bestbassgear.com hidden charges?

[dumelow]

bestbassgear.com offer free uk delivery and the prices arent bad once you convert the dollars to pounds. Looking at the shipping faq on their site it says I could possibly be charged import tax/fees/shipping handling etc etc. I found a thread on here from 2008 i think, were somebody discusses the charges but Im not sure if this is the same now. Has anybody ordered from bestbassgear.com or anywhere in the US recently and can tell me a little bit about what hidden charges I may end up paying? I have no previous experience of ordering anything from the states =P

[BassBus]

I wouldn't call them hidden charges. They are standard charges applied to anything over the value of £18 (I think) imported into this country from outside the EU. You are charged VAT and import duty. That can be anything up to 30% added onto the purchase price. These will be charged when the item reaches this country not by the store.

A friend bought a £1000 guitar from the states last year. The store were good enough to mark the value on the customs declaration as £500. He was charged £95 VAT and duty. So not exactly hidden charges but charges you have to be aware of.

[leftybassman392]

Yep. I've done a few imports over the years. As long as you budget for the extras there should be no problem.

Calling them hidden charges suggests they're somehow underhand or sneaky, which they're not. It's a combination of transit costs (which you should surely expect to pay when bringing something several thousand miles across an ocean) and tax (which is set by HMRC and is available to anybody who checks their website). So, not hidden at all.

[RhysP]

Allow for 25% of the cost of the item + shipping & you'll cover it.

For example, something that costs £925.00 + £75.00 shipping would end up costing you around £1250.00 when VAT & Import duties are added. You'll also probably need to pay a handling fee of some sort depending on the courier.

Edited April 7, 2012 by RhysP

[warwickhunt]

You can generally say that 25% on top of the TOTAL cost of the item + shipping (you will get taxed on the total cost of the item PLUS the shipping costs).

I'd certainly not recommend the 'under-declared' value trick; it can and does work BUT if anything happens to the item you are only going to get back the declared value and be aware that HMCE have to authority to check that your item is as described and valued correctly and if it isn't then you can potentially have the item confiscated for trying to defraud.

[gjones]

[quote name='dumelow' timestamp='1333787687' post='1606359']
bestbassgear.com offer free uk delivery and the prices arent bad once you convert the dollars to pounds. Looking at the shipping faq on their site it says I could possibly be charged import tax/fees/shipping handling etc etc. I found a thread on here from 2008 i think, were somebody discusses the charges but Im not sure if this is the same now. Has anybody ordered from bestbassgear.com or anywhere in the US recently and can tell me a little bit about what hidden charges I may end up paying? I have no previous experience of ordering anything from the states =P
[/quote]

I've imported stuff from the states and when I'm estimating the import tax I factor in an extra 30% on top of the cost of the item and the postage just so I don't get any nasty surprises when I go to pick it up.

[skankdelvar]

Looking at bestbassgear.com's shipping FAQ's, it would seem their standard shipper is the US Postal Service.

IIRC, using USPS means it comes into the UK and is picked up by Royal Mail who - IIRC - impose an additional handling charge. It might be worth getting a quote from the seller for shipping via UPS or another courier.

[dumelow]

In no way did I think that there was something sneaky going on I guess I just worded it wrong when I said they were 'hidden' charges. Adding around 25/30% onto what I was planning on purchasing is probably making back up the money I would have saved through the exchange rate anyways. I think Ill still go ahead and order them anyways, I wont be saving any money but they do have all the bits and bobs Im after in stock. Thanks for the info guys =)

[RhysP]

The other thing to remember when ordering from the US is that any warranty offered with the gear may not be valid in this country.

[The Burpster]

I needed some Barts for my latest project (PRS of course) and this was the only place I could get them from for sensible money (actually the only place I could get the options that I wanted AND they were in stock) PLUS they had some offers on and I got a spare D-tuner....

The service was FANTASTIC they sent the packet 1st class not parcel and as such didnt attract any chrages WOW...... (that being said I would've been quite happy to pay legit charges as I couldnt get the PUP options I wanted here in the UK).

Best bit was it took less than a week to come from ordering....

Cannot recommend these guys enough.

Edited October 13, 2012 by The Burpster

[ahpook]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1333803132' post='1606704']
IIRC, using USPS means it comes into the UK and is picked up by Royal Mail who - IIRC - impose an additional handling charge. It might be worth getting a quote from the seller for shipping via UPS or another courier.
[/quote]

wouldn't any agent handling an import didn't charge some kind of fee ? - i may be wrong, but it's not just royal mail is it ?

Edited October 13, 2012 by ahpook

[molan]

USPS will route through Parcelforce who will charge you £8 admin costs.

That's how much I get charged anyway, doesn't make any difference if the item is worth £10 or £1,000.

They slow the process down a bit as well sometimes. Item hits UK, goes to local Parcelforce office and then they post you a notification and you pay the duties and their charge before they release it.

Can sometimes add a week to the process