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Frame import costs help

by sparrowlegs
Tue, Apr 06, 2021 15:56
5

I'm looking at buying a frame that's in the EU (Netherlands). I can't find anywhere else as it's quite an old model and discontinued.

If the frame costs £1700, how much would I be looking at paying in import costs and VAT as a total?

This Brexit thing has really cocked things up!

Thanks.

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5 comments

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sparrowlegs | 3 years ago
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Thanks for the replies. It might not be that bad then. I was expecting worse.

Just need it to clear through Parcel Farce. It's taken 8 hours to get from the Netherlands and I'll bet it's another week or more before I see it. 

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FatAndFurious replied to sparrowlegs | 3 years ago
1 like

Please can you post what the final costs are? I'm wondering if any duty is actually due, irrespective of what simplyduty claims. 
 

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Spangly Shiny replied to FatAndFurious | 3 years ago
1 like

A similar thiught crossed my mind. Surely the shipper should reduce the 'raw' cost of the item by deducting local VAT costs before shipping; leaving the UK buyer to fork out for import duty and UK VAT. Otherwise the buyer would be paying both EU VAT and UK VAT.

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one_bad_mofo | 3 years ago
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There is no easy answer. When I used to import frames from North America I's start with the price of the frame then add the shipping cost. I would then apply 4.8% import duty and the new total (frame, shipping and import duty) would have VAT at 20% applied. 

Then to make life even better the courier company/postal service will hit you with a handling charge for clearing the parcel through customs. I'd expect that to be around an extra £10 these days. 

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FatAndFurious | 3 years ago
5 likes

I found this site a few weeks ago: https://www.simplyduty.com/import-calculator/

Working on £1700 at €2000, that site reckons you'll be due a VAT bill of £340 or so.

You'll need to find the "HS Code" for your product, which is no trivial task. For anyone who thinks there's no red tape post-brexit, take a look at this UK Gov site which documents the duty codes for practically every single commodity traded.

For bike frames, I think the relevant page is here: https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/8714911033

Be sure to read all the footnotes, chapter notes, section notes and additional section notes to be sure that you are declaring the proper codes. 

F**k Brexit, you miserable wreckers.

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