Thread: Stung for tax importing to uk?

Even if you do have to pay full duties and brokerage fees for Tony's stuff, you'll still be saving cash over the local equivalent. I think they do these checks randomly. AFIK shipments below 30GBP will be more likely to fly under the radar. Unfortunately we only get half of your leeway at about 30CAD.

Yes UK Customs people are very Wiley and resourceful when it comes to extracting every pound out of their citizens. There are precautions when shipping into the U.S but going your way the old gift trick doesn't work anymore. You can declare for a fraction of the shipments worth but if its lost your out the shipment and if they do a random check you might get a visit from your Customs Agents.

Originally Posted by nickyspaghetti

I know it just seems absurd that there are no shaving shops in the UK which have a really broad range, all you find is the same items in every shop. Anybody from the uk that knows different, please let me know!
Maybe it would be less worrying if i knew how much tax this would be, so i don't have to worry about it being double the value of the items!

If your looking for something different that you can't get in most shaving UK shops, you can try www.rjoutram.com, which supplies TGQ shaving soaps and creame that you could only get from UK before.

For your origonal question, yes, getting stuff sent from US to UK can be very expensive (e.g. postage, tax, VAT), but sometimes it's the only way of getting really good stuff. Plus with the exchange rate being what it is, you can still get some really good deals.

My advice would be: if your just getting some small stuff, get from UK/EU, but if you want something really good/expensive, get it from US.

Just my thoughts,

Steven

I've bought quite a bit of stuff from the states and have not been stung that often. I bought a couple of Tony's strops for about $100 (cant remember exactly how much) which is about £50 and the customs put and extra £25 on top of that for my troubles. Its not only the tax but they charge you a processing fee for the privilege of them going through your stuff.

One of the reasons I haven't been stung too much is that I always ask the vendor to send it as a gift which most people will do. Then as its of low value and small size, customs normally ignore it. Thankfully, razors are the type of thing that are often sent as gifts.

So for one off things of quality like Tony's strops you'll probably have to bite the bullet, but as everything is a rip off in England anyway, its not that much more to pay and you do get a genius bit of kit.

Originally Posted by nickyspaghetti

What is the average price of delivery? I was thinking of ordering a razor and a paddle strop from you but was unsure of the details in ordering from abroad.

A complete set now runs around $20-22 depending on final weight. A strop alone w/razor maybe $16. This would be to the UK, AU and Germany. Canada is a bit cheaper, maybe $13 to $18

These are actual costs from the Post Office.

Tony