Hi All -
We are excited to announce that we signed the high end fashion retailer Avenue32 as customer.
Avenue32 makes use of DutyCalculator managed product classification services and DutyCalculator API to embed accurate import duty & taxes calculations within the checkout, to offer a Duty Delivery Paid (DDP) service to their customers.
Happy calculating!
Andre & The DutyCalculator Team
Hi All -
We just launched a free import duty & tax calculator for eBay listings.
As eBay seller, you can add the free DutyCalculator eBay plugin to your eBay listings so your international customers can estimate any import duty & taxes due with one click.
Your international customer will be able to make informed purchase decisions with the eBay plugin and avoid any unpleasant surprises. For you as an eBay seller, there will be less queries, less negative feedbacks and less returned items.
The DutyCalculator eBay plugin collects automatically all relevant information from your listing to make an accurate estimate. DutyCalculator covers over 45 countries, and more are added every month.
The DutyCalculator eBay plugion is free. Just copy paste the HTML code from here into your eBay listing.
We hope you like it!
Andre & the DutyCalculator Team
Freebord just added the DutyCalculator Checkout Widget to their site. Now international Freebord customers can make confident purchase decisions with accurate estimates of import duty & taxes displayed at checkout.
Go here for an example.
Freebord A-team in Austria: The Out-of-Towners from Freebord Mfg. on Vimeo.
Freebord uses a Yahoo store and the widget was added with little effort. Thanks to Istvan of YTimes Yahoo Store Development for helping us with this.
Happy bundling!
Andre
Les Paul Standard 2010 Limited
Rock n Roll! This blog post will delight guitar maniacs: guitars are one of hottest products on the DutyCalculator.
Electric and acoustic guitars are what people search from the USA and, let’s admit that, finding import calculations for a Gibson Les Paul with a value of £ 3,500 or a Fender Stratocaster for £ 1,500 is no surprise to us. We all share the dream.
So what are the pros of buying a guitar in the USA?
Cheaper prices make it cheaper to buy a guitar from the USA, and this holds true even if we include shipping, import duty and VAT costs. Not to mention the fact that Music123 and Musician’s Friend broadcast daily bargains and their discount coupons are scattered all over the Web.
Last but not least, guitar enthusiasts get a brand new boxed guitar. One that no one else has ever played with. Priceless.
Let’s be pragmatic and iron out the cons as well. You cannot try your brand new guitar before the purchase and you have no after-sale service. Also, what if your beloved guitar gets broken on its way to its final destination? Returning a guitar from UK to the USA could be a real pain.
On this, guitar lovers might consider BundleBox repack service and return insurance. The repack service ensures that the guitar is extra protected during transit and the return insurance provides a free of charge return. Indeed you can buy with confidence. This is melody to our ears!
Rock n Roll!
Import duty and VAT tax code and calculation
Moving away from the melodic tunes, guitars have different HS import duty codes.
9207901000 is the HS code for an electric guitar, 9202903000 is for an acoustic guitar and, last but not least, 9207901000 categorizes a bass.
3.7% is the import duty tax rate for an electric guitar and a bass. The acoustic guitar enjoys a lower import duty rate of 3.2%.
Let’s now spec out how to calculate import duty and VAT with an example.
Let’s suppose we want to buy an electric guitar for $ 2,000. Delivery cost from the USA to UK is around £ 100. Let’s suppose the repack service and the return insurance amount is £ 20.
First, we will convert $ 2,000 into £ by using the official exchange rate for import duty and VAT calculations at 1.5402 USD to 1 GBP (calculation made on May 2010). Therefore $ 2,000 convert into £ 1,299. To compute the customs value we add the price of the guitar, the shipping cost and the insurance cost: £ 1,298 + £ 100 + £ 20 = £ 1,418 . We then multiply the customs value by the import duty rate for electric guitars, that is 3.7% : £ 1,418 x 3.7% = £ 52.5
We then calculate the import VAT to UK by adding the customs value and the import duty : £ 1,418 + £ 52.5 = £ 1,471 . Import VAT rate to UK is 17.5% (as of May 2010), therefore the import VAT is £ 1,471 x 17.5% = £ 257.
The landed cost of an electric guitar from the USA to UK with repack service and return insurance is £ 1,708 (£ 1,418 + £ 52.5 + £ 257).
Happy playing
A (metal) DutyCalculator Team
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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!!
Keep up!!! We rough guys at the DutyCalculator support you!!
Richie in action. Great!
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)
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.
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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The recent release of Google’s Nexus One phone has been met with mixed feelings amid reports of poor Customer service and bugs affecting certain functions; but, one thing is certain, it’s a nice piece of kit and there’s huge interest in the UK with people scrambling to be among the first to own the latest gizmo.
Whilst the Nexus One will eventually become available through Vodafone, the launch date has yet to be confirmed, so buyers are looking to the States where the phone is already available (and cheap) – but, the one question affecting that decision to purchase from abroad remains ‘What import taxes will I have to pay ?’. We’ve seen a range of rates put forward in various chat forums….so we’ve decided to put the record straight, here and now…. !
Currently, HM Revenue & Customs consider the ‘essential character’ of the Nexus One (and the iPhone for that matter) to be that of a mobile phone.
So what ? You ask. Well, it’s good news for you technology addicts….mobile phones are duty free on import into the EU ! (But please beware, you will still have to pay import VAT calculated on the sum of the price of the phone + shipping + insurance).
The ‘essential character’ really does work in your favour (sometimes); for example, stand alone Sat Nav’s attract duty at 3.7% and you’d have to pay a whacking 13.9% import duty on a DVD player, but you can ship a mobile complete with GPS application and video playback function and its’ still classified by Customs as a mobile phone – duty free – happy days !
So, what better reason to get on line and get to the front of the queue for that latest ‘must have’ smart phone.
Sean
DutyCalculator.com | Taking the guesswork out of import duty
Just so you are all aware, HMRC have announced the following changes to the de minimus levels for the collection of import duty into the UK from outside the EU as of 1st Jan 2010.
1. Duty of £ 9.00 or less will not be collected (amended from £8.00)
2. Goods of a value (excluding freight & Insurance) of £135.00 or less will be admitted duty free (amended from £120.00), but VAT remains payable.
Every little bit helps. Happy bundling
Andre
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