Tanker Jackets?

[Edward]

Blackadder, you are lucky to be in Asia, for us in Europe, we need to pay the import custom and VAT as well. It used to be better as here in the UK, they only did spot checks; nowadays, they pretty much stop and charge for almost everything.

I may give WWII Impression a try and see.

Seems to vary a lot. Used to be I rarely got hit for anything from the US; now, while anywhere else in the world I might or might not get lucky, they focus on the US especially. Similar to how they get hardcorewith searching people's cases as they arrive in the UK from short breaks in the US around this time of year, as a few years back it was realised that people were getting cheap flights to the US, doing their Christmas shopping in NYC and Boston, and then bringing it back, and still coming out ahead of what they would have spent on the samed stuff in rip-off-Britain.

Can't you just have them sent to HK first? Incidentally, how does one calculate the custom duty? Is it only on the value above the relief of GBP135 (e.g. value GBP145, pays duty on GBP15) or you have to pay the whole amount if the value is over GBP135 i.e. duty on GBP145. Haven't been back to England for almost 20 years. Damn bank even closed my accounts for non-activity awhile back.

Import tax, where they levy it, is about 5%, from memory. That's applied first - to the combined total of both the value of the good and the cost of shipping - and then 20% VAT applied on top of that total.

Handling fee?

Everything I get hit by customs for, Parcelforce charges me £8. I believe they do this to cover their administration involved (to the best of my understanding, they have to pay customs and then collect the goods before they can claim the monery bsack from me), and also because they can.

 

[Stearmen]

Seems to vary a lot. Used to be I rarely got hit for anything from the US; now, while anywhere else in the world I might or might not get lucky, they focus on the US especially. Similar to how they get hardcorewith searching people's cases as they arrive in the UK from short breaks in the US around this time of year, as a few years back it was realised that people were getting cheap flights to the US, doing their Christmas shopping in NYC and Boston, and then bringing it back, and still coming out ahead of what they would have spent on the samed stuff in rip-off-Britain.

What a shame! I had a great little side business, parting out Buell motorcycles early in this century. My best customers were in the UK, France, Australia, and NZ. I would just put Gift on the Customs form and Vintage Motorcycle Parts on the package, never a charge. I was always thanked for that. OZ slapped some kind of fee on the shipping, and I could no longer afford to ship there. Shame, but, about that time, Buell's started to appreciate in value, so the game was over any way!