Digikey UK Orders

[logictom]

Can anyone help clarify what charges I'm likely to incur buying from Digikey?

On the site it states: "All prices are in British pound sterling and include duties." and also "All duties are paid by Digi-Key. VAT will be due at the time of delivery"

Does this mean I will be charged VAT by the delivery man but no import duty or handling fees?
Just want to check if it really will be cheaper ordering from Digikey, thanks.

[mikeselectricstuff]

On delivery you pay VAT, but this is VAT on the order value plus the notional value of the "free" shipping. Can't remember what this is. You don't pay brokerage etc.

[logictom]

That's great, thanks for the quick reply. Usually you get all the fees when you add to cart so I just wanted to double check.

[Psi]

you get charged VAT on the cost of the shipping which you didn't pay cos it was free to you??

[Bored@Work]

Be prepared that a few things can go wrong. Occasionally the carrier seems to forget what kind of agreement they have with digikey and try to charge for paperwork. Don't waste much time with the carrier then, but call digikey and ask them to kick the carrier in the butt. And there was a time where digikey didn't manage to print all the right INCOTERMS on the papers, causing overzealous customs to charge extra.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Be prepared that a few things can go wrong. Occasionally the carrier seems to forget what kind of agreement they have with digikey and try to charge for paperwork. Don't waste much time with the carrier then, but call digikey and ask them to kick the carrier in the butt. And there was a time where digikey didn't manage to print all the right INCOTERMS on the papers, causing overzealous customs to charge extra.

I've been ordering from Digikey & Mouser a couple of times a month for the last few years and have never had an issue with this, so probably a rare issue.
BTW always check pricing at DK, Mouser and Farnell as there are often significant differences.

[Ernie Milko]

I bought once from Digikey.
Never again. I got caned for a parcelforce handling charge, plus the VAT.
OK, so it may never happen again, but I don't really need the hassle.

[logictom]

BTW always check pricing at DK, Mouser and Farnell as there are often significant differences.

Yeah will do, my original order was with Mouser but a few hours after putting it through I got an email letting me know I couldn't have the development board I had ordered due to an EAR restriction. Why they put it on the UK site if they won't export it I'll never know...
Farnell and Digikey are pretty much the same price for the board, if I get some other bits they will be the deciding factor.

[orbiter]

I just placed my first order with Digi-Key.co.uk and noticed at the checkout that very same statement....

"All duties are paid by Digi-Key.
VAT will be due at the time of delivery."

I actually didn't notice that there was no VAT on the order at the time of purchase, but did notice the £12 shipping charge. As the order was only for £21 and only Digi-Key had the item In stock, I paid the £12. I also just assumed that D-Key had places in the UK as there website end's in .co.uk. Obviously not

So does this mean I'll be charged again now on the doorstep for the £6 VAT?

[jb]

Probably, thats how it is in Sweden at least.

[BurtyB]

So does this mean I'll be charged again now on the doorstep for the £6 VAT?

Yes and don't forget the fee for collecting the fee...

[mikeselectricstuff]

So does this mean I'll be charged again now on the doorstep for the £6 VAT?

Yes and don't forget the fee for collecting the fee...

No - it's just the VAT - Digikey pay the UPS fee.
But note that for >£50 "free shipping" orders, VAT is charged on the goods plus the notional value of the "free" shipping

[orbiter]

OK thanks guys.

Cheers for that Mike. 

Wonder if they'll forgo the £6 if I offer to pay it in 2 pence pieces Hehe j/k

[poorchava]

I've ordered from DigiKey 2 months ago and it was totally horrible.  Anyone noticed a difference between using UPS and FedEx as shipper? Granted Polish FedEx and customs interactions may be different than in UK, but for whatever reasons not only did it take almost 2 weeks (+obvious shitload of paperwork) to go through customs, they have also charged for processing those based on the total number of items on the invoice...

To to contrary, I've ordered PCBs from Elecrow with DHL shipping, and after 3-days from receiving 'item shipped' information I got a call from DHL saying that there's a package for me and they need to clarify the type of pcb to calculate the import duty and I had the package at my door on the very same day. Only thing that was charged was VAT.

Thumbs down to DigiKey & FedEx. Thumbs up to DHL.

