A cautionary tale...

[emjaybee]

A Cautionary Tale

[Alt. title: Beware Irishmen (I think) and their fancy wares!]

I've always kept a weather eye on EBay. That's not to say I buy a lot of stuff, but it can be a useful gauge of values, what's on offer, and a timewaster. I keep a regular eye on certain stuff, bits for my tractor, N gauge stuff etc. Generally speaking I have some sort of bid floating around most weeks, more often than not it's a low bid on the off chance I get lucky, very occasionally I do. For example, I've successfully built up a fleet of seven Jubilees for around £55 each (new tooling stuff, that is).

A few weeks ago @dannyboy (the swine! {just kiddin'}) mentioned about VRC Hobbies in the U.S. having some good deals on twin packs of locos. I had a look. Having spent a fair few weeks on various holidays in the U.S. I kinda like their diesels. Very nice they looked to, I had another look a couple of weeks later when his arrived and he posted pics on the forum.

Then I noticed something...

...some of the individual loco's were on EBay as auction items, and holding some quite low bids, $12, $14, $16. I idly looked at shipping to the U.K. and the fact that HMRC would slap 20% VAT on anything. Might be worth a cheeky low bid, y'know, just in case.

Four cheeky bids were duly placed...

...and I mean cheeky, we're looking at bids of £26.50 for a brand new loco here, the same ones that Hattons bang out for £69.99! Never gonna happen.

Thinking about it, I should probably have done a bit of looking at completed bids to see if that gave any clues, but then I wasn't really being that serious.

Any-hoo, fast forward a few days and there's a rash of e-mails in my inbox, ah yes, the usual 'Sorry you didn't win this time'...

...er, no.



"You have won the following item" etc., £26.22...

...followed by "£24.65" and "23.99" and "£23.99". Ah, umm, oo-er. It's possible I may not have thought this through thoroughly. So that kinda blew their 'cheapish' international shipping and a bit of VAT theory out of the window.

I trundled off to the Post Office depot this morning to pick up a parcel and pay £27.65 in tax (including £8 handling charge for the P.O. - didn't think of that one!)

The culmination of my tinkering on EBay is I have spent a whisker under £160 and got four Northern Burlington locos. Not quite what I'd been aiming for.

I've got to say they look great. They run so smoothly, and quietly, it's hard to believe the price they were letting them go for.




So, yes, bargains are still about on Ebay, but I probably need to engage my brain a little more before committing!

Disappointed? Not really, they look great, and it's given me a great idea for a multi country layout. Same track and basic scenery, but with removeable/interchangeable buildings, stations, factories, tunnel portals etc. One minute U.K., next minute U.S.A.

Ever onward.

[dannyboy]

You got 4 for £160 and I got 2 for £90. The twin pack I bought brings my 'Burlington Northern' stable to 10, so I have to stop!!  . Because I have quite a bit of American rolling stock now, (and a few Japanese), I too was toying with the idea of 'swappable' buildings to fit the mood of the day, but I think I should get on with completing the layout first.  .

I've got to say they look great. They run so smoothly, and quietly,

I wholeheartedly agree with your comments - beautiful engines and quiet running, even the second hand ones I have bought and, as you have found out, bargains are to be had.  I do not want to start a war here, but I really rate Kato, (and Atlas), loco's.
@emjaybee

[Malc]

I too have a few Burlington Northern locos, mainly because I like the livery. They do run exceptionally well.

[Webbo]

I'm glad to see Malc, David, and emjaybee all yielding to temptation. The one Arnold loco I've seen struck me as to how well it ran and how fine a model it was. Pity for me that BN is outside my modelling range though I've just succumbed to the purchase of a ScaleTrains BNSF ET44 in orange and black.

Like you three, I'm operating equipment from two continents though in my case it is the British rolling stock which is the minority and Canadian Pacific which is the majority.

Webbo   

[ten0G]

shipping to the U.K. and the fact that HMRC would slap 20% VAT on anything

Does anyone know if there is a threshold below which imported items are exempt from Duty, VAT, etc., and whether it includes the shipping charge or not please? 

[ngaugepaul]

I was sent two n scale shipping containers from the US and expected them to be subject to VAT and a Royal Mail handling fee.
I was sent a notice to pay before the small padded envelope which together with the containers weighed less than 15 grammes could be delivered. It seemed expensive but until the parcel was delivered I did not know how it had been calculated.
I appealed to Border Force and found out that a postal charge of nearly $130 when in fact it had been $13.50.
I received a phone call from a nice lady at Border Force to clarify matters and have since received a refund for the overpayment.
It just shows that it is worthwhile querying the charges

[chrism]

I once bought a bit of computer kit from the US and subsequently got a monstrous tax bill from the shippers.

I phoned them up and told them that there was no way that the VAT (there was no duty payable) could come to over £50 for a $32 bit of kit plus post/packing. They said that it must have been because the sender hadn't put the cost of the post/packing on the declaration, so Customs would have used a scale of charges for it that started with a rather large minimum.

They said that they'd refer it back to the sender and send a replacement bill if necessary - never heard from them again.

[guest311]

shipping to the U.K. and the fact that HMRC would slap 20% VAT on anything

Does anyone know if there is a threshold below which imported items are exempt from Duty, VAT, etc., and whether it includes the shipping charge or not please?

according to the label on the parcel I received a couple of weeks ago, items with a value of less than £15 will not attract VAT.
IIRC it said over £130 attracted duty.

the killer, as always, is the RM 'handling charge', for example on that parcel I had to pay £12.42, which was £4.42 VAT plus £8 to RM to cover their writing a card out to tell me I owed money. 

I then had to go on line to make the payment, and say when I wanted it re-delivered.


as that parcel was post free I don't know if it includes postage, but from the label from customs, I'd say it's based on the cost of the item as declared.