Shipping swords to the UK

[Harry]

Has any US based seller recently shipped to the UK? If yes, what service did you use and how did you declare it? Thanks.

 

Harry

[Alex A]

Dunno about service, but if over 100 years old.

 

“Antique, over 100 years old, customs tariff 9706.00.00. Reduced import duty due to antique”

 

Ps, declare value paid in full

[Ken-Hawaii]

Harry, this should probably be posted under "General Nihonto," rather than the "For Sale" area. Mods?

[pcfarrar]

Use USPS Priority Mail, a friend shipped one from the US to UK a few weeks ago and it arrived in less than a week.

[Alex A]

Sorry, missed a few zeros off the tariff code, as usual

 

Its 9706.00.00.00

 

From a recent thread, Ted summed it up better.

 

 

I would add that when exporting items to the UK, along with the Harmonic Tarrif Code (HTC) of 9706.00.00.00 and the notation of "Antiques, more than 100 years old", it is also helpful to also write in bold print in the description "RELIEF REQUESTED" which is another key term to alert HMRC that the item is antique and subject to 5% VAT instead of 20%.

[16k]

Now, what I see that works well with French customs, is that they love to have an excess documentation, so I guess it’s the same in UK.

 

I always ask the seller to add documents that I write myself included an accurate description, copy of PayPal invoice and links to the original sale page.

[pcfarrar]

Now, what I see that works well with French customs, is that they love to have an excess documentation, so I guess it’s the same in UK.

 

I don't think UK customs ever read the documentation in the package or stuck to the side. Every shipment I've ever had the document pouch has been untouched.

 

They only seem interested in the customs description and value on the shipping label.

[PietroParis]

Now, what I see that works well with French customs, is that they love to have an excess documentation, so I guess it’s the same in UK.

 

I always ask the seller to add documents that I write myself included an accurate description, copy of PayPal invoice and links to the original sale page.

 

Jean-Pierre, I am waiting for a tsuba which has already gone through the customs at Paris CDG, it should be delivered by Chronopost to my place on Monday. I already know that I will have to pay some tax, and I am eager to learn whether they charged the TVA rate for antiques/collectibles at 5.5%, or the generic rate at 20%. For next time, is there a "magic formula" that I should ask the seller to put on the documents to ensure that the object is correctly identified as antique? And in case I find that the French customs overcharged me, do you think it will be possible to get a refund?

 

Thanks for your help! Pietro

[Alex A]

 do you think it will be possible to get a refund?

 

 

Not if they are anything like UK customs, ive been waiting since May

[PietroParis]

The tsuba has arrived, luckily the seller had written "+ DE 100 ANS" in the description, so it was correctly taxed at 5.5%. However, there was an additional 21 EUR of custom fees.

 

In summary, I bought the tsuba for 356$, which at mid-market rate should correspond to 319 EUR. But then the charges pile up: shipping costs, punitive exchange rate applied by my bank (the one proposed by PayPal was even worse), VAT and custom fees bring the total price to 396 EUR. Something to take into account when making purchases outside the EU...

 

Cheers, Pietro