To hope that Amazon U.S. will ship to the UK?

[Flossyfloof]

I need to replace some of my much-loved cutlery and have found its really expensive (I think so, anyway) . I have found it on the U.S. Amazon site- will they ship to the UK? I have bought from Amazon France before with no problem.
I was a bit shocked a while ago when I bought some earrings from Etsy and was charged another £20 customs. Do you always get charged customs On goods from the U.S.?

It depends how much customs think the package is worth.
I have ordered things from Amazon.com and have had both charged and uncharged parcels with no rhyme or reason to tell which was which.

They do ship to the UK, I order loads from Amazon US. If you are logged in most items now tell you how much it will cost.
I don't think I have ever been charged a customs charge but most items I order are fairly low value. As someone mentioned customs is hit and miss, I am always ordering from the US eBay and it seems to be really random what gets a customs charge.

Whether they ship to the uk or not is often up to the seller.

You would have to pay import duty and VAT. From the Ebay site (same rules apply to any online purchase from the USA)

"If you buy goods online from outside the EU for delivery to the UK, you’ll have to pay Customs Duty (if over £120 value) and Import VAT (if over £18) on top of the purchase price (including duties), though Customs Duty is waived if the amount of the calculated duty payable is £7 or less. Please note there is also an £8 Parcel Force Fee for collecting the Import VAT. "

So at the very least, you'd pay an extra 20% VAT on the top of the purchase price and postage.

Ok thank you very much, that's really helpful for working out real cost.

Do you always get charged customs On goods from the U.S.?

'Fraid so!

I don't mind paying - just wish the process was less stupid. Only a few suppliers offer the chance to pay upfront. Instead most of the time you have to wait till your stuff has been examined then wait for RM to send you a bill (in the post), then pay the ransom. Why can't I just have a "it's a fair cop,let me pay now" option?

Just been sent a gift from the US and have a customs charge to pay - £8 of it admin for the post office 😳

There are customs charges, expect them, but Amazon.com are very good at shipping to the UK. DH and DD are comic book fans, some stuff they want only comes from the US.

Whenever I order from Amazon.com I pay customs upfront. That's to Ireland but I think it works the same if buying from the UK. Amazon charges a fee for duty and postage, then pays the customs charge from that. The fee Amazon show you on the final page after you input your address, should be the very most you pay. It's the same as Ebay's Global Shipping Programme. Occasionally you will be over charged for duty and they will refund you the difference a few weeks later but that doesn't happen often.

One weird thing I have found, is that as duty is often charged in percentage increasing increments, if you are buying multiple items it can work out cheaper to buy them separately. I'm used to buying multiple items from the same buyers together to save on postage but when buying from outside the EU this can be more expensive. So play around with how you put things in your basket and work out if making multiple orders is less expensive as ime, it usually is.

Sometimes. I'm a huge nail art fan and am able to get some items from Amazon.com but not everything. I'm desperate to get a steady supply of Simply Peel Latex Barrier but nowhere ships to the UK. Instead I have to rely on friends in the States or Canada ordering it for me then stocking me up when they're back in the UK. Not ideal but it really is the best out there!

Luckily I can get my most used polishes and base coat from the site so all is not lost.

YABU to be posting this in AIBU

Time on your hands, Trills?

Yes thanks :)

Lucky girl! Have a nice day and enjoy this lovely weather