private seller from US - advice needed

[Belka]

Hi all, 

Just wanted to ask for some advice. I'm thinking of buying a set of pickups from a private seller in the US. I have experience of buying from companies there and the VAT/duty was easy to do as invoices/bills of sale came with the items, and HMRC contacted me to ask to pay the duty. However, I'm not sure how this would work for a private seller - would them stating the value of the pickups on the parcel be enough? I have no intention to undervalue the items to avoid the VAT as I don't want to run any risk of them being held up at customs/confiscated. 

The price second hand would be around $400 US. I presume I can pay this through PayPal, but would there be any charge for transferring money abroad? 

Before anyone asks about buying them here, they're Seymour Duncan dual coils from their custom shop - pretty hard to find and new would be considerably more expensive.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

[kodiakblair]

@Belka

 

The seller lists the value on the courier label, if they undervalue and it goes missing they'll lose out so above board is best.  Royal Mail or likely Parcel Force take over when it arrives in the UK. 

They assess the VAT based on item cost + shipping/insurance. There may be import duty added, there definitely will be a handling charge ( normally £8).

 

Keep an eye on the exchange rate Paypal are offering , it can be pretty poor. Don't offer to do a bank transfer, asking Americans for their details has them fleeing in terror  🤣

[Munurmunuh]

27 minutes ago, Belka said:

The price second hand would be around $400 US. I presume I can pay this through PayPal, but would there be any charge for transferring money abroad?

You can have PayPal do the currency conversion - and the website will do its level best to encourage this - but their exchange rate will not please. I have PayPal charging my credit card so for purchases from USA I have PayPal bill my credit card in USD and let the credit card company do the currency exchange. This seems to me a happy compromise between convenience and cost.

PS word of warning about using standard USPS / Parcelforce route - there are huge delays to virtually all countries atm the moment, and, I am painfully experiencing right now, especially to the UK 😖

Edited May 1, 2021 by Ricky Rioli

[ProfJames]

Would be wary - from my experience - of using a payment card provider paying the F&D........the seller is compelled to enter th evalue on the shipping manifest.......that then gets notified to the UK shipping agent who then says to pick up the goods from their depot and you pay the charge accordingly.    Did it recently with a dealer in Virginia and have done it several times over the past few years.  Only time it went awry was when I used Pitney Bowes service on eBay.........nightmare!   

[Belka]

Thanks for the feedback. The seller is going to work out the shipping charges so I should get an idea of how much it's all going to cost. Sounds like Fedex or UPS may be a better option than USPS/Royal Mail, although I presume that'll add a bit to the cost as well. 

[Munurmunuh]

29 minutes ago, Belka said:

Sounds like Fedex or UPS may be a better option than USPS/Royal Mail, although I presume that'll add a bit to the cost as well.

The problem for USPS is that stuff sent via them goes on the usual scheduled passenger flights from USA to UK - and these days most of those flights are cancelled, hence the massive backlog. My bass has been en route for 6 weeks now. Just so you know..... 😅