Rip off Britain (as if you didn't know already)

[jefmcg]

if you want to see rip off prices then go to a motorway service station , last week I picked up a can of coke, a bag of crisp and a mars bar. When I got to the till , I said sorry but ive only got a twenty pound note...... that's ok she said .......you can put the crisp back.....

That wasn't about the price. She just doesn't want you to get diabetes.

 

[Chris S]

The Birmingham Christmas Market just used to change the Euro signs to a Pound one. They're almost the same now anyway.

 

[Blue Hills]

a friend of mine bought a Rolex in Dubai, had it on his wrist when coming back through customs, said that he had bought it as a gift for himself and the customs guys said it was fine. No issues, no import duty or VAT



It would have been part of my carry on luggage

I didn't know this was the rule? I thought that with expensive stuff, certain cameras etc, it was advisable to take the original purchase receipts with you so that you could prove that you flew out with it - had bought it in the UK - and I used to know someone whom thinking they were clever, had bought a camera in the east, flown back with it as if they had taken it with them, apparently got caught out - or so they told me - when the receipt posted back to them was spotted in the post. Had to pay duty/a fine or whatever. Am I wrong or has something changed?

edit - have caught up with late posts - yep, appears that mr rolex was a wise guy telling porkies.

 

[Blue Hills]

Indeed. Try paying car tax in Ireland.

or alcohol in Sweden.

 

[Drago]

And boy do you need alcohol if you live in Sweden.

 

[Blue Hills]

Try buying simple everyday pills in Italy.

Some ponce in a white coat in the pharmacy who sees themselves as a priest will dispense them with all due solemnity, then charge you an outrageous amount for something you can pick up here in the supermarket for about 25p.

One of these pseudo priests told someone I know that Italy has the best drugs in the world.

 

[Gasman]

If you buy something by mail order from the US then import duty is not collected if the item is worth less than about £20. There is still VAT of a pound or two but HMRC have an arrangement with Royal Mail whereby RM hold onto items until you pay them the VAT to pass on to HMRC. RM then cover their costs by whacking on a flat-rate £8 "handling charge". Curiously, when I buy stuff from the far east there is no further charge added.

On another occasion, I was buying a World-of-Warcraft figurine for my son's birthday. The price on the US website was so much less than on the European site that I reckoned I could buy it from USA and, even with the charges above, still save money, albeit delivery would take longer. What happened was that after ordering it and paying in dollars, the USA side passed on the order details to their European operation who delivered the item from their stock a few days later. So, half price, No VAT, no Royal Mail charge! Result!!

 

[RollingNoMad]

Nukeproof is an American brand, so you would expect to pay more in the U.K. given import duties, no?

Good job you are not in France as this puzzles me: - Decathlon France currently selling on their website the B'Twin Ultra 920 AF for 1,400 € (£1,200) but on the UK site and in store, the identical Ultra 720 AF is £1,050. The same difference applies throughout their range with UK prices being considerably cheaper. I know we are still in the EU so no import duties but Decathlon are French so why charge their home market so much more?

Formerly: Michigan, USA (5,141.08 mi) and now in Belfast, Northern Ireland

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Sorry to do this, but felt the need to post a surprising difference in the price of a bike between US and UK.

I use Chainreactioncycles a fair bit and even though I'm in the US they most often provide the best prices and shipping times. Saying that I was surprised when I researched a new bike, a Nukeproof gravel bike (yes I am that trendy). When I first arrived on the chainreaction page for this bike this is the price I saw...

Nukeproof Digger 1.0 Gravel Bike 2017 £1449.99

and when I changed country and currency...

Nukeproof Digger 1.0 Gravel Bike 2017 $1299.99

That's about a £400 difference, way more than the normal VAT difference I'm used to seeing.

Again, apologies for pointing out something you may already be aware of, but this was a surprising price difference.

Interesting: I just checked the same one in Australian currency, and according to the current exchange rate, it would cost about 995 British pounds (sorry, can't find the pound symbol on my Australian keyboard).
Normally, things cost more here, because of the shipping costs (or at least, that's the excuse the vendors tend to use a lot).

 

[greenmark]

Interesting: I just checked the same one in Australian currency, and according to the current exchange rate, it would cost about 995 British pounds (sorry, can't find the pound symbol on my Australian keyboard).
Normally, things cost more here, because of the shipping costs (or at least, that's the excuse the vendors tend to use a lot).

That bike costs £830 if shipped to Hong Kong. Free shipping and zero import duties here.

 

[Blue Hills]

If you buy something by mail order from the US then import duty is not collected if the item is worth less than about £20. There is still VAT of a pound or two but HMRC have an arrangement with Royal Mail whereby RM hold onto items until you pay them the VAT to pass on to HMRC. RM then cover their costs by whacking on a flat-rate £8 "handling charge". Curiously, when I buy stuff from the far east there is no further charge added.

t!!

Re your last point, my understanding and experience when ordering stuff from the east/china, where of course much of what you buy here is of course made, is that as long as the value is less than £15 you are in the clear with regard to both customs duty and VAT. I would never buy anything electrical, core bike components, or anything with safety implications though.

 

[flake99please]

I would think it has more to do with false (lower) declared product values on the CN22 (or equivalent) forms from the far East.

 

[Blue Hills]

No, i checked. Am pretty sure the £15 rule puts you in the clear. I always buy under, usually well under, that. I seem to remember seeing ONE seller which cheerfully announced that it would under declare value and label stuff as "a gift" but I don't want to get involved in that sort of stuff.

 

[Alan O]

No, i checked. Am pretty sure the £15 rule puts you in the clear. I always buy under, usually well under, that. I seem to remember seeing ONE seller which cheerfully announced that it would under declare value and label stuff as "a gift" but I don't want to get involved in that sort of stuff.

The relevant rules can be found at https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

 

[Blue Hills]

Thanks for providing the link for folks alan, was tricky for me to do it on my tiddly tab. Yes that's what I checked out. You can get a lot from the east for less than £15. Had some excellent stuff.

The killer for most stuff on the vat is not the vat itself but the processing charge the PO (£8?) Will charge to collect the pennies. So stay under £15 and all is well. And buy from folk that label their packages clearly and honestly. I well remember pointing out to one chinese seller that their labelling on one thing was not up to their usual standards and could have caused problems and they promptly sent a partial refund to my paypal account. Can't argue with that.