Listening to our customers is key to our business

Hi All -

It’s been a while since we made updates to the DutyCalculator, but today we are making up for it. Here is what’s in store for you, with today’s launch:

- Improved calculation results page, with clear explanatory notes

- Ability to edit your calculation, so no need to reenter all your data

- Ability to share the calculation results on Twitter, Facebook, via a web-link or email.

- View what the world is importing and browse the duty rates

We hope you like it and it was worthwhile the wait. Let us know what you think!

Andre

A kite... in the thin air

Kids, this is a great tale from Ireland.  The title is: in the thin air.

Richie is a cool guy from Ireland who plays hard.  In fact, he recently started kiting and landboarding.   He is indeed a prospective prince of the air.  He learns fast and his kite has soon become too small.

Kites are good value in the USA and one day Richie decided to go for a bigger power kite.  He did purchase the kite in the USA but…
… ohhh my god!!

Customs officials (in the customs den) mis-read the value of the kite and added one zero to the value on the shipping invoice.

Richie though he could not handle the mighty customs officials and asked for help on boards.ie.

A mysterious Rudolf289 and the DutyCalculator Team provided immediate assistance:

Kite has HS code 9503009990 and its import duty is nil.  NIL!
However, if you are importing a ‘landboard’ as well, the HS code becomes 9506999000 and the import duty rate becomes 2.7%.

Therefore, if you are importing a kit, there is nothing much that you can do.  The import duty rate of a kit with a kite AND a landboard is 2.7%.

The solution is to import a kite and a landboard as single distinct items, bundle them up and get 0% on the kite and 2.7% on the landboard.  For an  easy calculation on import duty and VAT, here we are.

Check BundleBox for an easy shipping from the USA and if you need an estimate on the shipping cost of the 2 separate items bundled in a single delivery.

Richie then contacted the customs office (den) and found out that … hey, the customs officials are not that bad!!  They acknowledged that the amount on the shipping invoice was not clear and that they added a zero.

Richie is now looking forward to trying his new power kite at the Curragh where Master Luby (the instructor) is waiting for him.

Happy ending!!

Happy ending for Richie. Well done!!


Thanks to Richie for sharing his story (and pictures) with the DutyCalculator!  Have fun with your new power kite, dude!  And let us know how it all works out!!

Keep up!!!  We rough guys at the DutyCalculator support you!!

Richie in action. Great!



The DutyCalculator Team
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The envelope, please...

Wow! Our heartbeat is pounding! What a race!

Today a cool friend of us showed up in the office with a … well, I would say ‘big’ camera cannon. Or cannon camera. Whatever. She explained that the lenses make it ‘bigger’. A big thing, indeed.

Camera and camera lenses are hot categories on our beloved Duty Calculator. Thus the question: which are the most expensive lenses that are searched on the route from USA to UK?  (and yes, we know that the route is disrupted because of the volcano activity right now, but it will be back soon, no?)

It took a while to get the answer. We had to pull the raw data, open an excel spreadsheet (which crashed a couple of times) and… the winners are…

(1) First, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G with a query value of $ 2,000 (£ 1,300)
(2) Second, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS with a query value of $ 1,900 (£1,233)
(3) Third, Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS with a query value of $ 1,610 (£1,039)

Nikon 70-200mm and Canon EF 70-200 are soooOOO close. Less than £70 difference!

... the winner is: Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G with a value of $ 2,000 (£ 1,300)


Actually, the most expensive query that we find in camera lenses category is a Carl Zeiss professional bundle, but given that it is a bundle, we decided to leave this out of the competition. The user ran a query for $ 3,800 (roughly £ 2,500).

IMPORT DUTY HS CODE AND TAX RATE ON CAMERA LENS
A camera lens has a HS code of 9002110090 and an import duty tax of 6.7%.

IMPORT DUTY AND VAT AND LANDED COST CALCULATION
How much would it be to buy the winner online in the USA and import to the UK?
Easy!  Here comes another cool example of import duty and VAT calculation.  Ready?  Go!  First we calculate the customs value:  price of the item in USD + shipping cost (check the BundleBox for a more precise shipping estimate) + insurance cost = $ 2,000 + $ 50 + $ 0.00 = $ 2,050.00.  Then we convert USD into GBP using the official rate of 1.4913 USD to GBP (the official rate changes on a monthly basis, this rate is for April 2010).  Therefore USD 2,050.00 divided by 1.4913 equals GBP 1,374.64 .  Finally we multiply GBP 1,374.64 times the import duty rate for camera lenses that is 6.7% = GBP 92.00 and this is how much import duty we will have to pay.

Now it is time to turn to import VAT.  2,050.00 + 92.00 = GBP 1,466.74 and this is the import VAT value.  We then multiply GBP 1,466.74 time the import VAT tax rate for UK that is 17.5% =  GBP 256.68.  Awesome!! Total charges for import duty and VAT = GBP 348.78 .

The landed cost from the USA to UK a  Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G is GBP 1,723.42 (price of the item GBP 1,374.64 + import duty GBP 92.00 + import VAT GBP 256.68).

After so much workout, we are sweating.  Easier to turning to the DutyCalculator, what do you think?

Happy shooting!

