OT-Having a package shipped from US-UK

If a seller, it depends on what they are willing to charge.

However if you want the USPS surface & airmail etc rates go to:

The old days when customs turned a blind eye half the time to imported frei= ght are long gone, pretty much. The result is you have to factor in a delay= where Royal Mail send you a letter/card requesting payment of customs etc = & handling fee. This is not true for very low value items, below a certain = threshold. The handling fee can dwarf the charge, take note.

Your cheapest option is USPS 1st Class International - up to a couple of kilos (might be 3, actually) and can often catch the fast plane, depending on how full it is; but at this time of year, probably not.

Next step up is USPS International Priority Signed-for, iirc. Twice the price, or more.

Unfortunately, USPS stopped the slowboat service; that was really cheap for large items, but took up to three months.

Gosh, surface is gone... bit bizarre when most of the output of Asia comes in via surface shipping and Warren Buffet is buying railroads, union pacific & so on re bulk carrier freight economics. The shipping index can even be a leading economic indicator.

USPS following Royal Mail, expensive, 100$+ oil of course does not help much.

imported freight are long gone, pretty much. The result is you have to factor in a delay where Royal Mail send you a letter/card requesting payment of customs etc & handling fee. This is not true for very low value items, below a certain threshold. The handling fee can dwarf the

Last time I looked, Customs had lowered the threshold from £18 to £15 before they start charging. If the item is chargeable then our Post Office would charge a flat £8 fee for customs clearance etc plus duty (if applicable) + VAT (if applicable)

As an illustration, I need to order a one-off guitar part for a customer this weekend. The price is USD18 plus USD7 for postage. I can't remember if the value for customs is goods + carriage or goods only so the item is going to cost me either

USD15 + USD7 = about £15.75, free of tax duty and customs charge

or roughly

Nick

It should only be the goods - you aren't importing the postage charge.

But you can get caught if the sender declares a different value - e.g.if sender says it is worth £20 but they are giving you discount on the order as a first time customer of £5. Or whatever. You get stung for £20 value not the £15 charged.

Any tax or duty is payable on the landed cost inclusive of carriage by whatever method is used.

It is interesting that your local Post Office will still give you Air Mail stickers for your envelope, when there is no alternative.

--=20 Davey.

I've just looked it up here:

Nick

___Original Message_________________________________________ From: Nick Odell Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2012 Time: 21:40:01

Not quite. Add another 20% VAT on the whole of that lot This takes you to £33.18 all up. Is it worth it?

The 3.27 was the VAT on the goods + carriage + duty.

If the 8.00 fee is vatable then I guess it should read

Nick

May be the morally correct answer, but is the wrong answer in this case.

MBQ

Incorrect.

MBQ

Whose local post office? UK or US? The reason the UK POs do it is that surface mail is available from the UK.

MBQ

Ah! I thought that it was eliminated in both directions. Thanks for the correction. It wasn't offered to me the last time I posted something to the US, so I had no reason to question it.

--=20 Davey.

It is only the goods for determining whether the VAT will be levied.

Yes, but in the context of the calculations that the OP was trying to make, the value he is interested in includes shipping.

MBQ

The percentage varies depending on the type of goods and their country of origin. Duty is charged on:

the price paid for the goods, plus; any local sales taxes, plus; postage, packing and insurance.

However, the cost of postage is excluded from the calculation for customs duty on gifts except where the sender has used the Express Mail Service (EMS) as opposed to a standard mail service.