us postal help
 

hi guys hope you can help

im a carpenter and thinking of ordering a cordless battery drill from the us having it delivered to my us fiancee and then have her post it tome

or she will pick it up and then post it on

my question is is this allowed and to avoid paying excise duty on it if she writes on the package present will this help

the drills are 3 times cheaper in the us than here

thanks

Re: us postal help
 

Well, if you do things legally, she will still have to put the correct value on the customs declaration -- I don't think it matters if it is a present or not.

Re: us postal help
 

Make sure the charger will work on 220V/50Hz.

Re: us postal help
 

I mailed my daughter a brand new dress a few months back (this isn't the first time I've mailed new things, I mailed a big box of new things this past Christmas.) and she ended up paying at her end. The only thing I did differently this time was that I had it insured for about $300. It was marked as a gift, so I'm wondering if insuring it made the difference...:unsure:

Re: us postal help
 

It might be a very cheap drill.

Re: us postal help
 

And it might be very crap too. Hopefully the OP has done enough research.

Re: us postal help
 

I've mailed new clothing to DD for GS and she has had to pay customs duty on it. She said to put used clothing on the customs sticker.
You didn't hear it from me.;)

Re: us postal help
 

thanks guys first things first its a top of the range drill and i know my stuff ive been a carpenter for over 20 years

it doesnt matter if the chrgers doesnt work on 220 because on site all electric is 110v

hopefully if i order this drill there wont be anything to pay i had just heard if you put gift on the package you didnt have to pay.but wasnt sure

thanks for the replies guys

Re: us postal help
 

My experience has been anything under $50 or approx. £38, including postage (yes, UK does charge VAT on postage) does not get taxed. However, I have had several packages over the years (ie. clothing, toys) not get charged, but were well over the limit. On the other hand, anything remotely electronic and/or computer related were charged. Customs assesses a value to the item, whether it's a gift or not, then adds the postage and charges VAT based on that amount. Don't forget that Royal Mail adds an extra £15 handling charge. Best option is to repackage the item and not use the original box--it's always a dead giveaway that the stuff is brand new. Labeling something as a gift is not a problem.

If it's something you really want/need then perhaps the VAT isn't an issue anyway? ;)

Re: us postal help
 

From my experiance it seems hit and miss when it arrives in the UK, I send mostly used spare parts back to the UK on a regular basis ans some get hit for the import duty and VAT and some do not. I always insure the parts

Re: us postal help
 

Marking it gift doesn't always help.

Hubby once sent me some stuff. Mixture of clothes, candy, my ipod id left behind, and some books, some headphones, sent in 2 separate boxes. Marked some as gift, and some as personal belongings being returned, but I still had to pay VAT or something.

Basically postie delivered me a note saying i had to pick them up at post office, and pay a fee to recover the packages.

Re: us postal help
 

Mathematically this is a 'no brainer', unless postage & import duties amount to 300% of the US price of the drill. I'm guessing they'll be quite a bit lower...

There is a limit to gifts before they attract duty - £38 sounds familiar...

Have it sent in different packaging, and have it insured, and you should be fine. This is how I've done it in the past. One of the few occasions I got stitched for significant duty at the other end - the tax man incorrectly assessed the materials for way more than they were worth and I received a tax bill for almost 4 figures - that took a little while to sort out!

Cheers

HTS

Re: us postal help
 

BTW, if you know the box size and weight, you can calculate the shipping charge (if using USPS) here:

http://ircalc.usps.gov/

Won't be cheap, but if it's a good drill as you say, probably worth it.