Anyone bought wool from the US?

[Chocolateteabag]

I really like Juniper Moon Farm Cumulus Rainbow in Starry Night as used in this may I borrow this scarf on Ravelry

obviously - can’t find it in stock in the UK

has anyone bought wool from the US ? Am I going to get stung for customs charges on 1 ball of wool (I have found it on Etsy but going to see if I can find a US yarn seller who will send it)

this wool

I have bought yarn from the US and paid heavy customs duty and a handling fee (£8, not recently) on it.

Too late for me to check the figures but if your package is valued at £16 (£18?) or less, or £36 for gifts, no duty is due. If it’s more than that you pay duty on the yarn and the postage cost.

If your yarn is less than £16 you may find the shipping cost is more than the yarn.

I subscribe to a knit club and get a package every 2 months, cost about 42 dollars including p&p. Never any customs/handling charge.

I have also in the last 2 years twice bought yarn from a large company with free shipping, can't remember amount but would have been around £60, and again no customs/handling

Thank you both!

You've been very lucky, @raspberryrippleicecream ! I can't remember ever not being charged for US parcels, although I haven't bought from outside the UK for several years.

(Fondly remembers all the white packages of Wollmeise I used to get, in the days when we didn't get taxed on goods from Germany.)

@irredeemablyperfidious Not sure it is luck. I've had about 17 - 20 packages over the last 2.5 years. They go through customs each time. Gov.uk says goods under £135 aren't charged. Maybe it's changed?

Also had parcels from Amazon Germany and Spain recently with no customs charges

Yes, I've bought yarn from the US, and no VAT/customs charge if under £135 total.

There's no customs duty on goods if the total is less than £135, but you do pay VAT.

That link says there's no free limit except for gifts under £39.

People who haven't had to pay it are more fortunate than I am 😀

I regularly receive parcels from Sweden where I don't pay either tax, but that's because the company sending them has already done it.