DRO from Singapore

I think you will find that the machine-dro price is not that far adrift with UK support ... but their web site seems to be down at the moment :(

No experience of the seller, but if you do import, don't forget to include the Royal Mail / Parcelforce "Handling Fee", which is 8 ukp for low value < 20.000 ukp items and around 19.00, iirc, for the more valuable.

Effectively an added tax that makes the import of some items uneconomic. Another uk bohica and legalised extortion...

Regards,

Chris

Could be worse if the items is shipped by UPS. I've found DHL international customs handling charges very reasonable on the couple of occasions I've used them to get stuff from the US.

Ups = Just Say No :-), just about the most expensive of the lot. Dhl charged, iirc, 5.00 ukp per package, irrespective of size, but I think that's now been increased to 10. Packages under about 20.00 ukp attract no vat or import duty, but you still have to pay the RM "clearance fee" of 8.00 ukp, which is an added hidden tax of 40%.

I just resent having to pay what is in effect, an added hidden tax on imports from non eu countries. We already pay the shipping, which is vat chargeable. One would expect that any customs clearance should be included in that. As I said, just another example of ripoff uk...

Regards,

Chris

Have you been annoying Millacron...

Mark Rand RTFM

I've fitted a Newel DRO to my Centec 2B, and a Machine-DRO to a friend's

2A. Although the Newel was twice the price of the Machine-DRO it's not twice as good. The accuracy is the same; the higher quality is in areas that are not really relevant to hobby work. Had the Machine-DRO been available when I bought it I would have gone for it instead. Neither system was trivial to install, but not really difficult either. And once fitted you wonder how you managed before.

Machine-DRO is comparable in price to the SinPO, especially after all the other factors are considered, plus they are based in UK and can give direct support. Not that it was actually needed.

Yes. DHL also collect VAT etc for UPS sometimes, and then you pay the £10 DHL fee. I don't know what the direct UPS charges are though.

Note that both DHL and UPS estimate the vat in advance, rather than get HMRC to tell them what the vat is. This can lead to refunds or further charges.

BTW, the RM fee is £8.00 regardless of the value of the contents - the DHL fee is £10 or 2% of the vat+duty charges, whichever is greater.

Packages under about 20.00 ukp attract

Packages whose contents have a value under £18 are exempt from vat and duty - and no RM fee is payable on these exempt packages.

The £8 RM fee is only payable if there is a vat/customs charge (which for RM parcels is actually levied by HMRC, not estimated by the carrier).

There is a page on the HMRC site which gives the values of foreign currencies as applied by HMRC for the purpose of evaluating VAT and whether the item is worth under £18 - if you are looking to get a parcel which is worth nearly £18, from the US especially, it's worth a visit:

Me too - especially if the parcel is worth £20 or so! I don't mind paying £8 so much if it's a few hundred quid's worth, that's fair enough, but for £20 parcels it's terrible - after all, RM only charge £1 for underpaid postage, and it's a similar service.

We already pay the shipping, which is vat

Carriage is vat chargeable, but not if the contents are worth less than £18. If you import £17.99 worth of stone with a carriage charge of £100, the carriage charge is not taxable.

Some (mostly far eastern) people take advantage of this, so that you "pay" £17.99 for a valuable item and £100 for carriage - but it doesn't always work, and I've heard tales of it being expensive when it goes wrong.

Mind you, parcels from the far east seem to attract VAT much less often than parcels from eg the US - most over £18 value parcels I have received from the far east have not had any vat applied, but every single one over £18 (plus one under £18 !! dhl/ups - got refund eventually) from the US has had vat plus charges applied.

-- Peter Fairbrother

I don't know whether DHL has changed charges but around 4 years ago I got about £300 worth of graphite from the US and the supplier warned not to use their website as it would go out UPS and I wouldn't like the charge. I called direct and it went out DHL which arrived in about 4 days and the VAT and customs bill arrived about 2 months later, around £60 VAT and duty IIRC and about £3 handling. A couple of years ago I ordered some glass blowing specs from the US and they were supposed to be shipped USPS but got shipped UPS and for goods worth about £55 or there about I got hammered a £15 handling charge by UPS, the duty and VAT I was expecting. RM is just somewhere in between.

It is still a little bit of a lottery. Of the stock orders I've had over this year I've not had to pay on 3 out of 10 and one of those was the highest value one of the lot! In my case it's not quite so bad since I can reclaim the VAT but having to charge 20% on everything I send out irritates. WE do not get paid handling charges for that :)

Yes, DHL have increased charges, around five years ago. RM increased their charge to £8 a year or so later. Both increases were substantial, especially for small value packets, but I can't remember the old rates - think I posted them here at one point though.

Ah, here's the old RM rate:

RM's charges are, and for many years have been, the cheapest.

RM are also, I believe, more likely not to charge you. The others pay HMRC their estimate of the VAT first, charge you, and then submit the paperwork to HMRC who may disagree with the carrier's valuation - whereas RM operate a VAT collection point where HMRC decide the charges.

-- Peter Fairbrother

We are all in the gutter But some of us are looking at the stars (Oscar Wilde)

When I see you floating down the gutter I'll buy you a bottle of wine (Captain Beefheart)