From the UK but want to buy from the US

[Merlin4458]

I am thinking of ordering from the US, as im from the UK the exchange rate seems too good to waste, Anyone know any good US companies that ship the UK.

want to buy components

[Kumagoro]

Im interested in it too...

I thought about using Ebay as then the person selling it if not a trader can send it as a gift... do any trader on ebay or otherwise send it as a gift?

[Marcos]

I always feel like doing this, i frequent a USA board and they are always posting about the awesome prices that they have. Dell 2001FP for $554, thats right, £300 for a Dell 2001FP.

But when you add shipping and import tax and the fact that you're warranty may aswell be non-existant

The only way i'll do it is if I get a contact over there that receives the goods and checks them before sending them to me as a gift. That way i should have no obvious warranty problems and i'll bypass import tax

[Merlin4458]

I have that contact. I have a friend over in Maine new england. So i was thinking of using someone like www.newegg.com and getting it shipped to maine, then them seding over here. Isnt shipping costs done by weight and size.Am i correct in saying that mobo,psu,cpu,ram,gfx card wouldnt weigh much or be that big, therefore cost hardly anything to ship?

[5cupa]

import tax always kills it. i bought a psu cost me £40 and i paid something like £15 shipping and then £15 import tax. it did work out still slightly cheaper but not worth the hassle.

btw if you break the law on importing goods you are very liable to problems.

[Merlin4458]

How would i break the law If i bought it all from the same place, would that work out cheaper?

[Clstrphbc_donut]

Was planning to do this a while ago.

From what i gathered from here and my uncle, if customs discover what it is/its true value, you can have import tax (i think thats the name for it) stamped on it, which can be some stupid percentage of the price.

You can only send a gift up to the value of about £30-£40.

[Merlin4458]

Ok lets say for example, i order components up to the value of 700 quid, how much tax, shipping, would i be expected to pay on top of that. If my friend over there shipped it to hear

[Clstrphbc_donut]

Well, if your friend shipped it to you, and customs caught it, you MAY have to pay OVER 50% of the cost of the goods. Im sure the figure was somewhere around 85-90%.

Heres my thread i've dig up, have a read

Importing

[Kumagoro]

It seems dodgy to me but my friend always buys stuff of ebay and gets it as a gift.
Also a friend use to send me stuff and that was worth more then £30 but only a 100 maybe if its stupidy expensive then maybe they are more likely to do something i have no idea. I heard they shouldnt use fedex and another one i dont remember.

I think maybe the best way is if you have a friend who is visiting get the to buy it and bring it over... if its a laptop that is.... also TOSHIBA laptops have international warrenty.

[5cupa]

again your only allowed to buy something like £140 to bring back to the uk

[Merlin4458]

thats a **** rule . How am i gonna take advantage of the exchange rate then

[SilentDeath]

hmm well. What about if theres no reciet, invoice etc.. in the box. No price tags. Customs wouldnt know how much you payed..

If you dont thinkthatll work, get him to rebox it, and write "broken" on a white lable, stick it too the pcb. They cant charge you for that?!

[5cupa]

customs arnt dumb and have seen every trick in the book. no-one wants there items held up in a customs warehouse for 12months

lets not please turn this thread into an illegal 'how to defraud tax' one

[Merlin4458]

lol. there must be a legal way. I doubt big companies pay **** loads of tax on there massive shipments

[5cupa]

company tax relief is a completely different thing

check out this site

http://www.sloanefox.freeserve.co.uk/importukduty.htm