Importing and customs

[Hsmith192]

Hi guys,

I thought I’d ask here, has anybody ever imported hand tools from Germany? And if so how much was it to do and was there extortionate customs charges?


I haven’t done this before!

 

[Nick_]

Quite hard to be certain what you’ll get hit with. It depends on the value and the supplier declaration.

You’ll definitely get vat, then the carrier often adds a £10 admin charge for collecting the duty, then you’ll have some actual duty.

The he amount of duty will vary if it’s a power tool compared to hand tool I think. There shouldn’t be duty if the cost is less than £135, including postage.

 

[niemeyjt]

Try and buy through a supplier that collects the taxes automatically - Amazon, eBay and Shopify for example - if the tax has to be collected by the carrier at delivery then they often slap on a £20 handling fee.

And as mentioned above, there is tax on the shipping as well as the item.

 

[Spectric]

I thought I’d ask here, has anybody ever imported hand tools from Germany?

Yes a straight edge from fine tools, out of stock in the UK and the price was comparable until duties and postage was added which made it almost double the price.

On a more recent issue, sending goods to Belgium the customs held them for over a week before they were released for postage onwards to the customer.

 

[pgrbff]

I've got a parcel that's been sitting in Italian customs since the 18th of last month. No point worrying, it will get here eventually. Last week I bought an ink roller from eBay UK and it arrived today.

 

[niemeyjt]

I've got a parcel that's been sitting in Italian customs since the 18th of last month. No point worrying, it will get here eventually. Last week I bought an ink roller from eBay UK and it arrived today.

Yes - as above - eBay are one of those who do the legwork for taxes so it flies through customs - ditto Amazon and Shopify. Using such a company saves both time and money.

 

[RobNichols]

I wrote this thread on my experience buying some tools from Germany:

Thread 'Saw and plane from Germany' https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/saw-and-plane-from-germany.141725/

I was very pleased with my purchase. However I think the process has changed a little since then and it isn't quite so easy.

 

[pgrbff]

Yes - as above - eBay are one of those who do the legwork for taxes so it flies through customs - ditto Amazon and Shopify. Using such a company saves both time and money.

I don't think it was sent using eBay shipping, I only paid 83p postage.

 

[johnwalls26]

I have just been looking at suppliers in Germany and Finland, many no longer take UK orders below 150 something euros. Dictum seem ok.

 

[Jake]

I don't think it was sent using eBay shipping, I only paid 83p postage.

If it's declared as low value they don't bother at UK customs.

 

[Chief Sawdust Maker]

The charges often depend on the items or rather the items stated on the paperwork.
It has got harder since Brexit, prior to that we used to bring stuff in from Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, USA & Canada
Experience shows that components rather than actual consumer items tend to attract less inspection and less duty
Out of all the countries the USA are by far the best I often order from a company just outside New York and usually the large Jiffy Bag arrives 3 days later

 

[Fergie 307]

I have bought numerous small items, value less than £120 or thereabouts from France, Germany and Netherlands, mostly through e bay. Both business and private sellers. Never had any problems, only time I paid customs duty myself was on a washing machine motor from NL, still a lot cheaper than any UK supplier I could find, and hardly any hold up. Other purchases from NL direct rather than through e bay no delay and no charges, despite higher value so seems a bit hit and miss. Japan, always get charged no matter what. USA a complete mystery, sometimes charged sometimes not on similar items, sometimes from the same supplier.

 

[Lung]

I have just been looking at suppliers in Germany and Finland, many no longer take UK orders below 150 something euros. Dictum seem ok.

That would likely be because of the £135 VAT threshold. If an item is £135 or less, then VAT is supposed to be collected by the retailer and sent to HMRC, but this requires the company to register for UK VAT and adds a layer of admin that many companies decided was too much when we left the EU. I know of at least 1 company who don't charge UK VAT on items below £135, but I don't believe they are within UK tax law for that.

I have bought numerous small items, value less than £120 or thereabouts from France, Germany and Netherlands, mostly through e bay. Both business and private sellers. Never had any problems, only time I paid customs duty myself was on a washing machine motor from NL, still a lot cheaper than any UK supplier I could find, and hardly any hold up. Other purchases from NL direct rather than through e bay no delay and no charges, despite higher value so seems a bit hit and miss. Japan, always get charged no matter what. USA a complete mystery, sometimes charged sometimes not on similar items, sometimes from the same supplier.

