Will I be charged When it enters UK???

[schecter_blue]

Hey guys, bought a jem from Jimosity from the US and im waiting for it to come. I live in the UK. Hes shipping it as a gift and they told him that if he ships it as a gift he couldnt insure it for what it was worth, and still have it as a gift without it costing me loads when it came into the country. So he left it as a gift and insured it for $350. Will I be charged when it enters the country from the US? If so how much?? If im charged i Might not be able to afford it Used the last of my birthday money on the Jem

Thanks
Kev

[Rich]

"Gift" is only exempt for the first 50 pounds, you'll pay 24% of everything over that.

[schecter_blue]

if its seen to be worth $350 how much does that mean im gonna have to pay ?

[schecter_blue]

I just worked it out, $350 is about £200
Then 24% of 200 is around £48
Kev

[schecter_blue]

Hey rich, how do i actually pay for it when it comes into the country, will it not actually get delivered to me? Like will it get held in customs or something until i produce the cash?
Kev

[Rich]

Wait for a UK answer there.

[schecter_blue]

anyone?

[Serratus]

I think that when I got charged it was held at the post office and I went and paid them when I picked it up (I think), but was also told by someone else that they had it delivered and then recieved a bill for the customs charge afterwards. It might not be quite as much as you've been quoted either - I think it's 17.5% VAT and 3% import duty (20.5% total), but you may get a fixed fee post office charge on top of that (of around a fiver if I remember right) - it'll probably work out at around the same amount as you were quoted earlier anyway. Or you may get lucky and not be charged at all - I've had that aswell, where you should get charged and for some reason don't.
Sorry for the vague answers, it's been a while since I've had to pay it.
cheers,
Rich

[the.godfather]

The way I have always seen it is that it gets delivered to you, and then you recieve a bill for the customs charge afterwards. Thats the way it usually works anyway. But obviously, they can choose to hold it at the post office too I suppose. Hey, its the Royal Mail, nothing should suprise you, lol!

[schecter_blue]

oh well, so do you think it will be around £50?? Thanks for all the help
Kev

[Algiman]

The method seems to vary, but for a private residence the post office will almost always hold the item until you go and pay the charges, while companies will get stuff delivered first, but I've experienced it working the other way round too.

[Adagio_777]

When I received a used guitar from America I think the total amount of customs came to £70. if I can recall correctly I payed £230 which included shipping for it, Parcelforce delivered it to my door, but, I didn't have the funds at the time, as I wasn't expecting it to come quite as soon as it did. So the fella said he would have to take it back to HQ which is an hours drive from my place. I called them a few days later and they kindly redelivered it and I payed up. I have no idea how much the seller insured it for and if they marked it as a "gift", so I'm not much help, but anyway...

I think you would be pretty lucky to only get £50 in fees, maybe just over.

I'm expecting to have a Carvin over here fairly soon, the seller insured it for $500 so I'm expecting to pay a fair bit, but it still works out in my favour at the end of the day.

[schecter_blue]

he insured it for only $350 which is about £200 so hopefully it wont be too much

[schecter_blue]

Well guys, just spotted this thread from a while ago now, I didnt get charged anything for it entering UK
All that worry about nothing
Kev

[bpd111]

That's good. I didn't realize the thread was so old, but I was going to say that sometimes they receiver gets billed sometimes they don't. I sold a Boss ME-50 to someone in France. He never got billed for customs. I never was charged when I bought a guitar from Japan.