How much import duty is charged ?

[stevew]

How much import duty is charged when importing an Ebike kit from the far east ?
I am considering the Cyclone from Tiawan and it's going to cost about $900.

 

[andyh2]

Not sure about far east, but when I looked at importing from US the calc is;
Cost of bike plus shipping
add 15% import duty on bicycles.
then add another 17.5% VAT

I think there's sometimes (often?) a handling cost as well for the shipping company to handle papers and collect taxes for UK gov.

I think it's probably same for anywhere outside EU, but like I say I'm not sure of that.

For bike parts rather than a whole bike the import duty is 4.7%.

 

[flecc]

Steve, maybe a word with those who've bought one recently will help.

Member ballparkcy has bought one new and fitted it to his KMX recumbent trike. Below is a link to his post and if you click on his name you could send him a Private Message:

Ballparkcy link

Member gary Gadget has bought one through ebay, Canada, and below is a link to his post:

gary Gadget link
.

 

[Jeremy]

In my experience, import charges are a bit variable. The rates quoted above are correct, with the usual handling charge imposed by companies like UPS, DHL etc being around £15 to £20.

If the goods are sent via one of the big companies, like UPS, DHL etc, then I can guarantee that you will get hit hard for all the charges, although the duty will be charged on the declared value of the goods, not necessarily the sum you paid the vendor. VAT is payable on the total cost, so is levied on the declared value of the goods plus the shipping costs.

My experience of goods shipped using the international postal services, rather than the shipping companies, is that very often the charges are not levied for some reason. If possible I would try and get the goods shipped via EMS (from the far east) or the USPS (from the USA). This has two advantages. Firstly, local delivery here will be handled by the post office (or parcelforce) which in my experience tend to be more flexible with regard to delivery arrangements (they will leave parcels at your local post office if you're out, for example). Secondly, I have only ever been charged a handling charge by the post office on one occasion, most other parcels from the far east have been delivered with no additional charges.

I'd be happy to answer any detailed questions by PM.

Jeremy

 

[rooel]

It is preferable to use the exporting country's national mail service as the rates are usually lower than those of the private courier companies. This also makes the amount of duty and VAT lower as these are levied on the value of the goods plus the postal cost.

Royal Mail and the private companies all charge a brokerage fee for putting the goods through customs but only if duty or VAT is levied. If these are not levied (eg on trade goods valued at less than £18, or "gifts" valued at less than £36, or the item escapes the notice of the checkers) no brokerage charge is imposed.

The import duty charged on bicycle accessories is around 4.5%. With duty, VAT and brokerage all to be added it is advisable to assume that anything of that nature will eventually cost the original price plus around 25%.

See here:

Cycle News » Blog Archive » Contesting the penalty - the 62.5% bicycle import tax that no one knows about

for an interesting story about the 62.5% import charge imposed on our environmentally friendly means of transport when they are imported into the EU in bulk.









Cycle News » Blog Archive » Contesting the penalty - the 62.5% bicycle import tax that no one knows about

 

[Matt]

I'm not sure how relevant this is but, I've order quite a few computer parts amongst other things over the years from the states all sent via the standard US postal service and have I never been hit with any additional charges.

I don't know whether they are suitable for large and/or expenses items for insurance reasons, but I've never had anything going missing or arrived damaged yet (touch wood) and I've ordered three rather fragile hard drives which arrived unscathed.

 

[fatts]

import and other costs

Hi does anyone know what the cost of tricycle parts would cost with total cost of £121 to ship from USA for tax and vat sent by upsp and no they wont send it as a gift as they will get into trouble there end.
many thanks
Fatts

 

[drillam]

I don't know what's invovled/included in your kit, not had the time to look at it sorry, but if you can get the supplier to split it down into 2 or 3 lower value packages and get them delivered to different friends addresses you'll likely get away with it,,I did

 

[martx007]

I've just ordered one (from cammy_cc on ebay & hong kong) yesterday and paid for express delivery total £196. I can let you know when i get the post office card.They say they will mark the box as sample or gift if that makes any difference?......

Martin

 

[Mussels]

I've just ordered one (from cammy_cc on ebay & hong kong) yesterday and paid for express delivery total £196. I can let you know when i get the post office card.They say they will mark the box as sample or gift if that makes any difference?......

Martin

that's a very old trick and it won't fool customs. IME customs are very lenient and will let a lot slip through, when I was younger I had a customs chap say to me "Are you completely sure it's brand new, have you not hd it out of the box to try it?". Turns out 2nd hand items attract much less duty.
I had car parts shipped from the States recently and they just marked down the value by 90%, fortunately the parts would be hard for customs to guess the correct value.

 

[Old Timer]

I`ve always been caught for duty and charges from the USA so beware. Amongst other things I sent a couple of cameras(at different times) to be converted to infra red to the USA and was charged vat, duty and parcel force charges to get them, it was charged on the total invoice price that incl all the labour and postal charges.



From China and HK it`s a different story.

 

[Scimitar]

I`ve always been caught for duty and charges from the USA so beware. Amongst other things I sent a couple of cameras(at different times) to be converted to infra red to the USA and was charged vat, duty and parcel force charges to get them, it was charged on the total invoice price that incl all the labour and postal charges.



From China and HK it`s a different story.

If you were charged import duty and VAT on a camera that was sent back to you after repair or modification, you should demand a refund.

 

[monkoffunk]

I feel rather lucky that my Magic Pie skimmed through customs with no duty.

 

[Tim]

When we first imported bikes from China back in 2004, the import duty was only 2.5%. Then it went up to 6% in early 2005 I think. As far as I know it's still the same.

 

[Old Timer]

If you were charged import duty and VAT on a camera that was sent back to you after repair or modification, you should demand a refund.

The Charges were on the labour and postal both ways which amounted to charges on a total of around £300 the price of the camera was not charged for.

 

[fishingpaul]

I think you are very likely to get charged for items from usa maybe they are too honest, in my experience i have always been lucky with anything from china,i think the chinese are more helpfull in marking packages as a gift, or stating a much lower value than that paid for items sent.

 

[Scimitar]

The Charges were on the labour and postal both ways which amounted to charges on a total of around £300 the price of the camera was not charged for.

Sorry, I got it slightly wrong with a bit of mis-remembering. Duty isn't chargeable on a repair or mod under warranty, but I think they'd a damn cheek charging it on the outward postage.
Did it come via UPS or FedEx? They are notorious for squeezing every bit they can, in the interest of stiffing the customer for their 'processing' fee.