Rip off charges

[Lumberman]

I have just been doing some calculations on the timber I had mported from \america. I have 18.66 square feet in all .
I have included the rip off charges and turns out it has cost me £9.58 per square foot. I have learned my lesson albeit a very expensive one.

Harry

 

[Creampuff]

i've been thinking of Importing timber from the US, if you don't mind me asking what timber did you buy, and what charges did you incur?

I'm considering importing some very lovely Figured timber from various saw mills all over the US, and am just investigating all the charges myself.

Regards

Andy

 

[Lumberman]

Andy! I bought various timbers from ocoohardwoods.com I don't know what kind of work you intend to use it for, I use mine for mainly scrollsaw work. They cater for the scrollsaw sawyer, also carving stock and wood turning I believe.

The stock I bought included, Walnut, Cherry, Maple, Ash, Butternut, Lacewood, and Aspen, 18.66 square feet in all, in 2 foot x8" lenghts 3/4 and 1/4" thick. The base price at £76.37 seemed reasonable, the crunch came when the shipping charge was added, another £66, TOTAL £142.00 still I wanted the wood and I couldn't get some of it in the UK so decided to go for it.

Another shock followed when I received a letter from the good old "Royal Mail" informing me the order was subject to 20%
V.A.T. only they ended up charging me over 30% also added a further £8.00 handling charge where they get that from I do not know. As I have already said an expensive lesson to learn. I certainly wont be purchasing from overseas again.

I am sorry if I have put you off, but I thought you should be aware.

Harry.

 

[devonwoody]

Back at the beginning of this century we used to have a good time ordering on the internet, no vat and no royalmail charge either. I have not ordered anything from the US for years. Find a friend is the best route to go and he sends them to you as a gift.

 

[jasonB]

Recon you still got it cheaper than UK sourced, Have a look at the price band A here seems on a par.

As for putting "Gift" on the packet, its illegal to ask for this to be done and customs are cracking down on the practice by opening up more packs marked gift, sample etc. The one way round it may have been to order each piece separately, that way the value of each pack is under the duty limit, you often find this method used buy companies in teh channel islands that sell inks, batteries etc where each cartridge comes in a separate jiffy bag.

I have found when ordering from the states it is well worth e-mailing the company regarding shipping rather that using the standard costs that come up on their web sites. For example I recently ordered some engineering tools costing $70 and the shipping at checkout was $155. I e-mailed them, got a quick reply and paid $12.95 and the goods arrived within a week

Next time do a bit of homework its been discussed here many times, mostly related to buying tools but materials as well.

J

 

[beatsme]

That's the one reason I now refrain myself from buying things online on like Amazon and stuff (used to do it very often), always incur quite big charges. Sometimes, it just can't be avoided, but in most cases I try to contact friends and ask them to bring it over. Most of the times works

 

[jimi43]

Having worked overseas most of my life and suffered really huge import duties and "VAT" charges which certainly are rip offs...I think this country is relatively fair in the HMRC tariffs. When you are paying as much for import duty as you do for the product being imported - then you have cause to complain.

There are some fantastic English hardwoods to work with...fruit woods especially but generally speaking, a reputable UK importer will sell below what you can achieve with personal importing...purely because of reduced delivery costs in bulk. A little bit of research on the Internet in the UK might prove more fruitful than you first expected.

Jim

 

[Dibs-h]

I did what Jason mentioned recently when buying some 3M components from the US - bought from the Website, the P&P was eye watering, but dropped them an email with what I wanted and ended up paying £24 for P&P. Wasn't too chuffed with the £26 VAT\Handling charge - but considering what I wanted wasn't available in Europe - it was an acceptable price.

Dibs

 

[Creampuff]

i've been considering importing for resale small'ish quantities of highly figured hardwoods, specifically Maple, Bubinga and Padauk as i've found these to be very hard to come by in the good old UK

These timbers interest me the most because of the quite frankly mind blowing grain patterns i've seen in so many hours of browsing wood porn on tut net, and I think its a shame we don't see more of it available in the UK

Unless ofcourse your all keeping those suppliers of the finest wood porn to yourselfs :evil: :lol:

 

[jasonB]

Creampuff, I suggest you look at the link I posted in my first reply in this thread, that supplier does all the woods you are thinking of and many more besides. Both in full boards and in cuts to suit boxmakers and musical instrument makers

J

 

[jimi43]

Speak with Robert at TIMBERLINE....I think you will find it will probably be cheaper. He is a major guitar fan so he imports exotic woods that one usually associates with luthierie.

He even has 6300 year old bog oak...a bit expensive...but gorgeous!

Darn it...now I will have to go down there again...see what you've done! :wink:

Jimi

 

[jasonB]

Too slow typing Jimi, thats who I linked to earlier

J

 

[jimi43]

Too slow typing Jimi, thats who I linked to earlier

J

Great minds eh Jason....great minds.... :mrgreen:

Jim

 

[jumps]

Too slow typing Jimi, thats who I linked to earlier

J

Great minds eh Jason....great minds.... :mrgreen:

Jim

Indeed - handed him some hard earned yesterday and he just looked at it and suggested he would buy a decent bottle of Sauviginon.....

I just wish I could get more ash and syc boards from him- but you can't have everything (and I have had both in the past)

 

[jimi43]

Too slow typing Jimi, thats who I linked to earlier

J

Great minds eh Jason....great minds.... :mrgreen:

Jim

Indeed - handed him some hard earned yesterday and he just looked at it and suggested he would buy a decent bottle of Sauviginon.....

I just wish I could get more ash and syc boards from him- but you can't have everything (and I have had both in the past)

He always shows me the quilted maple...he knows ya know!

I bought some Paduk from him and the wood for my Martin set me back over £250....but I could stay there all day browsing....fascinating place and the smell is just out of this world!

Jim

 

[devonwoody]

I cannot understand why Inca tools do not seem to have a UK agent. The price in USA compared with mainland Europe is so much better when I have investigated in the past. I suppose it is the exchange rate problem, its Swiss I assume.

And talking about rip off, it took the barber 3 minutes to trim my hair last week and I paid £7. Sometimes they play around and it takes 4.

 

[Harbo]

I thought inca went bust in the 80's.

Incra is a USA company

Woodworkersworkshop are UK agents


Rod

 

[devonwoody]

I thought inca went bust in the 80's.

Incra is a USA company

Woodworkersworkshop are UK agents


Rod

Thanks for that, things have changed since I last investigated, I see Rutlands have got some of the Incra in stock as well.

http://www.rutlands.co.uk/workshop-&-po ... gauge-1000

(I 've got the builders in this week, so any cash will go)

 

[jimi43]

I thought inca went bust in the 80's.

Incra is a USA company

Woodworkersworkshop are UK agents


Rod

Before I knew about INCA....I always admired INCRA...and when I found my INCA tablesaw at a bootfair...I thought it was an INCRA one and therefore high quality...so I splashed out £15....

I was disappointed when I got back with the saw and realised I had read it wrong....fortunately for me...INCA knock spots off INCRA anyway and my accidental misunderstanding turned into a serious find....

Sometimes you get lucky I guess! 8)

Jim