Anyone know anything about import duty from the US?

I ordered $310 worth of dresses from America and paid £24.11 Customs Duty, £45.63 Import VAT and £8.00 Clearance Fee.

Have a look at this link, it explains all about it.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014&propertyType=document#P21_2406

HTH x

oh cr**, I ordered shoes from the US and they cost me $325. It didn't occur to me that I'll have to pay money on top of that!!! Don't think H"B will be too impressed, oops!

I once bought my son a basketball shirt from the US, it was delivered by USP thingy....I had to pay almost £40.00 import duty there and then or if I didn't pay it then I would be charged a re delivery fee or I could go pick up the goods from the nearest UPS thingy depot which was freakin miles and miles away....I vowed never to buy from the US again....bloody shirt didn't fit either and couldn't send it back!

I think you only pay one import duty per package so as long as the dresses came together you would only pay once.

I'm thinking I might buy BM dresses and dye them to the colour I would like

Do you know anyone living in the States who would accept delivery of them, repackage them and send them on? I might be wrong - worth checking though - that 'gift' items don't attract these duties and taxes.

or who might be travelling back this way at christmas and then you could avoid any postage costs?

Basically, you get charged VAT, which is usually 20% of the cost of the products. You also get charged import fees and the carrier is also likely to charge a fee, and this varies according to the courier company.

For example, last week I had a delivery from the states of £550 value, and my import/VAT/handing fee was £111

Today an order arrived that had a value of £250 and I only paid £44 additional (much lower fees!)

When I ordered something from the states last month, it was $97 and I paid £15.68 duty

I always estimate that fees plus UPS handling will be 33% of the total.

We were really worried about this as purchased my engagement ring from Florida on the internet and were really concerned about duty, but it arrived and we paid nothing! Very lucky I guess but I have friends who have ordered dresses from the states and paid nothing either, so perhaps depends on how thoroughly they are checking parcels on the day!

I've got a feeling that if they're "gifts" you don't pay anything? Might be wrong though. I'm sure there's a way of getting round it. Alternatively, create a "wanted" thread...

Wanted: Someone to go to America and bring me back some dresses!

It sounds silly, but most people on here would help fellow Hitchers out, so if someone is going to America anyway, I'm sure they wouldn't mind bringing your dresses back with them and then sending them on once they're back in the UK??