Buying a saddle of ebay from America ... recipie for disaster ??

[Eira]

Has anyone bought a saddle from America off ebay ??

In theory its a great plan but i'm wondering were the catch is ?

 

[scotsmare]

The shipping for a start!!

 

[KrujaaLass]

Dont forget to add purchase tax. I had to pay £70 on a £350 saddle.

 

[Syrah]

Customs and Excise charges, which the courier will add their admin charges to aswell.

Just factor that into the total price as well as the courier charges.

 

[Eira]

SM - The shipping is about £54 to the uk , the saddle is considerably cheaper than if we were to buy it in the UK .

CL- Can you explain how you work out purchase tax ?

 

[spaniel]

Beware Customs and Excise duty.

 

[Eira]

EEK , this is starting to sound rather expensive

 

[TarrSteps]

You'll have to contact customs and excise (or whatever it's called here) to sort out tax. I recently brought a used saddle in for personal use and was told even then could be taxed on it's value! (In the end it wasn't even though I declared it but I'm not sure it why, to be honest. If I'd shipped it with a courier it would have been for sure.) There is also the question of warranties etc, which may or may not transfer, not to mention what you'll do if it's not as advertised when it gets here!

Seems a big risk, to be honest. It might all go swimmingly but if you do get in a mess it might very well end up being a real hassle to sort out.

 

[KrujaaLass]

Customs and Excise will contact you. If item is marked as gift then I dont think tax is payable. But would not rely on it.

 

[Tia]

I bought a saddle in the States years ago when I lived in England. My broker sorted out all Customs and I paid the tax and shipping on it at source. It was still less than half the price than if I had bought exactly the same saddle in England, so well worth it to me.

 

[SecretSquirrell379]

[ QUOTE ]
Customs and Excise will contact you. If item is marked as gift then I dont think tax is payable. But would not rely on it.

[/ QUOTE ]

They don't always contact you. I had to reorder our Quillin halters after we got broken into and they came via Fedex...result I thought no import duty...got a letter from Fedex a few days later with a bill for £35 for import duties

havn't paid it yet though....keep forgetting!!

 

[JadeWisc]

I buy saddles of of Ebay from the US all of the time!

Not saying much though as I am here !

sorry...I just had to

 

[KrujaaLass]

thinking back it was Fed Ex that invoiced me. Paid it because Custom & excise dont let you get away with anything. Many years ago I had windows put in a mini van (professionally).The Customs man came to my house and had to pay tax because of the windows.

 

[Diggerdog]

You will have to pay VAT at 17.5% and Import Duty at 2.7% of the purchase price.

I have both imported and exported saddles and its not a problem, as long as the seller is reputable.

 

[Syrah]

It was DHL that billed me for C&E Duty and added their own £10 fee.