Cooling UK Import Tax (W/C from USA)

Hello,
I am currently looking to buy a water cooling set-up and have decided on the Danger Den Maze 4 Intro Kit, I have seen pretty much the same kit at Chill-Tek, but it is £195 delivered from chill-tek and only £135 delivered directly from danger den.
I was wondering if anyone had imported water cooling kits into the UK and if they had to pay import duty on them,. and if so, how much.
Thanks in advance for replies
analogue

 

Your much better buying in the UK. Custom taxes can be very steep and there are other hidden costs as well.

Also Chill-tek have been having some problems recently so you would be better off buying it from somewhere like coolercases

Oh and welcome to Bit

 

Thanks for the info, I was going to order from danger den and then cross my fingers that the package "slipped by" customs. But coolercases are a lot cheaper than chill-tek
thanks for the welcome too!

 

Depends on the courier. If you use Fedex, the package is very unlikely to slip by and you get stung with import duties and vat. Moreover Fedex are real sods when it comes to collection --you pay by Switch and they tend to fail to process it, but won't notify you of any problems; Then a few weeks later you suddenly get a letter from their sollicitors...

If you can use UPS, or even good ol' air mail, you're much more likely to bypass any import duties or taxes and have a smooth delivery.

 

If you get them to put the value of the item at less than £18 I think that stops them from looking in the package, but then again it is quite heavy and large so they might inspect it anyway. I think the fees are vat [17.5%] & customs charge [not sure but can be hefty].

My sis bought £60-£70 worth of stuff from USA and had to pay £40 charges.

If the item is in europe there are no charges but from Usa there is, y? stoopid customs, y cant they just stop bombs and drugs.

I needed that :]

 

There are no charges for items from Europe due to EEC regulations. We're all one big happy family, remember? So there's no import duties within Europe. VAT is already included in the sale price when you order a European item from a UK destination. Buyers living in those countries that have less or no VAT, pay less when ordering the item.

 

That's all very well but you get hit twice when ordering from the States - you pay federal sales tax there, and VAT here (if you get caught out!)

Seems to me a bit unfair.

Of course, if the UK wasn't such an intolerable rip off, we wouldn't have to order from overseas, but that's another argument...

 

Not allways the case. It depends on the state laws concerning mail order.

 

err - there is no federal sales tax in the USA, only state ones (in some states) and they don't even charge people from other states, let alone other countries....

don't forget to factor in the currency charges you'll pay also - it'll vary according to how you pay, but will be significant....

 

i found out to my cost yesterday, be very careful when ordering from the US.

i ordered stuff totalling $107 and hadn't planned on any extra charges when it hit the UK.

I paid £13 in VAT, £7 in import duty and £10 as an extra surcharge. And this was by UPS. Not nice havig a guy on the door demanding another £30 to what you already paid.

 

DangerDen has a 'Gift message' option when you order stuff. This is to try to bypass VAT when the goods get to the local customs.
As VAT doesn't need to be paid when it concerns gifts.

 

I ordered a few bits from the US (not PC related - £130 of plastic wrap/sheet to recover a drum kit), and the first time I got lumped with a £45(ish) charge. The 2nd time I ordered I got the company to write "Free Of Charge Sample" on the package, and it slipped through customs no problem (wasn't very big or heavy though)...

 

actually this is a common misconception - VAT (and customs duty) are in fact still chargeable, but there is a concession on gifts below 45 euro or a similar sum in other EU currencies (£36 in the UK) ...
http://www.hmce.gov.uk/forms/notices/143.htm#P126_7899

 

That is true and is well worth remembering.

Something else well worth remembering is that putting fraudulent labelling on packaging to avoid customs is just that, fraudulent. You can be prosecuted for it.


Just FYI, you don't pay duty on PC components, but you should pay VAT from anything shipped from outside the EU.
Don't confuse the two as the same thing.

 

depends on the component .... (thechnically it's charged at zero i believe)

pumps are dutiable (at 1.7% afaik)
you pay duty on the (goods+shipping), and VAT on the (goods+shipping+duty)

 

You only have to pay VAT if the intrinsic value of the package sent is over £18. If it is a gift, this limit rises to £36