifts and £15 for goods.  Over those amounts, VAT is payable, and over £135 Customs Duty is also payable.

However, from 1 April 2012 they're getting rid of the £15 limit to catch out the retailers like Play, Amazon etc who sell cheap CDs and DVDs etc from Jersey and Guernsey without having to charge VAT.  At first I thought this was going to apply to all non-EU imports (bloody annoying since I buy loads of stuff from the USA!) but in fact it only applies to the Channel Islands.  Phew!  Still annoying though.