Ordering from Lee Valley

[SpinDoctor]

Just wondering what pitfalls I'll need to navigate if I order a couple waterstones from Lee Valley. The cost will be $55USD for the stones and $35USD for shipping, still much cheaper than the £100 plus cost here.

Will I get hit with taxes and duty? And or will the shipping company hit me with hidden charges.

 

[whiskywill]

You might get lucky as small packages sometimes get through without any charge. If it doesn't there will be import duty + VAT + the Post Office handling charge of £8. The import duty depends on the "commodity code" of the product being imported but the average is between 5 and 8% of the value including, I believe, shipping costs.

 

[marcros]

it also varies a bit on the courier. If the likes of UPS deliver it is quite a bit more than £8- nearer £20 I think.

If you can get the supplier to ship using USPS, this tends, in my experience, to be cheapest and reasonably quick. It may also be cheaper overall to ship the items individually, although the threshold for avoiding duty is only about $20 I think (check the actual amount, it isnt a lot though)