buying from china to UK import duties ?

[Simon]

I'm thinking of buying some ink and cartridges from Alibaba, of course this all comes from china, what are import duties likely to be ? I can make a huge saving on ink for my printer but do not want to get stung with customs duties that make it too costly, I've never been able to find this sort of information so wonder if anyone has had previous experience ?

[baljemmett]

I'm thinking of buying some ink and cartridges from Alibaba, of course this all comes from china, what are import duties likely to be ? I can make a huge saving on ink for my printer but do not want to get stung with customs duties that make it too costly, I've never been able to find this sort of information so wonder if anyone has had previous experience ?

Legally, the situation is that you'll be liable for VAT on any consignments with values over £18, and Customs duty on anything worth more than £120 (unless the amount of duty is less than £7!).  VAT is obviously charged at the prevailing standard rate, whereas Customs duty can be all sorts of percentages based on the type of goods in question.  So depending on what sort of sums you're talking about you may be able to neglect duty entirely and just look at the VAT.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/buying.htm is a reasonable starting point for information, although I think you'll have to brave their helpline number to get a definitive answer (for instance, I can find "ink jet cartridge without print head" appears to be classification 3215 1100 00 in the Tarriff but not the actual rate of duty corresponding to that opaque identifier...)

... and of course, some foreign sellers are happy to mark things as gifts or having no value, even if you don't ask (e.g. a set of scope probes I bought from Hong Kong recently, although since they were £12 it made no difference).  Not that defrauding the taxman is to be recommended, naturally!

[mikeselectricstuff]

For most electronic stuff there isn't any duty.
Above  £18 you pay VAT on the declared goods value AND the  postage cost.
There is usually a handling fee that varies widely between carriers - GBP7 for Post Office, and up to GP20 for commercial couriers.

In  practice, the Chinese will often mark a low value without even asking, and unlike some US Ebay sellers (who seem paranoid that the Feds will bust their door down if they fill the form incorrectly) are usually happy to co-operate with any instructions.

[Kiriakos-GR]

I have other worries , some Greeks they had import HP print heads from China,
and most of them turned bad ..

I will suggest , to get an small quantity first as testing samples .
 

[Mechatrommer]

try to find a local dealer for that. if there is none, i suggest you become one

[Bored@Work]

Regarding defrauding the taxman. Don't think for a moment they are stupid. They know very well what it means when a large box from china with a customs declaration of "gift, $40 value" arrives. The only reason people sometimes get away with it is when they are overloaded and busy with bigger fish.

[Simon]

well it's two sets of refillable cartridges and 4 litres of ink, thats the smallest quantity the seller can supply, it works out at £180, I've never had duty problems before my rigol at £239 was delivered with no duty charges.

As for cheating the taxman: well if our soppy government told the bastard ink/printer manufacturers that they that cannot charge more than a certain amount for cartridges we'd all be happy.

I have two excellent printers and can print a lot of leaflets for a not for profit organisation cheaply if i get this ink. The cartridges are 30-40 pound each (rated for 1000 sheets) and are not even sold by some retialers

[Kiriakos-GR]

and are not even sold by some retailers

In this case , your are justified , move forward..  

[RayJones]

Wow, only 18 pounds.  

We can get away with hundreds (AUD) before customs get interested.

It is more likely to Happen with courier than mail deliveries though.

Bought heaps from Dealextreme, always about $100 mark, never a problem.

[Zero999]

Even if you're charged 17.5% plus handling, you're still going to be saving a lot of money.

£180 for 4 litres of ink sounds too good to be true, is that 1L of each colour or all black?

Let me know how it goes, if it's good, I might be interested in one of those printers.

[Simon]

yea if it's good ink it is a huge saving and the printers are very cheap and very good machines (the manufacturer actually states it will print 100'000 sheets)

[djsb]

I'm usually pleasantly suprised at the cost of importing stuff from abroad. The Pace soldering station I just bought from the states was charged £117 duty (2.7% duty + 17.5% VAT and a customs handling charge). I was expecting around £200 in charges. I'd go ahead and buy the ink. It may cost you less than you think.

David.

[Kiriakos-GR]

For my HP 970 , I get ink heads on ebay , close to the expiration date, and I do find them at sweat prices  

[GeoffS]

Wow, only 18 pounds.  

We can get away with hundreds (AUD) before customs get interested.

It is more likely to Happen with courier than mail deliveries though.

Bought heaps from Dealextreme, always about $100 mark, never a problem.

The limit before GST (VAT) is applied  is $A1000. You can get caught out if you import a number of items from the same source over a period of time, if it exceeds the $A100 limit, you can get hit with GST on it. (OZ GST is %10)

[Zero999]

yea if it's good ink it is a huge saving and the printers are very cheap and very good machines (the manufacturer actually states it will print 100'000 sheets)

Did you get the ink in the end?

If so was it any good?

[Simon]

not yet I'll hang on till mine nearly runs out, not got the cash lying around at the moment, having just got out of being in the red each month (well we'll see on the 15th of next month) I plan to stay there