Buying From USA

jamross65

Well-Known Member
Can anyone on here tell me what the deal is when buying kit from the States, or in particular from Cabela's regarding prices being affected by import duty and vat etc?

I seem to recall a couple of posts recently that appeared to comment on not being hit for certain surcharges but unfortunately I did not pay enough attention to them at the time.

Thanks
 
Just got a Laser Range finder from the states, I had to pay 20% + £8 surcharge carged by the carrier for clearing it for you so for a low value shipment it is probably not worth it. with the price I payed for the range finder + the £50 I had to pay it is still £120 less than I can get it in the uk so..............

Dave
 
Cabelas will charge 25% of order value for surface shipping, 45% for air.

Surface = USPS = Royal Mail + 20% VAT now plus a handling fee of £20.

Air = UPS = 20% VAT plus £32 handling fee.

Stan
 
The big rip off on importing is that if you d get hit for duty theycharge the import duty not only on the item but the shipping then they charge VAT on the new amount so you actually pay tax upon the tax. That's if the customs do decide to actually pass on you goods. I had a package from Gunparts Corp (Numrich Arms) held up for over 6 months by customs a few years back they thn sent a Police man from the city 45 miles away and a customs chap froma city 60 miles away to the house twice as first time no one was in to try and collect £1.21 in duty.

The reason for the Police was to enquire why gun parts were being delivered to mother's house which didn't have a FAC. The gun parts were an original P14 rear sight and two sets of 1" Weaver type scope rings :confused: none of which are restricted. I placed the order in October and they had not arrived by Christmas so contacted Gunparts who then did a check and assumed they had got lost so sent a replacement shippment free of charge. The Customs tried to collect the Duty due on the original shippment in June the following year. They were most upset to be told that I had already received the parts and didn't want their package. Plus I certainly was not going to pay for it after already getting it.

They left it on the doostep and left with no money The policeman wanted to know why the parts were being delivered here so she told them as the order had been placed using her CC so the parts were delivered to the card holders address. Also that a Milsurp rear sight and scope rings didn't require a FAC which he then said we know that so why are you wasting all this time and money Mother asked. They didn't have an answer and left.

I e-mailed Gunparts and told them what had happened and offered to return the parcel but they said not don't bother just keep it. No wonder Customs cost so much :rolleyes: :doh:.
 
Heh!, Kev, just received a cd rom from Perry systems in the states, little tiny jiffy bag, as you can imagine, BIG STICKER on it!, £16.0sum odd vat etc, handling etc!!!, this consignment must be signed for AND payment made before hand over................. postie just gave it to me with all the rest of the stuff!:tiphat:
 
Finn that has happened to me with a set of dies direct from Lee.

Hannam quoted over 6 months for delivery so I went direct and had them in under 10 days the dies were 8x56R Hungarian and 7.5x55 Swiss not quite your run of the mill ones. Sadly I had to go and collect and pay up for the Schmidt-Rubin rifle from Switzerland :rolleyes:.
 
Bottom line is NOT to buy from the USA.

Either visit and buy or.......

Have friends in the USA who wish to send you low value gifts....

Stan
 
Bottom line is NOT to buy from the USA.

Either visit and buy or.......

Have friends in the USA who wish to send you low value gifts....

Stan

That's OK until some light fingered barsteward lifts your package as happened to some custom made mono metal HP target bullets that a friend sent me to try out. We are still awaiting their arrival over one year later. I think we can say some light fingered barsteward has had them away. Not even the customs are that slow!

Obviously the old target sights I sent to him were of no interest and they arrived safely.
 
Brithunter,

Do it within the system and you pay the "Duties"

Do it outwith the system and you don't get the goods....;)

Bottom line is that you pay......

Stan
 
I bought a stack of reloading gear from Lee factory shop, (lots knocked off the RRP)paid £20+, vat and £12 handling fee, saved £'s and £'s compared to Brit shops prices, it came by surface mail, took about 10 days, (had been b*ggered about by Kranks for weeks) UPS charged shipping by weight not price. I'll certainly shop stateside in the future, why ?, because it's cheaper and faster.... callie
 
Brithunter,

Do it within the system and you pay the "Duties"

Do it outwith the system and you don't get the goods....;)

Bottom line is that you pay......

Stan

Huh :confused: nothing has been done underhand let alone illegally. Customs are a funny lot on a day trip to France I brought soem 9.3mm Soft Point bulelts which at the time I was legally allowed to do. Had checked with customs before going and their answer to my query about declaring the couple of boxes of bullets was :-

Don't waste our time unless your bringing in a lot.

Same went when I brought back some from the US
. Red channel to collect rifle so declred the ammo and bulelts and all they sadi was have you exceeded your limit to possess. ....................... Nope so they handed me my rifle glanced and my FAC and I went home. I had a replacement box of Hornady A-Max come straight through after I contacted Hornady directa s the box I brought in .308 well all the palstic tips were falling off. Hornady sent a replacement box and they just came through to the door. Contacting the importers Edgar Bros was a waste of tiem as per usual :mad:.
 
Buying from the stated is not always a hassle. You just need to know the right people over there. A few (limited few) sporting retailers will send over pretty much whatever you need but obviously not stuff that goes fizz bang. If they don't stock it they will source it and add there own surcharge. I couldn't get a weaver rail for my brno .375 anywhere but the states and 'no way' could that be shipped to the UK. So I got a nicer retailer to buy one and ship it over.

As a guide I pay about a third less getting from the states after shipping and customs.
 
We used to buy a lot of fishing lures from the states and used to say what it cost in dollars was what we ended paying in Sterling. Occn got away with import duty and alike.

Now all change and what really ****es us off is that you have to pay duty and VAT on all the shipping cost, so your paying that on the shipping paid in USA. All done on invoice value. Cannot even pursuade some USA suppliers to just state value of items and get separate invoice for the shipping. Nett result is I don't buy anything from the states any more.

Also suggest you are very carefull what you buy from the states if it is considered to be military you may get a shock. Rangefinder had some tales of woe at the West Wilts meeting.

D

D
 
It's not our fault the US lawmakers are paranoid. A weaver rail for my BRNO was classed as military.... but I still got it in the end.
 
I am not quite sure on this but i was told if you can get the retailer or dealer to send your invoice seperate and send your item as a gift there will be no import charge ?

David
 
I bought a pair of Leupold Yosemites last year (brilliant little bins for the price by the way!), and while the process of getting them from the states was relatively smooth disaster struck once they were in the UK. I received the expected letter requesting £8 to release them from customs, plus about £20 or so in duties, which considering they had cost me about £120 to purchase seemed reasonable. I paid online and printed off the receipt.

Two weeks later, no package. I call Parcelfarce to be told they have no record of my paying the fee. I tell them that I not only have a receipt but I have checked my bank account and have records of the money leaving my account and going to theirs. I offer to send them the receipt.

They tell me that the receipt alone is not good enough, I need to send them my bank statement to prove the money has left my account (I am getting angry again just typing this). Suffice to say I got a little bit cross and the customer services man at the Birmingham depot hung up on me. Twice.

I lodged a complaint with the central office who offered to call the depot for me, as I seemed a little bit irritable. My parcel arrived a week later with no further correspondence.

So in conclusion I would buy from the state again, and I probably will as I am after a FoxPro caller, but I will be dead in the cold hard ground before I let Parcelfarce have anything to do with the delivery!
 
Back
Top