[Rob1466]

Import duty & customs regarding big chip orders?
How many is it safe to order without getting a phonecall from the airport...?

[Strange]

Not many

Basically any order higher than say $50 that states the value on the label runs the risk of getting VAT added.

[mirageII]

The rule is that anything over £18 gets the duty & VAT


I did win an ebay auction for some Teddy KGB chips from Premiere Props and the extras were quite nasty...

About £40 import duty and tax and another 10 quid to fed-ex for processing

Great chips tho.... and not something you can pick up everyday...

[Strange]

It's the post office's handling charge that really makes me steam.

[Rob1466]

Mirage II, how many chips?? What was the value of it all?

[Harlequin011]

why would you need to fear anything?

[Rob1466]

Harlequin..buying decent poker gear from the US, first we pay the $1.20 or whatever each for our Paulsons, then shipping charges to Europe, then taxed at the airport. The bigger the value the more tax..so trying to get a bargain on the internet is sometimes in itself a gamble.

[sunderB]

Originally Posted by Rob1466

Harlequin..buying decent poker gear from the US, first we pay the $1.20 or whatever each for our Paulsons, then shipping charges to Europe, then taxed at the airport. The bigger the value the more tax..so trying to get a bargain on the internet is sometimes in itself a gamble.

I know from working with Customs on this side, that there is no way Customs can acurately determine the value of a chip. I guarantee they don't know a Paulson from a slugged chip. I would suggest finding a seller that is willing to work with you to help out with this. Perhaps 2 invoices, 1 for you to pay and one for customs with a much lower value. No it's not right, but I am sure it could be done. I know it can be done coming here to the US.
*Disclaimer: This is not official legal advice .

[mirageII]

There can be a problem with the insurance if you down value the shipment.

$600 worth of chips, sales docket says $60... insurance pays out $60 if they get lost ... ouch!!!!

I costed up the price of buying my paulsons (600 PCR and 400 NPS) from the US and after the shipping, import duty, tax and the hassle I decided to get them from Marlow instead. Basically they are shipped from Apache/Dice702 in the states but the tax and duty is all paid and the whole experience becomes hassle free.

I guess you can work out the difference yourself.

£price of set = num of chips * ($price / 2) (£1 == $2)

£cost = (£price of set + shipping) * import duty(1.18 * VAT(UK=1.17) + Customs/FedEx fee £10
Note: Fedex includes the shipping cost in the calculation

One day when I can no longer resist the temptation to get some BCC or ASM customs I will have to bite the bullet with the tax man.

[Vince]

Originally Posted by sunderB

I would suggest finding a seller that is willing to work with you to help out with this. Perhaps 2 invoices, 1 for you to pay and one for customs with a much lower value.

I "would" do it the same way. I don't do it of course because it's not legal
On the other hand, especially on envelope shipping, it's way safer to state a very low value on a flatrate envelope, for example.
A postal service guy gets your envelope in hands "oh, nice envelope. $400? wow." And it's gone buddy. Don't say it happens, but it could.