A worn-out Duty Calculator Team
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Memory Foam pillow

What topic might work better than pillows to start off this Monday morning?

… zzz… zzZZZzz…  zZzz….zzzZZZz…..zz…z….

If sleep is important, good sleep is of outmost importance. That’s probably why pillows made with Memory Foam are such a hot product on the DutyCalculator on the route from China to UK.

We learn on Wikipedia that Memory Foam is a fantastic type of polyurethane that mold to a warm human body in minutes. And that it was initially developed by NASA to improve the safety of aircraft cushions.

Wow!  Sleeping on one of these pillows must be amazing.

The import duty rate for pillows is 3.7%.

Have a great start of the week!

A sleepy DutyCalculator team
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Steve Jobs on the cover of the Economist

Ok, I think we refused to cover the iPad in our previous post. And in fact we covered wedding and prom dresses.

An outraged iPad called us the last night.

<•>  The iPad said: “Hey, hey, you rough guys from the Duty Calculator, hey, don’t you see how hot I am? Everybody wants me. How can I get your attention?”

-/\-  your humble DC team replied:  ”Indeed, iPad, you are cool. Point is, iPad, you are too cool for us, simple human minds. Why do you still bother us? Why can’t we go back to our routine of import duty rates and HS codes?”

-/\-  your humble DC team continued:  ”We already did everything that you requested. Not only did we secure a favorable duty-free status, but we also created a category called ‘Apple iPad’. The path to select you, iPad, on the Duty Calculator is:
1) Product category ‘Consumer electronics’
2) Product subcategory ‘Computers and Peripherals’
3) Product ‘Apple iPad’.

<•> The iPad said: “I want more. I want my name in the Product category. It has to be renamed ‘Consumer electronics AND iPad’! Can’t you see that your users are confused? Can’t you see that they run their calculations for iPad in the iPod category?”

<•> The iPad continued:  ”That is wrong! iPod with video capabilities has an import duty rate of 13.9%,  the iTouch an import duty rate of 13.2%.  I am DUTY FREE! My import duty is nil. NIL! This is outrageous, because of you, humans compare me to an iPod! I call an iPad for an iPad!”

-/\- your DC team replied:  ”All right. All right. You got a point after all. We are going to give you the Product subcategory, ok? We are going to rename it ‘Computers, iPad and Peripherals’, ok? How does this sound?”

It probably sounded unfair. The iPad never replied.

Happy (humbly) bundling…

The DutyCalculator team
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Wedding rings

Brides, grooms and maids are warming up and their queries for wedding and prom dresses outnumber the queries for iPad on the route from the USA to the UK.  We are rough guys but we love it!

This is no wonder if we consider that the number of marriages registered in England and Wales must be around 230,000 per year.  At least it was in 2008 according to the Office for National Statistics.

Still, weddings cast their spell on all of us, besides what’s more romantic than a clear day to celebrate such an unforgettable moment?

Indeed it is possible to plan a wedding without going broke and without compromising on the quality of the dress. With a little work and investigating her options, the bride-to-be can find that perfect dress at a reasonable price.  One good idea for many DutyCalculator users is to look overseas where the assortment is broader, price ranges wider and some dresses might not even be available to the UK.  So let’s the balls begin!

The bride-to-be will be unique in her ivory J.Crew Silk taffeta Wedding dress.

J.Crew Wedding dress


Bridesmaids will impress the audience in their Kay Unger New York Evening gowns.

Kay Unger New York Evening gown


When buying Wedding and Prom dresses online we suggest to ask for and double-check the exact measures before submitting the order to make sure that the dress will fit properly and to avoid expensive alterations.   Moreover, we suggest to plan your purchase in advance and make sure that the dress will arrive with plenty of time to spare before the event.

IMPORT DUTY AND VAT.  Back to roughness, remember that import duty and VAT are due if you plan to buy your Wedding and Prom dresses in the USA.  Wedding and Prom dresses have different HS codes according to the material they are made of.   However, no matter whether you buy a dress of silk, cotton or other material, an import duty of 12% is calculated on all Wedding and Prom dresses.  Bride’s veils do have an import duty of 12% as well.  Handkerchiefs for silver tears of happiness have an import duty of 10%.

EXAMPLE OF IMPORT DUTY  AND VAT CALCULATION.  We daily reply to many questions regarding how to compute import duty and VAT.  Therefore we have a whole section on the DutyCalculator about import duty and VAT calculations.  Moreover, we post an example on wedding dresses here.  Let us know whether this helps.

The price of the J.Crew wedding dress that we featured is USD 695.  Let’s say the shipping cost to UK is USD 100 (for a precise shipping estimate).  We first compute the customs value that is USD 695 + USD 100 = USD 795.  We then convert USD into GBP by using the official exchange rate of 1.4913 USD to 1 GBP (April 2010).  That makes USD 795 divided by 1.4913 = GBP 533.  We then compute the import duty by GPB 533 x 12% = GBP 64.

We then compute VAT (for the UK the rate is 17.5% in 2010).  (GBP 533 + GBP 64) x 17.5% = 104.5 GBP

Total landed cost equals 701.5 GBP (533 GBP + 64 GBP + 104.5 GBP)

Happy dreaming!

The DutyCalculator Team
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