you know when you order things from US and tax is added by UK customs...

[fishie]

how do you find out how much it might be? is it ever worth sending for stuff?

It's a bit complicated. There's more information here Basically if your goods are valued at £18 or less you don't get charged anything; any more and you're liable for VAT and possibly customs duty, plus an administration charge from the Royal Mail.

thanks daisy. right so clothes are 12% + vat. it still sounds worthwhile given exchange rate. what pitfall am i missing?

it depends which carrier they send it with - they have different handling fees - generally the bulk of the charge for smallish orders.

i just ordered £50 worth of clothes (including postage - fees are charged on the total inc. post) and had to pay £11.50 in vat/duty/handling, of that £8 was royal mail fee. but i've had parcels via other couriers which had extortionate handling fees of closer to £20.

also it depends on whether you get caught - with some couriers apparently you're much more likely to get caught. i get most stuff sent from the states in flat rate envelopes (usps i think) which come via royal mail and i prolly get caught for charges on one in four or five (so i average out fees over all my orders and it's usually stil worth it).

hmm so it could be a plan. must go and do sums.