Depends on the courier. I ordered some stuff a year or so ago, about a month after the goods arrived I got a bill from the courier. Typically you'll pay 8% duty plus VAT on the whole lot.
So expect to pay £220 * 1.08 * 1.2 = £285.12 less the original £220 so £65.12 (plus the release fee)
Better weight than wisdom, a traveller cannot carry
In the past eighteen months I bought a guitar and a motorcycle direct from the states.
The guitar was airfreight the motorcycle was by sea.
The guitar took a week the motorcycle took four months.
Price gouging by FedEx for airfreight plus the import charges meant that it was cheaper to import the motorcycle
that cost just over twice the cost of the guitar.
In short I have no idea how the system works although I do remember getting £14 taken off me for buying a Bora Bivvy Bag.
It's a lottery and I think you just won.
Hopefully as Stu says because it came from China that may have been a factor.
I guess I'll just be on tender hooks for a few weeks, I found one of those on-line calculators and it reckoned ~£60 which is close to what Whitestone said.
Have a look and see what the declared value was on the import form. If its been declared wrong (low) then you might have flown under the limit.
They said, I ordered a pile from Ruta Locura in the summer. Shipped from the States. Correct value on customs form. Never had to pay a penny in import duty. Not sure if I was dead lucky or if there was something else going on?
If I'm reading the OP correctly he's already received it?
If so I'd be highly sceptical you'd get any bill. Standard procedure (and this might be a legal thing) is to only release or deliver goods after payment of anything due. I've never been asked for payments separately, after delivery.
It's a lottery and I think that comes down to the vagaries of rules, their imperfect application by all sorts of entities and that there's just probably a massive volume of this stuff being shipped. Hence sometimes you get lucky and nothing's applied whilst other times it's a stinger.
Taylor was always the luckiest bugger I knew in this respect
Yup, I received the goods last week. It was a hot tent from Pomoly.
Just for something a bit different I fancy doing a bit of hot tenting in the winter weather. It'll be for car camping on very basic campsites.
Just thinking that I don't want to be put off going on weekend trips if the weather is absolutely biblical. Looking forward to standing up/sitting in a chair in a warm tent etc.
Just another point of reference that today I received a (slightly late) Christmas pressie from my wife & parents from Mountain Laurel Designs in the states. Shipped US Postal Service, customs form etc attached. The only slightly odd thing on it was the sender printed on the label was MLD, but that had been scribbled out and replaced with Ron Bell (MLD's owner) and a private address. Arrived in the UK last night from USPS's Chicago hub. Delivered today by Royal Mail with no import fees / taxes / handling charges etc. Maybe its luck of the draw, but that's the second US parcel I have had this year that hasn't had any tax charged....
