UK vs Japan. Your choice?

LeeRatters

LeeRatters

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There's an (older) lens I'm considering. There's one in the UK at £210 or a handful in Japan from £160 upwards to £260ish

Would you buy UK and be done? Or would you go Japan and risk import duties? How much would import duties be?

Both on eBay btw.
 
I’ve bought a few things from Japan. Paid duties on every item. I’d budget to add at least 20%
A few years ago now so can’t give a definitive amount.
 
It has been a long time since I bought anything from Japan, on the few times I did, duty always had to be paid. Import duty costs depend on the type of product you are buying there isn't a set percentage.

If you google import duty calculator you should be able to find websites that lets you enter the type of product and cost that will give a fairly close approx cost.

On eBay you could also just contact the U.K seller and ask them can they lower the price to match the Japan imported price, this happens quite a lot so they will be well used to it, worth trying anyway.
 
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It's not just the duty, Royal Mail stick a heavy "handling fee" on top, £10 to £20 IME and you have no choice, i.e. you cannot choose an alternative delivery company with lower fees
 
In my experience, the total cost can be as much as 30% on top. It is not 20%, 20% is just the tax but you have duty on top, you still need to include shipping and the carrier's handling fee. This can vary a lot from £8 minimum from Royal Mail, or higher from people like Fed Ex.

Personally I get the UK one for £210, get it sooner and have more legal recourse. You will not save much money from the Japanese import with the difference there.

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sirch said:
It's not just the duty, Royal Mail stick a heavy "handling fee" on top, £10 to £20 IME and you have no choice, i.e. you cannot choose an alternative delivery company with lower fees
Click to expand...

You can actually some of the eBay sellers ship direct using courier companies like TNT, Fed ex etc. It doesn't go into Royal Mails hands at all then they handle the customs fees etc. They also charge a fee.
 
Thanks for your valued input everyone!

The Japan lens is FedEx International and listed as free postage. Both lenses are used btw not new if that makes any difference regarding charges etc.

Contax Carl Zeiss.
 
LeeRatters said:
Thanks for your valued input everyone!

The Japan lens is FedEx International and listed as free postage. Both lenses are used btw not new if that makes any difference regarding charges etc.

Contax Carl Zeiss.
Click to expand...

BTW, tax and duty is calculated on the total cost of the goods, when the shipping is added.

Used gear make no difference, a purchase is a purchase. The guitar I bought were used through a shop, one i bought on Reverb from a person, and the person still list full value (as they should) so I pay whatever tax implications on my end.
 
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I got charged £80 duty for a lens from the USA once which was a surprise. It turned a bit of a bargain into a mid to possibly even high priced example but it was the lens I wanted, it was in good condition and a bit hard to find so I was still happy enough overall.
 
Re ‘import duty’ and VAT, IIRC there’s no import duty on camera bodies, but there is on lenses and on video cameras.

There’ll be VAT on all of them, and that includes the postage cost too, add a handling fee too.
 
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