Importing is such fun
Cost wise take into account the full purchase cost plus postage, and allow for variable currency exchange rates depending on whether or not they charge an international £ price or your bank/card issuer converts - and the timing that they use to charge the conversion
Those are the easy bits
If you are very lucky the overseas retailer will be registered for UK VAT to cover UK sales over £135 and they annotate declarations appropriately - therefore customs treat it as if you bought in the UK
But this costs them money and probably isn’t worth the effort.
So add on 20%, but not necessarily to the declared sale + postage total converted at ‘todays’ rates on arrival. Packages may get reassessed to a UK equivalent price and VAT charged on that
You shouldn’t get actual customs charges - but check the gov.uk website for the latest on item categories
As the border handling carrier will be dealing with the assessment they will add their carrier handling fee. This could be a fixed price across a range of amounts depending on carrier, or it could be a percentage charge against the assessed value
Add all those together, plus time and worry whilst watching tracking status and you will most likely be in the ballpark of a UK retail price (or more)
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If what you want is not listed in the UK then start by calling some retailers and they may import on your behalf via their suppliers, commercial importing also comes at a cost but handled at a greater scale and they would be paying trade prices.
A special import on your behalf may cost more than an equivalent UK retail item, but it comes with more peace of mind plus their risk. This also supports UK retail and gives you a point of contact for any issues
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If you’re looking to save on UK retail then you often don’t really save anything or a much smaller amount saved than expected
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Sometimes though it’s a matter of getting that special thing that isn’t available in the UK, or to be first to get it - but sometimes trying to be first ends up being last when it’s sat in a depot awaiting document clearance
(Last year I spent $295 plus almost £60 in charges(£45.73 import VAT, £12 handling) with 3 weeks in transit / handling …. And picked it up at the depot on the way to the event I wanted to use it at, only just beating it being released for delivery.) *
I used it twice last year and will be using it twice this year - £300 plus some worry so that I could ‘be that guy’ with the unique niche product
There is also another elephant in the room - will it arrive to UK spec, and will
it get identified as over powered at customs ?
* little correction that I just remembered. I didn’t ‘beat’ the release for delivery, I was watching the tracking status wondering if it would clear in time for onward delivery - which it didn’t, and was in fairly regular contact with the help desk including clarifying if it would stay in situ once the final charge was calculated or get forwarded to my local sorting office. It was cleared on the evening before / morning of the day that I was leaving and a minor diversion on my route so I managed to pay and collect in person at Basingstoke on my way from Salisbury to London
