Ordering from an American site

[tigerbabe]

I had a look at an American site last night (through a link in another thread) and thay had some really nice stuff.

The thing is I have no idea about ordering from America! Do you have to pay tax or something on it? My brother lives in New York, would I be better off having it delivered to him and getting him to send it to me marked as 'gift'??

I really need some help from anyone with more of a clue than me... not hard I know :D

[Gorilla]

hi tigerbabe,

when i've ordered from America in the past customs have sometimes picked it up and charged an import fee. i don't think they can do that if it's marked as a gift, so it might be a good idea to get it delivered to your brother, although it might end up costing more in total what with the two postage charges. customs usually charge a percentage of the cost of the goods i think, so the more expensive the goods, the higher the customs charge is likely to be.

[gertvegan]

tigerbabe, I ordered some t-shirts worth £75 from the US which attracted a £45 duty charge upon delivery. I didn't think to look into it before ordering and wasn't prewarned when placing the order either. The company concerned just didn't want to know, after all they had their money.

If I was doing it again I would go down the gift avenue me thinks. ;)

[tigerbabe]

Well I had a look at HM Customs site and apparently you have to pay a duty if you buy something from outside the EU that's worth more than £18. If it's marked as a gift it can be worth £36 before you have to pay a duty.

[dreama]

I dont tend to order from US if I can help it. I've bought Chinchilla wheel's from USA and some vegan gloves. Ordering is the simple part. It's just very pricy.