Has anyone purchased hardware through Amazon.com using AmazonGlobal Shipping from the USA to the UK? Tempted by a few bits and pieces that'll be cheaper than buying local and just curious if bit-tech formulites had any difficulty with customs? AmazonGlobal Shipping offers the opportunity to pay import duty at the point of sale so I would hope it's all plain sailing. Be interested to hear your experiences!
This may or may not be of help. However, in experience when using FedEx or UPS to ship items from the states to the UK they also have the option of pre-paying import duty. Regardless of this, we were still charged when the parcel arrived, we soon found out it was easier and cheaper to pay only when required.
Full import duty. When we questioned it, we were informed that a foreign courier could not pre-pay customs duty and it could only be paid upon arrival into the destination country.
Very odd! Did you reclaim what had been paid to FedEx/UPS? Think I'll test the water with a small purchase to see how it pans out before committing to anything expensive!
I recently had a $25 item sent from the USA (not Amazon though). Upon arrival in the UK I was charged VAT on the item + postage and a Royal Mail handling fee adding £14.04 to the cost. If the duty could have been paid upfront (I don't know that it can in my case) I'd have saved the £8 Royal Mail stuck on.
This is absolutely not true, customs fees can be paid in advance (as long as the sender correctly fills the customs deceleration and pays the correct amount). Even if they pay the incorrect amount, the amount you would need to pay would the the difference + handling fee, not the whole amount all over again. Either the shipper or the courier royally screwed up there.
