What is the best shipping option to use?

Shipping harddrive from US->UK

• I want to buy a 120Gb 7200RPM external firewire harddrive, preferably IBM. As a US citizen living in the UK what is the cheapest option? I don't need it immediately, so cheap shipping from the US seems to best way to go. None of the low price online dealers I saw in the US offer international shipping, so I'm thinking of shipping it first to a friend or my parents. When shipping from the US->UK, who should I use, how much will it cost, and what kinds of import tariffs should I expect? Do I need to pay VAT on the HD? If so, who pays these fees and how are they collected? Alternatively, is there a cheaper option for me to buy it locally? I couldn't find any online here that are less than $450, more than double the price in the US. Is there anything as useful as pricewatch.com for the UK? I pricewatch.co.uk didn’t help me much.

• Answer:

  Hi Jonathan! I’ll address your question as several parts so we can be sure to attend to them all. 1--- As a US citizen living in the UK what is the cheapest option? That of course will depend on the cost of the product plus any shipping or tariffs that get added. The Commenters below have done a good job at finding you an assortment of sources for comparison shopping purposes. Once you decide on the actual source of your product, then you can weigh the option of having it shipped from overseas vs buying for perhaps a higher initial cost locally but saving on the import taxes and shipping. 2---I'm thinking of shipping it first to a friend or my parents. When shipping from the US-UK, who should I use, how much will it cost? This is a REALLY good idea if you decide that the initial price savings are worth paying shipping first to your relative and then to you. I want to make a really strong point here however: DO NOT follow the advice of Sagwalla below! Pretending your new product is a used product and repackaging it to avoid duty and taxes is patently against the law. But simply having your relative put a new label on the box and filling out a customs declaration form (available at any post office) and sending it on to you, is perfectly acceptable. The US postal service offers overseas shipping. You would need to know the weight of the package to determine cost to ship to you from the US. That rate can be calculated here: http://ircalc.usps.gov/ UPS also offers international shipping. Their rate calculator is here: http://wwwapps.ups.com/servlet/QCCServlet?iso_language=en&iso_country=US And Fedex: http://www.fedex.com/servlet/RateFinderServlet?orig_country=US&language=english 3---What kinds of import tariffs should I expect? “ Goods are classified using the Customs Tariff in order to arrive at the rate of Duty. TheEU uses a ten digit coding and there are approximately 14,000 classifications” It appears the rate will be between 3% and 9% but you’d have to look up the exact classification. (I’ll follow up with where to find this info when I find it) 4--- Do I need to pay VAT on the HD? If so, who pays these fees and how are they collected? Yes, you will have to pay VAT on anything you import from the US. “…[VAT] is also charged on goods, and some services, that are imported from places outside the European Community (EC) and on acquisitions, and some services, received from the EC.” The rate is 17.5% http://www.hmce.gov.uk/forms/notices/misc-leaflet19.htm You will pay those fees. They are collected at the post office before the package is released to you. Note that product shipped from other EC countries have different rules that apply. You may do better to order from one of those. This site has a useful explanation of how VAT and Import duties are applied (easier to follow than the government sites) http://www.dhl.co.uk/duty_vat/print.html As far as your final question regarding cheaper sources, as you can see by the posts below, there do seem to be quite a number. I won’t rehash those for you. I’d suggest shopping around then doing the math to figure out your best deal. If shipping from the US, don’t forget to add the initial shipping cost to your relative and any state sales tax you might have to pay if your relative lives in the same state as the company you order from. Also don’t forget to do a currency conversion based on your credit card’s current exchange rate. Good luck – K~