Importing clothes to UK from America and custom charges

[nicole333]

I love designer jeans and being as I live in jeans in my spare time, I buy loads. :o

I don't care if they are second hand as I don't have the budget to simply go into a designer shop and buy them willy nilly, so ebay has become my friend. I have educated myself on identifying the real macoy, so this is not an issue for me. The thing is, the brand I actually love is so much cheaper from America, but I have never ordered from the US as I am scared I will get completely dumped on with the variety of charges of importing.

I can't seem to work my way around these charges that are on Royal Mail's website and I get all confused about it. It's pointless me buying something if the price is going to be doubled at the end.

Do any of you have experience of doing this, good or bad that you can share? How much were your items and how much was the total by the time Customs etc were added on?

Thanks

 

[jojemac]

You will pay 20% VAT and 12% duty on imports of jeans into the UK. Also a lot of companies (like DHL and UPS) charge a handling fee of around £10.

Hope that helps some. X

 

[jojemac]

In general it isn't cheaper to buy something from the US and have it shipped in.

I work as a buyer and have to deal with this loads with work. A lot of people don't realise, have stuff shipped in and then wonder why there's added stuff on top. X

 

[nicole333]

Thank you so much for your reply. I read about certain charges being over a certain amount of the value of the item that includes the shipping cost, so I take it that doesn't apply and you get charged even if the jeans were £10?

 

[jojemac]

I believe the charges start at £18, but I'm not 100% sure. X