Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

Got a package on the way from USA, sent by "USPS priority mail international parcels".

Site says it is supposed to take 6-10 days. But it's not here, and I've heard nowt from anybody demanding money from customs.


Here is track from USPS website
So .org experts, where's my parcel?

Can I track through UK customs or something?

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

Dunno

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

Looks like it only got as far as Reno, Chris. Sorry can't really help.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

Sorry! Ignore me.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

Huh? trace after that is in LA, after that it says it is outside USA.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

It's probably stuck in customs, which in my experience could take up to a couple of weeks, which could mean that you're in for a hefty customs charge.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

+1

The hold-up is almost certain to be Customs. We had to pay tax and a charge from the UK carrier this end for our rearsets. Not very much, a total of less than £20 quid.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

+1

Took almost three weeks for my sheepskin to get here from Alaska


But you may well not get hammered with customs, depends on the item

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

Thats all its tracked to on there site, once its left USA its not tracked on there site. Use parcel force.

there

http://www.parcelforce.com/portal/pw...mber=1&start=1

It will update, check every few days.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

Parcelforce normally get things from the US. Use their website and put your tracking number into it and they will give you a UK tracking number.

If there are charges on it, you should get a letter telling you to pay £... before they release the parcel, but this doesn't always hapen.

get your tracking number and ring your local depot.

EDIT: See above post.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

You're lucky - customs charges are often quite high. They charge the import duty, which is a percentage of the item's value, then they lob VAT on top of the whole lot.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

This is all there is on parcelforce website

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

It will update, been there before, its frustrating waiting though.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

As said already; keep an eye on the parcel farce (sic) site.
I got my 400/4 forks from Arizona and got all nervy but they turned up fine.
No customs charge as the clever chappy made sure they were described as 'used parts'; which they were :)

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

You're going about it all wrong....

The trick is to ship to a mate in the US and then have them send it to you marked as a "Gift" using their home address as the sender.
No taxes and never gets hung up in customs.


Not that I would have any experiance in that sort of thing....:-dd
Wouldn't be right to cheat the Crown out of it's fair share of taxes.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

If it's worth more than £36 you still have to pay customs fees, unless you declare it's value as less than that

Of course that does mean if they lose it the maximum insurance payout you'll get is the gift limit of £36

And if they open it anyway (and given the number of people who think the gift scam still flies they're probably more likely to open a "gift" than a correctly labeled package) and find an invoice and new goods they'll be charging you customs fees and possibly getting their US partners in crime to have a word with the "mate"...

Good plan though, I'm amazed nobody's thought of it before...;)

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

I bought an Exhaust from the US... it took a very long time to get here.

I was given a tracking number and for some reason it was hled for nearlly a week at an airport dispatch centre in the US, then again in the UK.

Didnt have to pay any import tax on it though.

It a busy period for mail between the states and the UK in general.... part of my delay was independance day holidays.

I wouldnt worry.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

Yeah,got some bike stuff from the USA(california)at the beggining of the year....took around 14 days to arrive iirc.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

There is 'non gift' ways of avoiding having to pay tax as well. Bit late I guess if its on its way but if your interested in future PM me.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

I ordered diamond earrings from the US for my wife as they were half the price, but obviously still one hell of a value so I was nervous, but I phoned the credit card company and they said I was protected by them if the goods didn't turn up or turned out to be fake (not as described). They turned up within a week and a jeweller here certified them as a nice pair of diamonds to the grade specified, so all good. Did have to pay customs, but at half the price of buying here, that was peanuts.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

It's unusual to pay import duty however you will have to pay vat on the price of the item including shipping costs and a handling fee from whoever delivers the item in the UK. Some delivery companies you have to pay up front other will take card payments at the door.

Best of luck.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

I had to pay £22 on top of the delivery fee charged by a US company in december last year. IIRC £8.50 was a Parcel Force 'handling charge'. The remainder was determined on the commodity code of the items in the parcel.

£35 total shipping on an order of $108...not good.

I put the US postal tracker number into the Parcel Force tracker and they said it was at their Standstead depot.

I went around the Parcel Force / Customs / Parcel Force loop because initially both said the other had my parcel.

It was eventually explained to me that although it was at a Parcel Force depot, it was in a secure customs area.

They also couldn't tell me when it would be released because they don't operate a first in - first out system!

Since it was a christmas present it was a nervy time.


Other items I have ordered from the states from both domestic and commercial senders have been delivered with no additional charges.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

Yep i ordered a laptop and monitor and ending paying over £100. Hold your stuff to ransom.

Re: Anyone had stuff shipped from USA?
 

Quite right!