Buying Camera From America, From UK

Hello.

If I ordered camera equipment from the USA, to the value of £1700, how much
would it be after UK customs, VAT, etc?

Would the Canon warranty still be valid?

just did that myself and it cost me aprox £250 in vat and handling charge,
it still worked out £150 cheaper than the uk price got my stuff from here
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ but had to split order as they could not verify
above $1500 on my visa card i also had to send them a photo copy of the
front and back of the card , i would buy from them again.
Rob.

"Matt" wrote in message
...
Hello.

If I ordered camera equipment from the USA, to the value of £1700, how
much
would it be after UK customs, VAT, etc?

Would the Canon warranty still be valid?

just did that myself and it cost me aprox £250 in vat and handling charge,
it still worked out £150 cheaper than the uk price got my stuff from here
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ but had to split order as they could not verify
above $1500 on my visa card i also had to send them a photo copy of the
front and back of the card , i would buy from them again.
Rob.

"Matt" wrote in message
...
Hello.

If I ordered camera equipment from the USA, to the value of £1700, how
much
would it be after UK customs, VAT, etc?

Would the Canon warranty still be valid?

Funny, I was just trying to figure out what the customs would be for a Canon
Flash I'd like to buy in US (I live in Canada). I have to wait for the
office hours tomorrow. With the weak US$ things are getting really cheap in
US. Usually, the customs plus taxes are pretty high though. On the other
hand, everything is twice the price in UK. Only thing I found cheap in UK
was a pint of beer yummy
As for warranty, I know that Nikon USA warranty is not even valid in Canada
so you better double check for Canon. Call a UK Canon service center.

"Matt" wrote in message
...
Hello.

If I ordered camera equipment from the USA, to the value of £1700, how
much
would it be after UK customs, VAT, etc?

Would the Canon warranty still be valid?

Funny, I was just trying to figure out what the customs would be for a Canon
Flash I'd like to buy in US (I live in Canada). I have to wait for the
office hours tomorrow. With the weak US$ things are getting really cheap in
US. Usually, the customs plus taxes are pretty high though. On the other
hand, everything is twice the price in UK. Only thing I found cheap in UK
was a pint of beer yummy
As for warranty, I know that Nikon USA warranty is not even valid in Canada
so you better double check for Canon. Call a UK Canon service center.

"Matt" wrote in message
...
Hello.

If I ordered camera equipment from the USA, to the value of £1700, how
much
would it be after UK customs, VAT, etc?

Would the Canon warranty still be valid?

Hello "Your-Nice".

Where were you looking to buy in the UK before buying from USA?



"Your-Nice" wrote in message
...
just did that myself and it cost me aprox £250 in vat and handling charge,
it still worked out £150 cheaper than the uk price got my stuff from here
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ but had to split order as they could not
verify
above $1500 on my visa card i also had to send them a photo copy of the
front and back of the card , i would buy from them again.
Rob.

"Matt" wrote in message
...
Hello.

If I ordered camera equipment from the USA, to the value of £1700, how
much
would it be after UK customs, VAT, etc?

Would the Canon warranty still be valid?

Hello "Your-Nice".

Where were you looking to buy in the UK before buying from USA?



"Your-Nice" wrote in message
...
just did that myself and it cost me aprox £250 in vat and handling charge,
it still worked out £150 cheaper than the uk price got my stuff from here
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ but had to split order as they could not
verify
above $1500 on my visa card i also had to send them a photo copy of the
front and back of the card , i would buy from them again.
Rob.

"Matt" wrote in message
...
Hello.

If I ordered camera equipment from the USA, to the value of £1700, how
much
would it be after UK customs, VAT, etc?

Would the Canon warranty still be valid?

Matt wrote:
Hello.

If I ordered camera equipment from the USA, to the value of £1700, how much
would it be after UK customs, VAT, etc?

Would the Canon warranty still be valid?


