Customs Duty on imported hifi

There is a tax on used goods, yes.

 

jessus, just label the thing as warranty repaired and be done with it.

 

I bought a used headphone amplifier from a private seller in the US for $320 and got caught for £43.12 charges by Parcelforce. I've only been caught for charges twice out of maybe 8 - 10 imports, including an amplifier from China in a big wooden crate, which was not charged. The other item that was charged was a GPS receiver from Taiwan. I think some maybe shippers are more 'savvy' in filling in the paperwork, whereas my private seller in the US just put the truth. It might be cheaper in some cases to buy new than second hand!

 

I think the customs excise is a bit erratic.I have only been charged once for importing products and I have bought at least one or two things per year for the last 6 - 7 years. They recently charged me for cable that I bought about £12 on $450.

 

It is erratic indeed. The post office gets 1000s of international parcels a day and they can realistically only perform a spot check of those. If the parcel has clear and honest valuation paperwork attached, you're probably going to get stung though.

In my experience, the couriers who offer an end to end service (say UPS between the States and the UK) are more likely to charge you because they have greater visibility of the parcel contents/value.

Having said that, there is a potentially major benefit in using an end to end service and that is traceability. I once imported a guitar from the US using national postal services. The guitar got lost at port of entry for nearly 3 months - US Post would not take responsibility as they had a record of the parcel leaving the States and HMRC/UK Post wouldn't take responsibility as they had no record of the parcel entering the UK. Wonderful... I've stuck with end to end services for anything valuable ever since then.