N GAUGE UK OR MAINLAND EUROPE

[swanmark]

Hi Guys thanks for all the advise in my previous post, just had a thought, with all the cheap flights around at the moment would it be worth flying to mainland europe to buy my N gauge start up items, or not as the case maybe, anyone know the cheapest country in europe to buy n gauge, thanks guys

[Tank]

Well, I've never heard of anyone doing that before!     You must be buying a lot of items.   

[Lawrence]

I guess the only issue would be customs on the way back in, you would have to check how much you are allowed to bring in, also getting mail-order from abroad is still subject to import duty and tax (not to mention the PO's exorbitant clearing fee   )

I think you are going to have to sit down and do your sums, adding in the cost of flights, import tax and duty and see if you are just as well buying stuff at slightly higher prices here, remember the higher prices here reflect the fact that the seller has had to pay freight and taxes already.

Have a trawl through http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/arriving/arrivingeu.htm and see what you are allowed

[poliss]

There is no import duty, VAT, or limit to what you can bring into the UK from any EU member state.

[haeckmaen]

When buying continental N gauge I'd recommend to buy from German specialist dealers directly or check prices via german ebay.de. I'm buying British in Britain and it's sent to Germany then and it's perfectly possible without fees and taxes the other way round. However you need either a credit card or a paypal account for that.

Recommended stockists in Germany are, for example:

http://www.mcschueler.de/home => in english
http://www.modellbahnen-licht.de/index.php?cl=start&lang=1 => in english
http://www.modellbahn-apitz.de/ => not in english, but good prices, international shipping

All of these retailers which have served the market the last decades, comparable with Signal Box or Hattons.

Continental N gauge is rarely cheap but with Germany being the country of origin for most of the stock best buys are possibly made around here.
Especially France and Benelux countries are reknown for high prices on model railways. Dutch an French usually buy in Germany, too.

If you relly want to pay taxes, VAT and so on an spent hundreds of pounds for models then you should give Switzerland a try

Matthias

[OwL]

I look for independant retailers, when i was in Germany i spent many a happy hour in the shop of M J Binner of Monchengladbach, I managed to obtain a VSOE coach set for equivalent £80!!! YEAH! He loves a haggle ol' Mr Binner. I flew return from UK with flight for £45,  This works out cheaper than ordering on line in the UK and I get to see the item before purchase.