Um... like in the subject line...
Does anyone know of a reliable and good value supplier of Nortons to the UK?
Cheers,
M.
Um... like in the subject line...
Does anyone know of a reliable and good value supplier of Nortons to the UK?
Cheers,
M.
Someone did once post a link to a UK supplier, but for the life of me I can't find it. It will be in the Hones subforum about 2-3 months ago.
Don't fall into the trap I did, which was to order from the US and get stung by VAT as well as ParcelForce's ripoff handling charge.
The UK supplier was more expensive than US, but even today's exchange rate does not offset the handling charge.
If you can find a supplier in Europe you might find it cheaper and you won't be stung for tax or handling. Good luck!
Mark
If you find it let me know will you mate cos I dont have time now to scour the forum as am revising for exams.
tnx.
TAX and VAT are mostly a hit or miss thing.
In Belgium the customs service only looks at some packages.
I bought my TM strop from the US (obviously) and I didn't have to pay taxes.
I should think that buying from howard is not a serious problem, since his nortons cost about 65 dollars or so.
My Norton from woodcraft wasn't taxed either.
I tried finding them locally, but there is noone in Belgium selling them, so I had to buy international regardless.
The UK customs are pretty on the ball. My strop from TM was taxed which was not a problem, as I'm not particularly concerned about avoiding tax (I pay it for goods bought in the UK, so why not goods or services abroad?), so it's easily affordable on TM strops (but maybe not so affordable on Robert's custom razors?). But what really hurt was the 'handling' charge that Parcelforce UK charge for fronting up for the tax due on your package.... a sort of financial services I guess. They charged something like £13 (US$25) for that.
Ouch. :rant:
And like an idiot I went back for more and got charged the same on some cologne I bought from a US online retailer.
Lesson learned (eventually). You don't buy from outside the EU unless you absolutely have to.
Mark,
So let me get this straight: They tax you, then charge you a fee for the work they did administering the tax? Isn't that what the tax is for in the first place? How about they just don't charge you the tax and save everyone a lot of grief? :D
Josh
It's even worse than that. Even if they decide not to tax you because the amount is too low (my TM strop flew under their radar) they charge you 10 euros for having looked at the package.
Then again, my 68 dollar norton did not come with additional costs, and neither did my 90 euro Tosuke razor. In Belgium it is really a 'luck of the draw' kind of thing.
I got my Norton 4000/8000 from www.executive-shaving.co.uk a couple of months ago. It doesn't show on their web site, or if it does I can't find it. You might want to send them an email.
Yea as above I got mine from executive shaving a few months ago.
It does not show up on their site but if u type in Norton into their search facility it should appear
I don't know about the first two, but I got mine from rutlands (from UK) without any problems.
Steven
I don't so much mind paying import custom charges, but what I really hate is how long they sometimes take to sort it out! I once had to wait ages for something to be delivered from the US: they help it for about a month while they sorted out the charges, and when they did sort it out I only had to pay about £4 customs charges (and then bloody £8 handelling charge :cen :cen :cen )
A whole bloody month for £4!!!! :cen
Steven
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by nerobot
I also used Rutlands for mine and they were very good, as well as the 4K/8K I bought a Norton flattening stone from them too - very useful and fairly inexpensive.
Got mine from john lloyd furniture. They were very good, but the price is quite high. Unfortunately, that is what we have to pay for these kinds of goods in the UK
Thanks everyone. Some good tips there!
By the way... I've bought many things from the US over the years, including tobacco (not more than 250g seems to work fine) and shaving paraphernalia... never been taxed yet. But, like anyone familiar with these islands, that doesn't mean that I don't live in fear of the excise man - he'll come down like a tonne of bricks when you least expect it just to ensure that you don't escape rip-off Britain.
M.
What's worse is they charge you the 17.5% VAT on the total, shipping charge etc. and not forgetting the 3-10% on average duty charge as well as the handling charge of either £8 or £13.50.
Then when they overcharge you it's like getting blood out of a stone trying to reclaim. I've been waiting months for a cheque. You have to pay the charges upfront and then reclaim or you don't get the item and risk more holding charges.
Ha! You're that scared of them you've even gone metric!!!!! C'mon man! Keep it imperial!!!! write three timesQuote:
Originally Posted by dragonthief
TON of bricks!
There...doesn't that feel better!?!?!?!
Don't forget the 250g instead of 1/2 lb.
:)