buying parts from the US

[badvoc]

anyone got any experience of buying from the US? I can buy a flatslide mikuni carb kit for my harley for about £350 in the UK where as I can get it in the US for about £150, same carb new in the box (starting to feel ripped off in the Uk yet?) I'm just wondering what sort of import taxes I may get hit with when it hit's these shores? any one got any idea? is it a set % of US or UK value?

some of the other prices have made me feel sick lots of things I've spent £100s on for a fraction of the price. :(

[cxdemon]

First off, if it costs more than about fifteen quid, you get import duty, and they have their own version of vatwhich they can put on at source, best contact customs and excise before you send off, saves nasty surprises later :eek:

[badvoc]

First off, if it costs more than about fifteen quid, you get import duty, and they have their own version of vatwhich they can put on at source, best contact customs and excise before you send off, saves nasty surprises later :eek:


still it would be surprising if it still didn't end up a lot cheaper, if you could persuade the US company to mark it as a gift and put a low value on the forms it would possibly be ok but I don't know if they would or not.

[cxdemon]

think they have an agreement to get revenue at source now, but worth a go...if you don't ask, you don't get :D

[TaxiDave]

It still works out cheaper though. I run a 5.7 Chevy diesel engine in my Land Rover. I phoned up a place in Yorkshire and they wanted £320.00 to rebuild my fuel pump. I got a fully reconditioned one off the shelf from the States delivered to the door with all the import duties added on for just over £200.00. They didn't add a surcharge on and didn't want my old pump back. It also only took about 8 days to arrive.
A hardtail frame from over there is looking appealing at the moment.

[cxdemon]

Useful to know.. got meself as Honda Nighthawk CB700s american import, half the parts not available in this country, so guess i'll be doing a bit of importing myself :D

[badvoc]

I've just sent an email to my local customs office so I'll report back on what they say :)

[cxdemon]

Ideal :D Maybe a cheaper option than "rip off britain" :mad:

[BigBod]

I have imported many bits and pieces from the good ol USofA.

If you import via one of the recognised carriers, ie UPS, Fedex then you will definately pay import duty of around 6%, you will also pay UK VAT @ 17.5% and also the shipping charge which can be quite expensive through the main carriers. There are no other tax charges at source unless you are a resident of the state where the goods were purchased.

If you do want it pretty quick the best service to use is UPS and ask the vendor to send it on an EXPEDITED service, this is way cheaper than Express. Expedited should arrive within 10 days.

If the item is able to be shipped via normal surface mail and you don't mind waiting then get the vendor to send it this way. I have recently had an exhaust collector box shipped surface mail, it got through the system with no extra charges and only cost me $7 postage. At one point I was beginning to think I'd been ripped of as it took 7 weeks to arrive. But I did ask for the slowest and cheapest shipping method.

It is a bit hit and miss if you get caught for charges on the surface mail but so far I have been lucky and not paid any charges on my last 3 shipments.

Another thing that people do to avoid charges is get the USA vendor to send it to you as a gift, no charges on gifts. Beware though, don't fcuk with customs, if you get caught you will have a black mark against your name forever and will have megga grief every time you leave or enter the country. Just not worth it in my opinion.

Even when I do get stung for charges, the item is still cheaper than UK, to make it cheaper still, club together with you mates and ship stuff over in one go, works out even cheaper then.

[Mad Dog]

My Mrs is American. we go over regularly, and on one trip on her own, she brought back 2 White Wall tyres as hand luggage. !!!! :D

[XJphil]

Main problem you will have is if the carbs are from california, they are jetted different and may make your engine run hot, take the jets out and check sizes to UK specs in manual

[Tim1400]

I have bought many things from the U.S usually from E-bay.Some such as cameras which should have duty paid on them were sent over with the gift box ticked on the customs form.I haven't had to pay duty on anything so far.It's worth a try,and even if you have to pay some tax I bet it still works out cheaper than buying over here.

[badvoc]

I'm still waiting for customs to reply, so I went ahead and ordered it anyhow (impatient git that I am) including shipping it's costing me £178 (bit better than £350 in the uk!) so we'll just have and wait to see if I get caught with a customs bill ;)

[Sir Ewok]

I bought videos from the US and they came as 'Educational' and carried not VAT or import tax. However UPS charge a £10 charge for expediting goods through customs. I managed to get a couple of payments back, especially as one order was for less than £20.

[badvoc]

Bloody Hell I only ordered it on the 14th and it's just arrived a few minutes ago!!!

Ok I got snagged by customs and had to pay £47.18 which brings the total to: £225.18

still a damn site better than £350 which was the best UK price I had seen, so it looks like it's worth it even if you do get caught, it's not just the saving in £££ there's so many other little goodies you can get over there that you can't in the UK.. I'm now officially a very big kiddie in a sweet shop :D