Buying rifs from Hong Kong

[straffham]

(apologies if this has been covered elsewhere but can't search off my phone.)

 

I'm wanting to order a AY SITES Spectre SMG AEG from Airsofttigerlllhk (as per their thread) cost is US$118. Not seen this gun anywhere else and don't know of any UK retailer who deals with AY.

 

I'm hoping some of you guys will be knowledgeable on importing and can answer some questions I have:

1 has anyone bought from these guys, what is their service like?

2 What would likely cost be in total £ after taxes etc

3 has anyone had a problem with ROHS/CE rules when importing direct, or does that only affect retailers?

4 Any pitfalls with UK Customs to beware of?

 

any genuine knowledge gratefully received!

[two_zero]

Not seen this gun anywhere else and don't know of any UK retailer who deals with AY.

 

Pretty sure airsoftworld does.. not sure when and if they'd get the spectre thou!

 

 

*cant find AY on there now, but I'm sure I've seen it.

[straffham]

Pretty sure airsoftworld does.. not sure when and if they'd get the spectre thou!

 

 

*cant find AY on there now, but I'm sure I've seen it.

Really? Might drop them an email then, although probably be a lot dearer even if they do lol. Cheers for that!

[Airsoft_Mr B]

I think Airsoft World sold the AY M1918 BAR but didn't see anything else by AY.

 

1) haven't bought from them. There is already a thread on Tiger111hk in the Places to Buy section!!

Gone down hill recently unfortunately (IIRC)

 

2)Costs depend on price of the gun. Also customs sometimes like to charge based on the total price (so including shipping)

You need to pay tax, import duty (5%) and usually a courier / shipping company fee on top of that (£15 I think tops, can be less)

 

The reason you don't usually need to pay any extra charges ordering things from outside the EU is because you only need to pay tax and import duty / shipping charge at around £50 and £100 respectively.

 

3rd) pretty sure safety certifications and things are only going to apply to the manufacturer, and potentially the retailer. I know one airsoft company I believe G&G started putting CE markings on their receivers but didn't previously.

 

4) If you UKARA number is ont box it should be okay. I also like to ask them to write the phone number on the box because customs might want to contact you. Although when I ordered from Poland and asked them to do this (writing in both English and translated to Polish, probably very badly because Google) they didn't bother.

I've been weary of ordering RIFs from abroad recently due to the heightened security level but I don't know if that really would affect importing an airsoft gun unless customs are being really stupid.

[Ian_Gere]

The only RIF I have ordered from outside the EU was little HG-106 Walther from China and tbh I wish i hadn't bothered - i don't know what madness struck me, but there we are not because the process is complex or whatever, but just because it's such a shitty gun and the costs just kept piling on!

 

1st thing is that the retailer may insist on a specific courier rather than standard airmail, which will be more expensive. 2nd you will get hit by Customs - it wont go through unmolested like 6/7 or more packages from HK and mainland China

 

The charges are 20% VAT which should be on the value of the contents only but if the retailer puts the total including shipping on the label, they will charge the VAT on the lot of it (the robbing bastards - in theory you could complain about this and they ought to refund you but i wouldn't hold my breath) + a handling fee charged by the courier which can be more than £15 - iirc the highest I've paid was £18, but has also been as little as about £8.

 

 

airsoft.tiger111hk.com have been pretty good in the past, but recently their customer service to me has been shit - it took them 2 weeks to even start to pack an order of mine, at which point they told me that one of the items was OOS. In the meantime I'd ordered something else (assuming that nearly 2 weeks later was far too late to alter the original order). So i asked them to combine the orders and refund me the difference in shipping cost - reasonable enough, wouldn't you say? Holy 'me-chinee-no-unnerstan-engrish' batman! Funny how when you email them to enquire about a product with a view to buying it, they seem to understand engrish pretty well. Anyway after days of email which Dave Gorman could build a whole routine out of, they refunded me about 1.50 USD for the postage and the item cost - yeah, that is what i call taking the piss... they have also withdrawn the 5% discount they used to give to supporters of this forum too without even telling us, so my attitude now is "not unless i can't get it absolutely anywhere else and i really want it".

 

I used the 'Company' field in the address form to put "UKARA# SKI00xxx" just in case they didn't bother writing it large on the package - which was not necessary from UNCompany as they did read the comments and comply. It may well be worth putting your phone number on it too, but i haven't personally ever heard of UK Customs ringing anyone up over RIF imports.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Ian_Gere
outside the UK i wrote - doh!

[straffham]

Cheers gents for the very thorough replies! Apologies Ian, but your reply did make me smile!

So in a nutshell their customer service isn't great, could take an age to arrive and customs will fleece me (last one being predictable tbh!)

Also the point re current security possibly having an impact on customs clearance is one I need to think about. I would do as you suggest and put my ukara and probably phone number on the address label.

Hadn't realised the ACM BAR was made by AY, will drop AW an email and see what their intentions re stocking the Spectre are in the first instance and go from there.

[Ian_Gere]

Cheers gents for the very thorough replies! Apologies Ian, but your reply did make me smile!

Oh by all means have a smile - I had to take the whole experience humorously...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because it would be too expensive to go to HK to kick their heads in and burn their fucking business to the ground.

[p1878]

I have used tiger for pistol tourch laser toprail. Helps if you email. Says waiting to ship or / means not got any waiting for delivery.

[straffham]

Well Airsoft World have got back to me, they have no plans to import the Spectre, so what to do? The prospect of running the customs gauntlet and importing an AEG from HK doesn't thrill me despite the fact its only US$118, but looks like it may be the only way to get one of these bad boys grrrrrrr!

