so how do you go about importing a pushchair?

[sillywmama]

I'm quite keen on the babyjogger GT double, due out in America in March. I don't want to wait until it arrives here in mid summer because DC2 will be well and truly here by then, but I have no idea how you might go about importing a buggy, or who from, or if it's prohibitively expensive. Any veteran buggy addicts able to give me a point in the right direction please? Cheers in advance :)

I know of people going via www.ishopusa.com and use www.letsgostrolling.com. Letsgostrolling have GT info on their site but only prices for the singles at the moment. I'd email them and ask about prices if they know them yet.

Otherwise try www.amazon.com and find someone who's willing to ship to th UK. What you have to do is go through as though you're ordering. If they won't ship to the UK, it'll just tell you that. If they will it will let you continue to the confirmation page. Orders fulfilled by amazon will shop an import deposit. This means you won't need to pay any extra in import fees/tax etc, but you may be able to claim that back if the import tax wasn't actually charged when going through customs.

Otherwise you could just start contacting US retailers to find out about prices and import charges.

To be perfectly honest, with Baby Jogger you may as well order here in the UK. I know someone who tried to beat the UK deliveries with the City Select but she ended up waiting longer for it to be shipped and we in the UK had ours sooner, plus we had the UK models meeting our safety standards. I am expecting the GTs in spring (probably April-ish) but if we don't have them, then the chances are the US won't have them either. They do tend to be released at the same time for both countries. Yes ours may sit on a ship a week longer but a US one still has to get to the shop and then to the UK. Plus you will ave the cost of shipping and import duties and still not have a Britsh safety approved pushchair.
Don't get me wrong. I import a fair bit but only products that aren't due here for a while. I don't see the point with Baby Jogger from my past experiences.

The UK GT single RRP should be £329 and the double RRP £549.

Just to add import taxes will be circa £100-120 ish with handling fee and I bet shipping is around $200 at least. I have been quoted $118 for shipping just for a very light stroller by letsgostrolling, so a GT double will be a lot more. They are a fab company to deal with though. I do use them when I need to.

thanks tiggy and ItsMyLastOne, I probably won't bother with charges like those! If I get to April and there's no sign of them coming for ages I've got a back up plan to try the MB Duet. I just want the pretty purple and orange GT I've seen online!! :)

I hate to disappoint but we aren't getting those colours. We are getting the grey/black and bamboo/black in the single. We are just getting the double in the grey/black (Shadow). It's because it costs an extortionate amount to safety test each colour way.

Oh no :( hmm back to plan A. I wonder if I could find a friend in the states to send it to me? Are safety standards really so different that it's not a good idea?

We do have different safety standards especially with regards to using fire retardant fabric etc. I am not sure getting a friend to send you one would make much difference in shipping or import duties. I would be surprised if a pushchair passes as a gift especially if in the proper box. But you can only try if colour is so important.

lol you probably think I'm being silly... but I get so bored with plain black pushchairs. It's pretty much the biggest baby expense I have this time round so I just wanted to have something a bit more fun this time. I'll let you know if I bother to do it!

I recently imported an uppa baby vista. Brought it via USA Amazon - really easy - they calculate all the taxes for you - so you can see the full costs immediately and the shipping was very cheap (10 - 15 dollors - think this was because it was direct from Amazon as other companies were really expensive as Tiggywunkle has mentioned). It arrived within a few days. Uppa Baby lets you register for their 2 year warrenty, so I saved over £150. I decided to go for it after seeing how many other mumsnetters were importing and some fab mumsnetter explained the differences between the USA and UK version (sorry I am a newbie so can't work out how to link but it was in the Uppa Baby Vista in Brighton discussion!)

Hope it works out for you :)

Yes amazon are much cheaper for shipping if they let you ship! I forgot that! You also can pay duties up front which saves on nasty surprises.