Again, this is the VAT threshold and UK Duty threshold which is also set at £135. If VAT is taken at source by the retailer then there's nothing to pay at the UK border and goods should pass through quickly. For anything over £135 the retailer doesn't collect the VAT, so when it gets to UK customs the item is liable for Duty, plus VAT with HMRC calculating VAT on both the item itself plus the shipping plus the Duty. Finally there are courier fees for collecting the VAT and duty from you on behalf of HMRC.
Some of the variation you note in fees etc could be down to how the seller has filled out the customs declaration form, as gifts have different rules to purchases for example.

 

[Bingy man]

So a few weeks ago I ordered a drill guide from w/peckers ( USA ) .it was on sale so I put it in my cart and followed the process to calculate the shipping. I was expecting £80 + but it was just over 1/2 that. So knowing I could get stung at customs I took a chance and ordered it. In the past I’ve had a message from the shipper that the import duty is x amount and this has to be paid or the package will be returned to the seller. Nothing this time -it was delivered a week or 2 back with no demand for import cost . However yesterday I opened a letter from fed x asking for £74.00 approx
Very confusing so the next time I buy anything from woodpeckers it will be from a uk supplier on a positive the auto line drill guide is awesome and much better than my ujk version..

 

[Jake]

Fed ex seem to always always send the parcel before the demand. I used to think it was slow admin (first couple of times it happened to me), but (having had it happen now 5 or 6 times) maybe it's to avoid people rejecting the parcel to avoid paying once they know what the additional cost is.

 

[niemeyjt]

Fedex are cheaper than the previous carrier they used - UPS and faster than USPS.

Fedex charge me a fee of CHF22 - somewhat more than your £12.75.

p.s. you might like to blur your personal details on the attachments

 

[Chief Sawdust Maker]

I have this week gone through a nightmare with UPS
Parcel was due from USA, they rang 3 times when it landed asking for payment, I could not understand the caller accent and volume and asked them to call back with another operator or email.
Cutting a very long story short despite 12+ emails and several phone calls along with logging into my UPS account I was unable to pay for it to be released to be delivered.
Friday lunchtime and UPS arrive with the parcel and an invoice for roughly what i had worked out the amount would be, driver says cant have parcel till I pay invoice, fair enough I will grab my credit card, oh no mate i cant take payment, you will have to phone the number on the invoice, ok I phone only to be told that they cant take a payment over the phone and I need to pay on line, long into my UPS account eventually find a payment link, try to pay with no luck, driver getting impatient, I'm trying to finish a job to dispatch later in the day turns out that as the address on my uPS account was slightly different to the address on the parcel it couldn't be paid on difference being on the UPS account it had the district we live in but on the parcel it didn't.
Registered a new UPS account with address matched to parcel and made payment, took around 25mins. Up shot spoke to supplier he wont be sending anything international using UPS.
From my experience DHL are by far the best to export and import fantastic customer service

 

[Peter Sefton]

So a few weeks ago I ordered a drill guide from w/peckers ( USA ) .it was on sale so I put it in my cart and followed the process to calculate the shipping. I was expecting £80 + but it was just over 1/2 that. So knowing I could get stung at customs I took a chance and ordered it. In the past I’ve had a message from the shipper that the import duty is x amount and this has to be paid or the package will be returned to the seller. Nothing this time -it was delivered a week or 2 back with no demand for import cost . However yesterday I opened a letter from fed x asking for £74.00 approx
Very confusing so the next time I buy anything from woodpeckers it will be from a uk supplier on a positive the auto line drill guide is awesome and much better than my ujk version..

We would be happy to try and help in the future, are are also now offering to get other Woodpecker products in that we don't currently carry in stock.

https://woodworkersworkshop.co.uk/woodpeckers/?sort=bestselling

Cheers

Peter

 

[Spectric]

the auto line drill guide is awesome and much better than my ujk version..

The UJK version is way better than many out there but I think the Woodpeckers version is going to be very well engineered, the other contender is the Rockler version with a 1/2 inch chuck .

 

[Bingy man]

Fedex are cheaper than the previous carrier they used - UPS and faster than USPS.

Fedex charge me a fee of CHF22 - somewhat more than your £12.75.

p.s. you might like to blur your personal details on the attachments

Thought I had it was too early for social media