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Getting stung on Tax/Duty on HK imports
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I think for everybodys sake that this discussion is going no place. Its not in the interests of the site, or the members to be discussing how to cheat on taxes, etc. I agree that we all hate TAX and I will always remember the references in the bible where “tax collectors and sinners” were always in the same sentance in that very order — so much so that I used to think they were one and the same thing…..LOL. Never mind what the Government or political people get up to. The question you must ask yourself is …….. “Do you want to attract the attention of the Revenue on yourself ?”
One other thing …..you never know who is monitoring this site.
Hi,
I’m just posting to try to find out how much I would be liable for if I was to order from B&H Phot Video in New York.
I tried looking at the revenue site but it’s difficult to figure out the amout due.
I’m hoping to get a Nikon SB-800 speedlight, a 50mm lens and battery… it’ll probably be about
500 Euro so I’m trying to get a ballpark idea of how much I would need to pay.Have others here ordered from the US and if so, what in your experience would I expect to pay in duty / VAT ?
Thanks,
KeithHi Keith
BH Photo Orders are subject to VAT 21% plus 2% duty on some items. Digital cameras are currently exempt of duty (I think)
All revenue charges are on CIF, in other words cost of goods plus carriage charges.
VAT is charged on the CIF plus duty.
In my experience the last time I bought from BH Photo the Dollor price ended up been my end EUro price, i.e. $200 endend up after all fees paid being ?200. The exchange rate is better now though.
If you have queries Revenue are very helpfiul at telling the exact duty rates applicable before purchase and I think you will find them on the revenue website.
Hope this helps
Damian
If my memory serves my correctly the calculation works out something along the lines of:
Cost of Goods + Cost of Shipping = Total Cost (TC)
(TC) + ((TC) * Duty Rate) = Total Cost inc Duty (TCD)
(TCD) + ((TCD) * VAT Rate) = Total Cost inc Duty inc VAT (TCDV)
(TCDV) + Shippers Handling Fee = Total Cost inc Duty inc VAT inc Shippers Fee (TCDVF)
(TCDVF) – (TC) = Final Amount DueSo an example where Cost of Goods = ?200, Cost of Shipping = ?25, Duty Rate = 2%, VAT Rate = 21% and Shippers Fee = ?15
?200 + ?25 = ?225 (TC)
?225 + (?225 x 2%) = ?229.50 (TCD)
?229.50 + (?229.50 x 21%) = ?277.70 (TCDV)
?277.70 + ?15 = ?292.70 (TCDVF)
?292.7 – ?225 = ?67.70Please bear in mind the following:
* Duty Rate varies depending on the type of product
* VAT 21% is the Irish Rate and only changes during the budget
* The Shippers Handling Fee varies from Shipper to Shipper
* Goods are converted from the currency the goods were purchased in to local currency at a slightly unfavourable rateWarehouse Express in the UK are not quite as good on price as that deal but you have the advantage of no tax risk: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/?/photo/digicameras/canon.html#40d
They’re STG879 for the same combination plus probably about STG30 – 40 for P&P. I know that brings it up to STG900+ but you do avoid the whole import tax risk.
I’ve used them a couple of times and find them pretty good TBH.
Andrew
nfl-fan wrote:
Rumour has it that Charlie Haughey was found to have a large collection of Canon L lenses that he was given as a ‘present’ from a property developer.
PS. It also seems to be against the law to get a bargain in this country… e.g. everyone else in EU can shop around within the EU for a new car… but if you live in Ireland you are forced to pay crazy VRT costs which totally negates the savings you could have made if you bought your car in Holland for example.
Then the government are happy to sit there and let all the Irish car dealers run cozy cartels… no competition whatsoever.
In the UK competition is so much that you can go in and haggle and get your car equiped with alloy wheels, mud-flaps, a full tank of petrol, a CD Player etc, etc on the free… in Ireland you drive your car off the forecourt and you have to stop 5 mins down the road because the petrol light has come on.
I know the Car Trade has nothing to do with Cameras… but I’m just trying to illustrate how crappy the Irish market is. Given the cost of stuff in this country you could nearly get a cheap flight to New York, buy your lens while you’re there and fly home the same day and it would cost you less than heading downtown in Dublin!!!
