Buying equipment from U.S

[Clarkus]

Was looking at maybe buying either a technics sldz or pioneer cdj1000. Whats the situation with tax, shipping and stuff.
The voltage change shouldn't be a problem at all. Just get myself a transformer or maybe the technics will have a voltage selection anyway.

All comments will be most helpfull.

[Traxx]

Not sure mate but when i tried to get my monitors form america i was told that they werent allowed to ship to the uk & that covered most brands dj or production wise. Which is a bit of a piss take when you consider how much more we have to pay in this fuking rip-off of a country.

[FUSION]

Im sure you will be able to find someone who sends em but you will get hit with a tax charge before the post service will give em to you

[Traxx]

Try & see mate by all means. I tried a good few & they all said the same thing.

Lets know if any will send though :lol:

[JimmySomerville]

Is there not a way round the tax thing by having them marked as gift?

Surely they can't stop free trade to the uk? If thats legal it really is a shitey state of affairs!

Leon:D...

[Evil G]

canada and the usa have supposedly had a free trade agreement for ages now, but as a consumer you'd never know it. whenever i've ordered something from the states i've had to pay sales tax and duty on it. it usually works out to about 15% extra.

[mrbenn]

I ordered a m-audio firewire 4/10 soundcard from america & an evolution ec-33e controller. I saved myself about £175 under the UK price.

I had to pay £70 import tax but it was still worth the saving.

I've just ordered final scratch 2 from america. It reatils for £600 here & $600 in the US. With the current exchange rate that works out to be about £310 which is almost half the UK price! yes I will have to pay import tax on top of that but thats only another £60.

With the current exchange rate and the UK's rip off prices I think its definatly worth importing stuff.

be carefull though of huge shipping bills try and buy from somewere that offers free shipping ;)

[bod]

this sort of thing is what i do for a living so heres the legal side of things.

if you import goods from out with the EC then you will be expected to pay import duty and vat on them.

goods sent by post are liable for duty and vat on the price of the goods if they are worth more than £18 in value. goods which are gifts, sent from one private individual to another are still liable for duty and vat but only if worth more than £36. in both caes the full amount of the goods is charged for, not just the amount over the limit. shite but true.

any goods sent by any other means than post, such as a courier service(fedex etc) will be liable for the same duty and vat, but based on the full cost you pay, including shipping and insurance costs.


upon delivery, the post office will demand payment before they hand over the goods, as they pay it on your behalf to release it from HMCE. they also charge a handling fee which has nothing to do with HMCE and that ranges from £4 to £14.
with goods sent by post, theres a strong chance that the post office will not declare it to HMCE, and they arent to stringent on checking whats a gift, so you can get away with it sometimes.

if delivered by a courier then they noramlly hand over the goods and then invoice you for the duties within 14 days, as they also pay the duty and vat to HMCE to be release it from the port/airport. couriers handling fees are a percentage of the costs, and varies between companies.


if you get away with not paying the duties or even loose the receipt from the delivery people for the paymet of the duty and vat, but try to claim for the item in the future due to theft etc under your household contents insurance, then some companies demand receipts for payment of the duty, if you dont have it for what ever reason or cant produce it from the couriers, no payment.


if you buy anything from another ec memberstate then as long as vat was paid at the time of the sale in that ec country, theres nothing to pay upon arrival and wont even be seen by HMCE.

you can call hmce to find out what the duty is and work out the price from there, but expect to be on the phone for at least half an hour with them.


hope this helps.

[bod]

I ordered a m-audio firewire 4/10 soundcard from america & an evolution ec-33e controller. I saved myself about £175 under the UK price.

where did you get it from mate? i'm after a 4/10 and cant afford the prices here. :cry: is there anyone you'd recomend for cross-pond shopping?

[Clarkus]

Cheers for the help folks. Is there anywhere you can recommend for CD decks??

[GothamGrooves.com]

It's funny you all mentioned this, at work we have kids from scotland working for a school exchange program.. I was taking to one of the kids who also parties and he has friends coming down for new years. They are gonna buying a pair of technics and a mixer, which come out to be over 2.5 times cheaper than if they bought them in the U.K. But he said they were allowed to bring it back with them.

[Internal Error Records]

when i visited london last i saw that gear is way more expensive there than in the states. and american gear has much higher construction requirements.