I'm thinking of buying some stuff off e-bay, but as it's a US based seller, not sure how much duty I'll have to pay. I presume the dreaded VAT is standard, but does anyone know what import duty is?

Regards, Ian.

Hi
I have bought a fair bit of stuff from the USA on Ebay and never had to pay any duty or vat yet. It’s just like a normal Ebay transaction but watch the postage costs it really hurts. You must ask first because it’s expensive from the states. You can get the post cost down by using over land but that will take over 4 weeks to get to you.

I hope that this helps

I've had some small stuff and it's not been charged for duty or vat, I think it must depend on how they post it. If they post it as a gift it goes free.

It depends a lot on if the seller is a private individual or a business, if private he ain't gunna be bothered to tell on ya, if it's a business , they have to
Good luck

Jason

Make sure its ticked as gift and ask for a plain brown envelope. The other thing is not to have a reciept/invoice in the package. This is hard evidance that the customs would use against you........
Postage is about the same cost as the items but due to the strong pound its not that bad.
As the man says land mail is cheap but takes ages. Check out the us postal service rates on http://ircalc.usps.gov/ They are so switched on they still have a rate to post to RHODESIA!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

Hope that helps

Thanks Guys. The postage is not a problem, just trying to find out what rate of duty I have to pay. The item is quite heavy, and I will have to pay duty. The Customs and Excise web site is down this weekend, and the item ends today! Typical!!

Ive had lotts of bits from all over the world and have only been done twice...That said one of the items was very large (set of usd forks) ..
They have to put a customs decloration on the packaging stating the value ect.

I can not remember how much, but it did wipe the smile from my face ....And you have to pay before you get it......
That said with a strong pound buying from the states can be very cheap even with shipping costs....On a well known tool brand I usually save 40% over ebay in the uk.......................

I think the duty is 10% and then VAT on top of the purchase price and the duty.

A quick way to work it out is to add 29.25% to original cost.

[Edited on 17/4/05 by chrism]