Off track again but you can still get a bargain even with VRT: I recently had to buy a mini-MPV for my wife (3rd baby arrived … :) ) and bought a 5 year-old, low mileage, high-spec Nissan Tino from the UK for ?3000 from a Nissan Dealer; even with exchange rate, flights, ferry, petrol, VRT, reg. plates, etc. it came to about ?7200 – we were looking at about ?12,000 here for the same car … OK, I have to sell the old car myself but the trade-in was so bad that I can hardly lose …
If you are buying from abroad, try wiring the money using xe.com rather than your credit card, you should save a fairly siginificant amount whether buying from the UK or US: http://www.xe.com/fx/?AdTracking=http://www.xe.com/&menu
Oh I agree… you can get a bargain on the 2nd hand car market alright… it’s really the new car market that I was referring to :wink: The UK is a great market for well kept 2nd hand cars at low prices.
The deal you got was certainly a good deal if you look at in within the context of the Irish market… but looking at the bigger picture i.e. the EU market of which we are a part of, it wasn’t a good deal because Dave in the UK bought it for ?4500, Pierre in France got it for ?4500 (+shipping) and Dirk in Holland got it for ?4500 (+shipping).
The car dealers here stiff you with the trade in values too… it’s nearly always win-win on their part. That being said I recently traded in the girlfriends car and got ?2K scrappage on it… the best car bargain in the history of the state… it was worthless… I would have had to pay for someone to tow it away… the clutch was gone, it was a total crock.
Also consider buying from Europe… At least I did… Last year I bought a total of around ?4000 of equipment from AC Foto in Germany… The total for the same goods in Ireland was closer to ?6000…! One of the things i bought was an EOS 5D… A good friend of mine works in a local camera store and when I told him what I paid for it he didn’t believe me…. The price I paid at the time was lower than his cost price… he showed the cost list to me…! How can that be…? In a lot of cases it doesn’t seem to be the shops that are forcing the price up but the distributors/manufacturers…?
On another point…. I noticed today that Apple in the US are having a sale… at the minute a mid level MacBook is $1299 which converts to ?879… over here the same machine is ?1249…? WTF…? Thats a serious difference… I can get a flight to JFK for 632 return…. hmmmmmmm….!?
Richie
Richie, that’s the point I was trying to make earlier – look at buying within the EU, you can still save an awful lot over buying here. The ? 800.00 difference in price I was referring to earlier was for a Canon EOS 5D compared at AC-Foto and Halls Cameras, Dublin (based on their website).
I posted a comprehensive list of online stores here some time ago – worth looking at again even if only to compare prices.
Also, bear in mind that when buying within the EU, you have the benefit of EU consumer protection legislation – it might not be the easiest thing to invoke, but it’s better than nothing.
Hi all,
Thanks alot for the replies. It gives me an idea of what to expect. Will check out some other EU sites before ordering.
Cheers,
KeithKeithdub wrote:
Hi all,
Thanks alot for the replies. It gives me an idea of what to expect. Will check out some other EU sites before ordering.
Cheers,
KeithDo try Warehouse Express as well: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/?/photo/digicameras/Canon.html#5d
They’er advertising Canon EOS 5D body only as STG1264 at the moment – even allowing about STG90 for P&P, that comes out at about ?1880 compared to ?2000 as advertised for 5D in AC Foto: http://www.ac-foto.com
Hi Brian,
I have seen some of the guys here talk about a site on ebay called URGALAXY. I have not purchased anything from them but you may want to take a look at their site and maybe have a look for the fourm chat they had here about them to see what they thought. I cant for the life of me remember where abouts it was though.
Liam
Mailman wrote:
Hi Brian,
I have seen some of the guys here talk about a site on ebay called URGALAXY. I have not purchased anything from them but you may want to take a look at their site and maybe have a look for the fourm chat they had here about them to see what they thought. I cant for the life of me remember where abouts it was though.
Liam
Liam it was me that posted asking about URGalaxy about 4 months ago. They got very good comments from punters on here.
Cheers for all the replies, but I’m sorted now. I’m NOT changing to Canon or Nikon. I’m staying with my Sony A100. I just bought a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 on eBay from a guy in Engerland. The main reason for considering jumping ship was I really wanted this lens and found it very very difficult to get one. There’s 3 on eBay at the moment and 1 on here. (this lens is like a bus, none for months and then 4 come along at once)
And the great thing, the Sony has shake reduction built into the body. :D :D
Thanks everyone.
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