Customs Duty on M/C parts bought and shipped from overseas?

[SkooterG]

I am considering buying some used motorcycle parts off of ebay from Europe - Great Britain or Italy. They are spendy - $1,000 - $1,800 range. I am trying to determine what, if any Customs Duty or tax I will have to pay on these. It is really confusing and my internet research hasn't helped in making anything clearer.

So I am wondering if anyone around here has any direct experience with buying used stuff from Euro zone countries?

 

[Canadian FJR]

Not sure of this helps but I just paid $19.00 on an item that cost me $135.00

Depending on what it is, if they state repaired and returned such as a seat or something like that, they have been known to not charge duty.

And if possible, a lower declared value is always an option.

Canadian FJR

 

[Knifemaker]

Not sure if there's a duty from the U.K. Awhile back I bought a part from there. They charged me about another $19 for "shipping" which could have included some kind of import duty, but they didn't state that. Perhaps your best bet is to call the company you want to buy from and see if they have some info.

 

[FJRPittsburgh]

I bought a Givi topcase mount for a 56 liter Maxia 4 for my Tracer GT from Italy. The freight was a little high, but considering everything, it was much cheaper to buy the part from Italy. Nothing was ever said regarding any duty fees. It's possible it was in the freight charges. The dollar must be strong because parts are much cheaper there. Less than 2 weeks for delivery.

 

[HIGHLANDER]

From what I’ve read recently it’s about $800 limit before duty kicks in, used to be $200 limit, I guess placing separate orders would work best ?

 

[mcatrophy]

Coming the other way, I bought a cruise control kit from Murphy, US to UK. This was held up in UK Customs, they sent me a demand for import duty that I had to pay before they would release the kit for delivery.

It seems that individual imports are taxed on their value and which side of the bed the Customs inspector got out of that morning. The exporter would only know the duty if he had a prior agreement with the importing Customs and would then probably pre-pay the duty.

 

[Canadian FJR]

$1200.00 item just cost me $286.00 - Ba$tard$

I guess the Customs inspector got of the wrong side of the bed today.

Canadian FJR

 

[bigjohnsd]

Looks complicated to me:

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/programs-administration/determining-duty-rates

So far, the farkles I've acquired from Taiwan and China for "Freya" have not been expensive and not incurred any duty in the shipping process.

 

[hppants]

Just bought a shock from England. $530.00 US. No duty fees on the invoice.

Incidentally, I used my Chase Amazon c/c (the one you get with Amazon Prime) and there were no currency conversion fees either.

 

[Mortenk]

I have purchased many things from Europe. The seller doesn't know the duty fee and can therefore not charge it at time of purchase. Duty is something that is assessed as the package enters the country. Big John included a link above that I have also used to determine how much duty I should expect. I have mainly purchased A/V equipment, and the standard rate has been approx 2% for my stuff. However, rates vary greatly, so try to find your items in the database on that site - it may not be easy to find a match...just keep searching and read the small print.

I recently purchased a TV from Europe, and the initial duty was $980! I had to pay within two days as they otherwise would start to charge storage fees...so I paid it. However, I asked the shipping company about details, and after a few days they refunded $750 to me. So, the overall duty I ended up paying was reasonable and in the 2% range as I had expected. I have no idea what happened there. Maybe they charged me local sales tax, which would match the amount I was charged...

 

[Kaismo]

Highlander reply is the correct one. I work for a U.K. based company and the duty threshold is $800 to ship into the U.S.