Supremegermalene

Hi, I want to order some silver from the US, should I get it delivered to the UK or is it ok coming into Portugal?

I've heard a few stories about PT customs, some say it's fine to order from for example China but don't order from the US as it get stuck in customs...but I don't know how reliable this is.

Has anyone ordered items from the US without problems?

Thanks
G

The_Hog

I have ordered some stuff from the U.S. It took 6 weeks! Priority mail too!
Customs did examine it and I had to pay quite a lot of import tax as well.
I think it is quite safe but it does take a VERY long time to get to you.

garden2002

Hi
We ordered a small electronic item from the USA in June this year. It took a few weeks to arrive (via UPS) & arrived safely BUT we paid nearly the same amount in PT import tax as the original purchase price. UPS called us to see if we wanted to accept the extra cost before they delivered the item. They expalined it is not unusual for imported goods from the USA to be taxed at a proportionally high rate compared with the purchase price but this is not always the case.
Hope this helps

Supremegermalene

Wow Portugal should be re-named 'tax grabbing country' cant believe how much you get taxed on here. I've had to pay tax on something sent to the Uk but only on a business item and it was addressed to a business, so It was obvious...anything else delivered there addressed to my name has been tax free. Well that has cleared it up for me! Thanks all. G

mshlgw

And the other side of the coin is..........
I order a mincing attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer from New York and it arrived in five days! Sent USPS priority mail. No import duty,

bigglesafloat

I agree that stuff sent from USA especially via major carriers UPS etc can take a long time and you certainly can get clobbered by the Alfandega. Maybe a suggestion to get it sent first to UK with little or no tax charged ?

Bomber Harris

It matters not whether you have it sent to the UK instead of Portugal as any goods brought into the EU from a non EU source are subject to import duty. Here's a link to the info for the UK http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/internet.htm

bigglesafloat

How the import laws are interpreted is what counts. I can assure you that importing into UK is quicker and cheaper than importing into Portugal.

anna58

And I sent DNA to New York registered in November and it hasn't got there yet. Correios say the sack got to N.Y. and the Americans lost it.

kyles Mummy

I was pretty mad late last year about customs and some dvds that i ordered from hmv (though i had ordered from them many times before without a problem).

They wanted to charge me in customs fees more than what the dvds were worth and I think it is more the fact that it annoys them that we bring products in so cheap and they hate it.

In my sig is my blog address and look for a recent post on customs (within the last 5 posts) and it goes into great detail about what happened.

What I find safer if you want to avoid penalty is to get them shipped into the uk, then use a courier, there are many local ones that charge just 5 euros for a small package.

Good luck with your silver

Kind regards


sam
X

kyles Mummy

On a general note though, I order a lot of goods from ebay.co.uk and it is very rare I wait more than 3 days.

Today an accessory for my sons wii arrived (4th jan) and it was purchased from hong kong on the 29th dec.

so it can really be pot luck

kind regards


sam
X

bigglesafloat

Obviously goods sent via UK to Portugal do not attract any Duty. Items shipped from outside EU to Portugal, especially froim USA and via the big carriers DHL/UPS etc will get stopped in Lisboa - as I said before.

Supremegermalene

Yes I have heard stuff from Hong Kong is usually ok. Think it probably has something to do with the fact PT help China out a lot with the fact they can open Chinese shops here and not pay tax so they probably order a lot of stock from China....

kyles Mummy

I am, sure that is true!!!

i don't get much from asia but i have never had a problem with anything from there!!!

kind regards


sam
X

Gladius

In general, speed of goods into Portugal isn't a problem...and they rarely get lost. I've had DOCUMENTS from South Africa sitting in customs in Lisbon for a year - the paperwork was about an inch thick, as they'd opened it - probably suspected an undeclared book, and then tried to wish it away...but its amazing what a little detective work accomplished - I got it all.

I've imported an RC car from the USA, and ended up paying more for it after customs than it would have cost locally.

In the company, I've also imported building materials from Taipei, which cost me about 50USD, then shipping was 250USD (weighty), and it arrived at Faro airport the one sunny afternoon, and I immediately got a call from customs to see if I wished to pick it up, which I did the next morning, armed with a fat chequebook, and ended up paying Import Duties (20%) on the 300USD - was shocked to see that I had to pay for the transportation too - and 20% VAT on top of that. These days I try to source everything inside the EU.

You will probably only get away with some taxes if there is an accord with the country you're doing business with: Portugal has preferential economic ties with Brazil, for instance.