what are my chances of getting hit with vat?

maxitwist

thinking it would be alot cheaper to buy from a us site, unless it got hit with vat on the way over here. so what are the chances of that, i dont live in the city so its not a big post office and last time i bought my archos 504 from there it just got delivered to my home and i didn't have to pay extra vat.
but that was a much smaller box then a laptop would be and it was marked as a $100 gift.
so would there be a good chance of me having to pay extra once it arrives?

singloud

yeah,you'll most likely have to pay sales tax.about 25%
I had the same idea but the warranty would be void so I was advised not to.
Someone with more experience than me would be better off explaining.

kaizersoze

maxitwist wrote:

what are my chances of getting hit with vat?

There's more than vat to worry about.
First they'll add the customs & excise charge (the ammount depends on the value of the item).
Then they add a handling charge (their fee for collecting the above).
Then they'll calculate the vat on the total.
If it's marked as a gift and the suspect otherwise, they'll open.

Tom Dunne

maxitwist wrote:

so would there be a good chance of me having to pay extra once it arrives?

Very high chance. See above.

maxitwist

so not a very good idea!