HOW Much to inport from the USA to the UK!

So a few years back I got a prize from AdaFruit in a photographic competition of a $30 gift voucher. I knew that the shipping would make it difficult to do anything with it but last week I ordered something that was not in stock in the UK. To make things simple I will assume that $1.00 = £1.00, it is heading that way anyway.

So device = $35 - gift voucher = $5.00
Freight to the UK by UPS = $29.00

Import tax charged by UPS = $11.68 ( although by my calculations it should have been just under $8.00 )
Brokerage charged by UPS = $11.00 ( fee for collecting the tax )

So in all I am charged $52.00 for my effective $5.00 device. And that is before my credit card rips me off another fee for the $34 I paid in U.S. dollars.

I can't afford to win any more competitions in the near future. :frowning:

LOL UPS is infamous for thier "brokerage" charges.
I avoid them as much as I can.

"I can't afford to win any more competitions in the near future. :frowning: "

LOL

Maybe next time you could asked for a wall plaque instead of a gift certificate.

Let's see your winning photo.
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UPS is absolutely horrible. (same with FedEx)

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LarryD:
UPS is absolutely horrible. (same with FedEx)

I don't agree, I have been dealing with FedEx since a while
recently from Japan, Corea, Hong Kong, CasaBlanca, Dubai
and it has always been an excellent and super fast service

I got a parcel from the USA today, Miami California
& I paid 22 euro customs plus 5 euro to FedEx dude
5 for the service, 27 total on a declared value of 90

so, 22 euro instead of 19.8 euro, I don't care the diff
it won't make me rich :smiley:

Yes, that kind of stuff is killing me on international sales.
US Postal Service used to charge $5.15 for a small flat rate ship anywhere box.
That's now up o $33.95 for most places (Canada & Mexico a bit cheaper), while many countries charge Import Tax or VAT or Duty or something, and just makes it not worthwhile to buy from the US. My next option is weight-based "package" that ships in 3-4 weeks,with $13.50 being the lowest cost. While China apparently has subsidized shipping and ships their stuff worldwide for free! Doesn't seem fair.

LarryD:
Let's see your winning photo.

I assume this is some kind of algae.

Or, maybe suspenders :wink:

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It is a spirogyra, it was a competition for photographs taken with the Raspberry Pi so it is a spirogyra
It is a plant that has sex, passing packages of cells between plants. Spirogyra - Wikipedia
I built the microscope adapter myself.
More from it here:-
Raspberry Pi camera attached to a microscope on Vimeo

Or, maybe suspenders

In English English those are not suspenders, they are braces. These are suspenders:-

In American English, that's a Garter Belt.

Suspenders are for holding pants/trousers/slacks up.

In Canada, that is WOW!

Or better still a thigh gap.

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When I want stuff in a timely manner from China, namely batches of PCBs from IteadStudio, I have them sent DHL.

Anything else - well, anything else I don't order from China. I use Digikey, Mouser, DipMicro, Avnet, Pololu, Sparkfun, Adafruit - and TaydaElectronics for some passive parts, which arrive from Colorado oddly, tho the ordering site is Bangkok, Thailand.

Point of order those fine looking legs are wearing sussies (suspenders) and getting ones hand to the small section above the stocking top is such a turn on cos you are almost at the PONR ( permission permitting) I think they are called suspenders because of the suspense in getting there.
My theory and Im sticking with it...

Ok more mundane but...

Had lots of luck with FedEx and DHL.
Have sent items back after getting notices from UPS with "brokerage" fees that were double the price of the item.
Never seen those fees with FedEx.

Shoulda sold it on ebay.

travis_farmer:
I wonder why importing something from China to USA is so cheap...

Although, i must admit, their shipping is a little slow. some call it the "slow boat from china". but i think it is more of a row boat.

I haven't ordered anything for a while, and yet i still get stuff from china, that i almost forgot i ordered.

~Travis

United States doesnt charge tarrifs on imports, the UK does.

"United States doesnt charge tarrifs on imports"

Not yet :wink: Gina!

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Hi,
Fortunately I don't have the legs for it.


But I buy these 3 at a time and it costs me the price of 4, thats the only way to make them worth buying with high postage from the US to Australia.

Yes I buy the Fireman Red ones just to hold my trousers up.

Tom... :slight_smile:

CrossRoads:
, Adafruit - and TaydaElectronics for some passive parts, which arrive from Colorado oddly, tho the ordering site is Bangkok, Thailand.

I have had stuff from Malaysia to UK which also seems to make a stopover in Colorado.

TomGeorge:
Yes I buy the Fireman Red ones just to hold my trousers up.

No you don't. You buy them to stop your trousers from falling down. :slight_smile:

"No you don't. You buy them to stop your trousers from falling down. :-)"
Is this a Northern/Southern hemisphere joke?

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