BigRedX Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 On 20/06/2020 at 10:27, kodiakblair said: From next month USPS will no longer be part of the UPU. That's expected to jump prices 40 to 50%. I'd seen the price increase for sending to the US, but didn't know the reason. It will probably make selling bands CDs and Vinyl to them far too expensive to be worth while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 3 minutes ago, BigRedX said: I'd seen the price increase for sending to the US, but didn't know the reason. It will probably make selling bands CDs and Vinyl to them far too expensive to be worth while. Hopefully they'll find a happy medium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 Always been fine for me as long as you work out the price and are happy with it, and of course you insure the thing. And don’t mind waiting a while. IME it’ll get to the UK in about 2 days then sit in Coventry for a couple of weeks but if the bass is worth it, it’s fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 My experience has been that if you are buying something that is already available through an authorised dealer/distributor in the UK, but are hoping to save some money, it is never worth it, unless the item in question is second-hand at a bargain price. Everything I've bought from the US (or any other country outside the EU) have been items that are not available in the UK by any other method. That way I can evaluate the price simply on whether I'm prepared to pay it (plus all the shipping and import costs) rather than attempting to work out if I'm going to save a few £s. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inthedoghouse Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 (edited) I haven't bought off TB but I've had a few guitars and pedals from USA eBay. In my experience it can be something of a lottery whether you get charged import duty or not. But it's been a few years since I did it so I wouldn't be surprised if they've tightned up. It can come as a nasty shock when you get that bill for the taxes, so be prepared and budget for it. Edited June 21, 2020 by inthedoghouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 23 minutes ago, inthedoghouse said: I haven't bought off TB but I've had a few guitars and pedals from USA eBay. In my experience it can be something of a lottery whether you get charged import duty or not. But it's been a few years since I did it so I wouldn't be surprised if they've tightned up. It can come as a nasty shock when you get that bill for the taxes, so be prepared and budget for it. In over 20 years of buying items form outside of the EU, I have only once avoided VAT and Import duty and was on something that was delivered to my work address by FedEx. It turns out that the company had bought from abroad before using FedEx as the courier, and they (at the time) had a system where once you were a registered customer, FedEx would bill the import charges retrospectively for large companies with a good rating. I made some attempt to enquire about paying the charges when they were billed, but nothing ever came of it. Everything else was pay in advance plus the handling fee before the goods were released. There are plenty of threads about import charges on here so it should never come as surprise to anyone. As I have said before allow an extra 25% of the combined item and shipping cost plus £15 for anything under £100 to cover the handling fee and you won't get a shock. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 This thread is making me miss that good exchange rate. Just as well that everything else about the present situation in the UK is so ace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 Why I won't be buying internationally again for a while, UK Customs evidently a bit behind, this was only a small/cheap item also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 There is very little advantageous we will be doing internationally for quite a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Steve Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 On 20/06/2020 at 20:26, Hellzero said: These days, even if CITES has been "abandoned" for musical instruments, the Brazilian rosewood is still forbidden and the customs have a tendency to see Brazilian rosewood everywhere... This is worth emphasising - CITES is still applied to guitars, it's just that the wood it's applied to has been limited to Brazilian rosewood. So they still need to check it as it comes in. I got a call from UPS's UK office this morning, wanting to check which wood was contained in the guitar I had ordered from the States that they picked up last night. In fact I had ordered a guitar part, an aluminium Bigsby and Vibramate, so assume that there was a labelling issue The cost of the Bigsby, plus Vibramate, plus postage is less than a Bigsby alone would cost me in the UK/EU, and the total of tax and handling fees will be roughly half the cost of the Vibramate in the UK, so I should be ahead on the deal by enough to make it worth doing, albeit with a bit of extra patience required Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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