[jcheeseright]

Just get your ukara number put on the outside of the box, it'll be charged VAT and duty but it'll still work out cheaper than airsoft world would have done it.

[Ian_Gere]

TBF after my experience with tiger111 recently, I'd email them in advance to check that they do actually have the stock also.

[chris555]

i agree with ian i had to demand my money through a pay pal refund when they didn't have what i wanted in stock

[straffham]

Thanks for the advice gents. Regarding Customs and UKARA, do they check the UKARA register or expect you to provide a site membership card/other proof on delivery? I am registered but my site doesn't do membership cards hence the question.

[Ian_Gere]

No you don't have to produce anything: the couriers aren't interested in the VCRA - I suspect that UK Customs probably don't bother even looking up your UKARA#, tbh, but better to be on the safe side and keep the poxy thing current. I mean, if you know that you need to comply with VCRA, which they can tell just by "UKARA# XXXXXXXX" written on the package, you probably are an airsofter anyway, right? They are busy people...

[sp00n]

don't forget to add "customs to be cleared by addressee" (or something like that) somewhere on the package near the customs form. that way you can pay customs directly, and avoid the royalmail/parcelforce rip off "clearance fee"

[Ian_Gere]

don't forget to add "customs to be cleared by addressee" (or something like that) somewhere on the package near the customs form. that way you can pay customs directly, and avoid the royalmail/parcelforce rip off "clearance fee"

No you can't. I mean yeah, in theory you can, but to do that UK Customs have to actually take custody of the package, which means that you then have to arrange for transport on to your address, since it is no longer in the system with everything else going to the courier you originally paid for. I rang them up to find out, because yeah the 'handling fee' is pure bum rapage - they literally do fuck all for that fee which does not happen to every other package...

[sp00n]

No you can't. I mean yeah, in theory you can, but to do that UK Customs have to actually take custody of the package, which means that you then have to arrange for transport on to your address, since it is no longer in the system with everything else going to the courier you originally paid for. I rang them up to find out, because yeah the 'handling fee' is pure bum rapage - they literally do f*ck all for that fee which does not happen to every other package...

 

really, that's not what parcel force implied to me in my long running email winge at them , they informed me if i cleared the customs charges myself it would then be released to them for delivery

 

this is a extract of that email :-

 

Importers have a legal entitlement to make their own import declarations and this allowance extends to items imported by post. Such a declaration should be made on a conventional Single Administrative Document (SAD) - C88 and will be processed by HM Revenue & Customs at the National Clearance Hub based inSalford.

The form C88-6 and Public Notice 144 will give guidance on how to complete if you decide to self clear future imports from outside the European Union.

The completed C88-6 is then returned fully completed to the UK Border Agency from where issued who will in turn send off to the National Clearance Hub to obtain entry clearance. Payment of any import duties and taxes will need to be made to the National Clearance Hub once the entry has been accepted; once confirmation of the payment has been received by UKBA the parcel will then be released.

It is the importers responsibility to make sure the exporter is aware of this intention and the importer MUST tell the exporter to annotate the declaration form the CN22 / 23 “to be Customs cleared by importer” (Note: This wording isn’t set in stone but should clearly state the intention). You should also note that we cannot apply this procedure retrospectively.

[straffham]

 

really, that's not what parcel force implied to me in my long running email winge at them , they informed me if i cleared the customs charges myself it would then be released to them for delivery

 

this is a extract of that email :-

Sh*t me, with all the forms and hassle it looks easier to just to pay their extortion, sorry handling fee!

[Ian_Gere]

TBH I feel pretty offended by the whole handling fee bollocks so I may well have a go at this. I wish I'd written down the name of the bloke I spoke to now, so I could complain / I mean, giving me wrong info, what a wanker, eh?

 

What I wonder is how long this C88 process takes...

[joshcowin]

Well Airsoft World have got back to me, they have no plans to import the Spectre, so what to do? The prospect of running the customs gauntlet and importing an AEG from HK doesn't thrill me despite the fact its only US$118, but looks like it may be the only way to get one of these bad boys grrrrrrr!

speak to mad badger airsoft mate they do all the work for you importing wise they will quote you aswell,if you do want to go down the route of doing it yourself make sure they right your phone number and ukara number on the box,vat will be put on the price of the gun at 20% then their will be a certain percentage for custom charges then a courier charge of around £8-£20.

[jcheeseright]

customs definitely check by UKARA number, when I imported my last gun the retailer had got a digit wrong in my number and customs sent me a letter asking for clarification on what my number was!

[straffham]

speak to mad badger airsoft mate they do all the work for you importing wise they will quote you aswell,if you do want to go down the route of doing it yourself make sure they right your phone number and ukara number on the box,vat will be put on the price of the gun at 20% then their will be a certain percentage for custom charges then a courier charge of around £8-£20.

 

Cheers Josh will look into that!

 

customs definitely check by UKARA number, when I imported my last gun the retailer had got a digit wrong in my number and customs sent me a letter asking for clarification on what my number was!

 

Thanks for clarifying that, yes I would make sure to ask them to put it on the package.

[Ian_Gere]

customs definitely check by UKARA number, when I imported my last gun the retailer had got a digit wrong in my number and customs sent me a letter asking for clarification on what my number was!

Wow, that is diligence beyond what I would expect. Good to know that they didn't just destroy it though...

[chris555]

i find it interesting my akm went straight through customs with no questions did not even open the package but my gearbox was delayed by a week strange people

[BrightCandle]

i find it interesting my akm went straight through customs with no questions did not even open the package but my gearbox was delayed by a week strange people

 

They even charged you £30 for the privilege of going through customs without even looking at it, bargain!! /s