Buying from the USA?

[Orraman]

Reading some older threads which comment on the problems of obtaining items from the USA I thought of this site that had been praised in a Private Message.

Dave

MyUS.com | U.S. Mail Forwarding, Worldwide Shipping

 

[flecc]

That's a handy service Dave, thanks. I haven't looked into the details yet to see if it's worth it for the odd transaction.

 

[Morag]

I'll have to have a good shufties at that , thanks for posting.

 

[eddieo]

Thanks for that useful looking link, have saved it for future reference...Get stuff from states now and again via my mate who lives in L.A. but this looks very useful He brought me some salt free Heinz kechup recently (doctors orders) cant get it here.....

 

[steveindenmark]

But don`t forget that if you do buy from the USA you will be clobbered by import tax when it arrives in the EU.

Steve

 

[flecc]

But don`t forget that if you do buy from the USA you will be clobbered by import tax when it arrives in the EU.

Steve

There should be no liability on something one already owns Steve. That's the point of this service, your ownership commences in the USA at your address there. It coming in by mail then is no different from it accompanying you when you travel. After all, many who travel send owned items independently for convenience.

If that were not the case we'd have to pay import duty on everything in our luggage, and on the cases as well.

 

[steveindenmark]

Sorry Flecc, I misunderstood. I will look more closely at that.

Do you think they could send me a Moto Guzzi by this method ;Ø)

Steve

 

[flecc]

Not sure if you'd get away with something so large, especially a vehicle. Grey importing has long alerted HMRC to the question of whether something resellable is to be retained permanently in one's ownership or used for profit. Smaller odds and ends they don't bother with arguing about of course, though in theory they could charge something on anything brought in.

 

[Liang]

There should be no liability on something one already owns Steve. That's the point of this service, your ownership commences in the USA at your address there. It coming in by mail then is no different from it accompanying you when you travel. After all, many who travel send owned items independently for convenience.

If that were not the case we'd have to pay import duty on everything in our luggage, and on the cases as well.

That's not the case here. Dutch customs will still tax you unless you have proof that it was bought here.
I take copys of my purchase orders with me if I take my laptop or other expensive items outside the EU.

I use US Global Mail because they also will also send with US postal service which is often cheaper.

 

[flecc]

Expensive items I agree Liang, which is why I doubted the Guzzi would get in. I think odds and ends like chargers or batteries could get by though, I've brought in tools etc bought overseas without any duty being applied, they just got nodded though as not worth bothering with.

 

[Liang]

Expensive items I agree Liang, which is why I doubted the Guzzi would get in. I think odds and ends like chargers or batteries could get by though, I've brought in tools etc bought overseas without any duty being applied, they just got nodded though as not worth bothering with.

Yes, with smaller items it might work. In my case I prefer to purchase from someone who will send with USPS (or I have it send to US Global Mail and send it myself with USPS) because they don't declare it at the customs automatically when it gets here . DHL and UPS will do that and in that case it's impossible to avoid taxes and customs fees

 

[flecc]

Yes, I've known many got caught like that with UPS, and when the item gets here there's extra charges applied by the carrier for collecting the duty!

 

[lemmy]

My main experience with importing from the USA is with photographic lenses. Nothing definitive I'm afraid, sometimes they got stopped and charged, sometimes didn't.

They did get stopped enough to make me feel it wasn't worth the trouble. If a lens was one third the price there, I'd maybe find it worthwhile but at 25 or 30% cheaper I wouldn't find it worth the game.

 

[Liang]

Yes, I've known many got caught like that with UPS, and when the item gets here there's extra charges applied by the carrier for collecting the duty!

That happened to me too once or twice! And often the product is then the same price or even more expensive then when I would have bought it here!

 

[Scimitar]

UPS are a shower of ** when it comes to that nasty trick. They do it deliberately to inflate their revenue stream. It's very worthwhile grabbing the parcel from the driver and refusing to pay their Dick Turpin "fee".

 

[Liang]

UPS are a shower of ** when it comes to that nasty trick. They do it deliberately to inflate their revenue stream. It's very worthwhile grabbing the parcel from the driver and refusing to pay their Dick Turpin "fee".

If I am not mistaken DHL has a fee too

 

[flecc]

And The Royal Mail.

 

[Riche]

There should be no liability on something one already owns Steve. That's the point of this service, your ownership commences in the USA at your address there. It coming in by mail then is no different from it accompanying you when you travel. After all, many who travel send owned items independently for convenience.

If that were not the case we'd have to pay import duty on everything in our luggage, and on the cases as well.

I think you will find you can pay tax on anything over the value of £50. No matter if its new,old or antique. If it has value then you may have to pay tax. I dont see the difference from purchasing US goods from here in the uk or via the myus.com service, it still has to get through uk customs.

 

[RussJ]

There should be no liability on something one already owns Steve. That's the point of this service, your ownership commences in the USA at your address there. It coming in by mail then is no different from it accompanying you when you travel. After all, many who travel send owned items independently for convenience.

If that were not the case we'd have to pay import duty on everything in our luggage, and on the cases as
well.

I think you'll find that these services are designed to get round the fact that many US online retailers will not ship outside America. They allow you to buy quoting a US address, accept delivery and arrange for the goods to be forwarded on to your home address(for a fee!). If you're ordering a number of items from different suppliers they can consolidate into one package and save on shipping costs.
Duty is payable on goods according to their point of original sale, not ownership. Odds and sods arriving via Royal mail are often ignored but anything coming in from outside of the EU via a courier and having a declared value greater than £50(?) will attract duty and a handling fee. Sometimes labelling as a "gift" or "no commercial value" will get it exempted but you may face problems with an insurance claim if its lost or damaged.
Russ

 

[flecc]

it still has to get through uk customs.

It does, and as I've said above, it probably won't be any good with expensive items which attract attention. But MyUS is a forwarding service, the package coming from "my" address in the USA to me in the UK as an item pre-owned by me. So for HMRC, what age is it, and what is the value second-hand of a personal property item like a charger or battery pack? I can see them getting nodded through, as many things already are by chance anyway.

If the fee that Russ indicates is too much, obviously it will be a waste of time though.