If DigiKey built a decently stocked warehouse in EU and didn't charge additional fees from transfer of items from US to EU warehouse (read: not liuke the Farnell and Newark arrangement), they would completly own the hobbyist and low volume market in EU. Right now I design around the stuff that is available in Farnell whenever I can.

[Psi]

Sometimes i forget how good we have it in NZ / Aus.
In NZ with UPS/DHL/FedEx we only have to pay import tax if the goods value is NZ$334 or larger (the point when 15% tax is $50 and worth them collecting)
I think the limit is even more than $334 in Aus ( $1000 ? )

Since the digikey free shipping threshold is less than the above limits there's a butter zone where everything works perfectly. If i need more than $334 worth of parts i just order them as separate orders.

Also, in NZ if the item was sent normal slow mail (like stuff from china) it often gets through customs with no tax required no matter what the value is.
Well.. its often marked as gift from china anyway. but even when it is marked with the actual amount it slips through most of the time.
With regular postage customs only bother looking for drugs and stuff, if they inspect your package for drugs then they will check the price and request tax if its owed but otherwise it gets through.
If sent DHL/FedEx/UPS it will always get stopped for tax if over the above $334 limit, since the courier company does all the paperwork themselves.

[Polossatik]

I got also once burned by Digikey , had to get some (actually cheap) parts that where out of stock elsewhere and i was foolish enough to order them trough digikey instead of simply waiting (could have waited, was nothing critical)...

Seen they promoted "free shipping above 65€ i topped it up with some stuff for total of 70 ish (don't recall exact price) €.

which got me to a bit under 30€ of "VAT + fees to collect the VAT" ... lovely..

[that_guy]

Digikey UK seem to have changed the wording of their T's and C's for the better:

9. Taxes. Digi-Key will add VAT to products and services on your invoice. As a non-resident importer to the United Kingdom, Digi-Key will pay duty on all shipments in GBP and will be responsible to assess and submit VAT taxes on those shipments.

Can anyone confirm that this means that there will be no hassle ordering from them in the UK any more? I've got a basket ready to order with some components that I can't get anywhere else. I'll qualify for free shipping and don't want to be stung with hidden charges by the courier or HMRC.

[mikeselectricstuff]

There is no hassle (make sure you order from the UK site though - there used to be issue sif you ordered from the US one).
VAT is added at checkout, same as Farnell etc

[jc101]

I *think* with both Digikey and Mouser if chose the default courier all is OK, if you chose an alternate from the list things might be different. 
Some stuff from Digikey arrived a few weeks ago without any problem.

[splin]

There is no hassle (make sure you order from the UK site though - there used to be issue sif you ordered from the US one).
VAT is added at checkout, same as Farnell etc

But beware the exchange rates Digikey use - for example an OPA637AP-ND costs £18.1 on the UK site but only $25.84 on the US site. At the current exchange rate of $1.564 to £ thats 9.5% more expensive! So depending on your bank charges for paying in dollars and any additional customs handling charges by the carrier, you may be better off ordering from the US site.

If it is possible to pay using Transferwise - I've had very good experiences using them - you can virtually eliminate the foreign exchange charges.

[mikeselectricstuff]

There is no hassle (make sure you order from the UK site though - there used to be issue sif you ordered from the US one).
VAT is added at checkout, same as Farnell etc

But beware the exchange rates Digikey use - for example an OPA637AP-ND costs £18.1 on the UK site but only $25.84 on the US site. At the current exchange rate of $1.564 to £ thats 9.5% more expensive! So depending on your bank charges for paying in dollars and any additional customs handling charges by the carrier, you may be better off ordering from the US site.

If it is possible to pay using Transferwise - I've had very good experiences using them - you can virtually eliminate the foreign exchange charges.

UK prices include import duty, which may account for some difference. Also it's possible that UPS brokerage fees are hidden in the prices.

[that_guy]

Cheers Mike, I'll go ahead with the order from the UK site. A few months ago I ordered some stuff from their US site because it wasn't available anywhere else and it was a total nightmare getting delivery. After a communications failure between the courier's head office where I paid the (very high) fees over the phone and the driver who still thought I owed them and was looking for COD the package almost got sent back to digikey who basically just shrugged and pointed me back to the courier. Eventually after an angry exchange with the courier head office they phoned their driver and got him to come back and give me the package. Never again will I use their foreign site.