Buying from UK

wildfire070

wildfire070

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Has anyone in the US bought a uke from the UK before and can tell me if there is any import duties/taxes? The uke is priced around $400 including shipping.

I've bought stuff from Thailand and Vietnam before and haven't been charged any fees but I haven't bought from the UK before and didn't know if that makes a difference.
 
I would talk to the seller about it. I bought a uke from Australia, and had to pay no import fees, etc. and it was about $900 US. Part of that was the fact that the builder/seller, Allen McFarlen, had some suggestions on how to keep US customs from giving it the eye. I don't know if it's any different buying a uke from the UK vs. Australia or Vietnam or Thailand.
 
Reading the customs info there seems to be a value of US$2500, under which there should be no duty payable. I also looked at the UK eBay site to see if any of the auctions for expensive ukes mention there would be duty, there wasn't.
Suggest the shipping documents indicate that it is:
2nd hand
For personal use
Valued under $1000
 
Last edited:
I recently bought a tailpiece from a seller in the UK and didn't have any additional charges. I'm in Los Angeles.
 
I just bought a uke from an individual in the UK and did not have to pay anything extra. It too was ~$400.
 
Thanks for all the input. I guess it all depends on how the seller fills out the forms and the customs agent checking the package.
 
Well, you lucky people. Going the other way, items arriving in the UK generally get held to ransom for 20% of the value, plus an inspection fee. I was lucky recently when a seller under-declared the value on the paperwork, and saved me a tidy sum. Generally though, I add about 25% to the cost of a uke to get the true price. I sometimes wonder if it would be cheaper to fly there and bring it back as hand luggage.
 
Well I certainly did, it went with dhs and a week after i received my uke, the bill arrived from DHL to get their money
Can't remember but it was like 15%
 
I had a new Chennell Archtop baritone and a bass sent from Bournemouth, UK. I had to pay the UPS driver 38.00 for brokerage fees to whomever handled the import paperwork.
 
Patrick Madsen said:
I had a new Chennell Archtop baritone and a bass sent from Bournemouth, UK. I had to pay the UPS driver 38.00 for brokerage fees to whomever handled the import paperwork.
Click to expand...

If you only paid $38 for a shipping agent to clear the two instruments through customs, there virtually was no import duty charged by Border Protection and Customs, particularly if the value of the shipment was below $2500.
 
YorkSteve said:
Well, you lucky people. Going the other way, items arriving in the UK generally get held to ransom for 20% of the value, plus an inspection fee. I was lucky recently when a seller under-declared the value on the paperwork, and saved me a tidy sum. Generally though, I add about 25% to the cost of a uke to get the true price. I sometimes wonder if it would be cheaper to fly there and bring it back as hand luggage.
Click to expand...

If your duty free allowance to hand carry or ship is high enough it wouldn't be worth it. Here in Oz, we can ship or carry in up to $1000 value with no tax, after that it is 10%. Last year when I was in the USA on vacation, I purchased 3 ukes. I gave one to each of the family that were travelling with me and saved a lot of money doing it that way.
You do have to check the custom regs carefully though. Once I imported a National Resophonic Guitar. These are duty free but electric guitars are not. The shipping agent tacked on the duty to the other fees. I told them to eat it as I made sure that the shipping info I had provided had mentioned the custom reg that allowed duty free import. I paid the small paperwork fee and suggested they get a refund from Customs. They did.
 
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