I've never bought a camera, but have bought computers from the USA
There are 3 charges

1) VAT @ 17.5%. This goes on the item AND shipping, so the more it costs
to ship, the more VAT you pay.

2) Import duty. This never seemed to be much (around 4%) but it might be
different on photographic kit.

3) The money the courier wants. Generally companies such as Fedex will
pay the VAT+duty before delivery to you. Then they will charge you the
VAT+duty, plus some small amount for collecting it.

I rekon on adding 20-25% normally.

If you ship it United States Postal Service (USPS) it seems to be far
less likley to attract VAT+duty than if shipped by Fedex, UPS or
similar. Customs do not pick on every item, but they seem to know that
most high value items go via fedex or similar.

If possible, I would ask for it to be shipped by a slowish airmail (7-10
days) rather than the fast, but expensive UPS/Fedex or similar. Not only
is carriage cheaper, but it is far less likely to attract VAT. Fedex and
UPS will usually deliver the item before the duties are paid and send
you a bill later. If shipped by USPS, Royal mail will deliver it to your
door, but will want paying before they part with the goods.

Despite what one eBay seller is saying, declaring an item as a gift
(illegal anyway) does not ensure it does not get VAT. A friend was sent
something by his Sister and still had to pay for it. Neither do I
believe the story someone said on here a week or so ago that customs go
by the retail price of a product. As far as I am aware, customs are not
going to research the finest details on items, but only go on the
*declared value*. You can not insure anything for more than the declared
value, so if you get a dealer to declare its value to be small (many
will do this), not only is it illegal for them, but you are unable to
insure it.

Matt wrote:
Hello.

If I ordered camera equipment from the USA, to the value of £1700, how much
would it be after UK customs, VAT, etc?

Would the Canon warranty still be valid?


I've never bought a camera, but have bought computers from the USA
There are 3 charges

1) VAT @ 17.5%. This goes on the item AND shipping, so the more it costs
to ship, the more VAT you pay.

2) Import duty. This never seemed to be much (around 4%) but it might be
different on photographic kit.

3) The money the courier wants. Generally companies such as Fedex will
pay the VAT+duty before delivery to you. Then they will charge you the
VAT+duty, plus some small amount for collecting it.

I rekon on adding 20-25% normally.

If you ship it United States Postal Service (USPS) it seems to be far
less likley to attract VAT+duty than if shipped by Fedex, UPS or
similar. Customs do not pick on every item, but they seem to know that
most high value items go via fedex or similar.

If possible, I would ask for it to be shipped by a slowish airmail (7-10
days) rather than the fast, but expensive UPS/Fedex or similar. Not only
is carriage cheaper, but it is far less likely to attract VAT. Fedex and
UPS will usually deliver the item before the duties are paid and send
you a bill later. If shipped by USPS, Royal mail will deliver it to your
door, but will want paying before they part with the goods.

Despite what one eBay seller is saying, declaring an item as a gift
(illegal anyway) does not ensure it does not get VAT. A friend was sent
something by his Sister and still had to pay for it. Neither do I
believe the story someone said on here a week or so ago that customs go
by the retail price of a product. As far as I am aware, customs are not
going to research the finest details on items, but only go on the
*declared value*. You can not insure anything for more than the declared
value, so if you get a dealer to declare its value to be small (many
will do this), not only is it illegal for them, but you are unable to
insure it.

Matt wrote:
Hello.

If I ordered camera equipment from the USA, to the value of #1700,
how much would it be after UK customs, VAT, etc?

Would the Canon warranty still be valid?

This is probably a very naive question, but here goes. Do you have to
declare what you take out of the country when you leave? If not,
what's to prevent you from visiting, buying a camera, then just saying
you brought it with you when you left? To avoid taxes, I mean. How
would they know the difference? You could mail the paperwork back in a
thin envelope, if necessary, and it'd look like no more than a letter.

--
You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill
the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the plate and give the
other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them
all. ~Earl Weaver