Sinclair international

tommyboy26

hi lads

i bought an f class bipod and a rear bag from Sinclair international in America last Thursday. I have checked the tracker on an post website and it says it has been sent to customs in portlaoise sorting office. Is this a standard thing on gun related parcels from outside the country? Can i be charged import taxes or anything of the sort?


Tommy

Cass

I bought my stuff of Sinclair's 18 months ago. All/most post goes to Portlaoise. Its one of, if not the main sorting office. Unless you get a letter or call, it is merely being sorted and then sent on.

Out of interest you say you ordered last Thursday and its already in Portlaoise. Nice. When i bought mine i bought just before X-mas and got hit with the holiday period post. Waiting nearly 3 weeks.

tommyboy26

the tracker says arrived in portlaoise for sorting and then a few minutes after that it was sent to customs. Suppose i may wait to see if i get a call.


Yeah i was very surprised by the speed at which it got here. I also was very impressed with Sinclair so easy to buy the stuff from the website loads of info from them regarding my delivery and billing. I would def recommend them to anyone looking for shooting supplies.

What did you buy from them?

Tommy

Croppy Boy

If it says it's in customs, the chances are you're going to be hit with excise and VAT charges. The postman will need to collect these on delivery.

tommyboy26

Croppy Boy wrote: »

If it says it's in customs, the chances are you're going to be hit with excise and VAT charges. The postman will need to collect these on delivery.

what are the usual costs of excise and vat

Cass

F-Class bipod
Shooting mat
Lens Pen
Scope level
Breach flags
Lapping tool.

Originally i was ordering the bipod, but Sinclair actually e-mailed me and told me that there is a standard minimum fee for shipping as its based on weight not amount of items. They said if i was interested in ordering anything else to do so now and it would cost nothing as long as the weight did not exceed either 15lb or 15kg. Cannot remember which.

So i got the card out and went to town.:D

Actually going through their website the last few days. Have a nice little wish list made up and might finalise the order at the weekend. see how the funds are. Thats why i was interested inyour shipping time. Let me know how you get on with the customs. Would defo be interested if they try to charge you for the items. I haven't been. Plus i always use USPS. Its a bit slower but as good and nowhere near as dear as the other options.

tommyboy26

i was looking at a shooting Matt but Cant decide what best suits my needs. I did send my stuff by usps but an post is there agent in Ireland.

tommyboy26

just as a matter of interest Whats a lapping tool?

Cass

Sorry didn't mean to suggest USPS delivered straight to the door. You are correct. Once the package hits Ireland An Post take over.

A lapping tool is a device to "square up and even out any imperfection in the rings. You place the tool into the rings, with some lapping paste and run it back and forth. It is for all intensive purposes a file. In the kit came alignments rods so when the lapping is done i place the rods into their 30mm housing and then into the rings. Once both pointed ends of the rods are meeting you know the rings are square and even.

I've been tryin to check out the charges. VAT is set at 21%, and the charge for customs on sporting goods is around the 4.5 - 5.5% mark. I'll confirm that when i get it.

tommyboy26

the cost of the goods was 327usd which works out at around 228 euro.
So vat at 21% would be about 68 euro and excise at 5% is about 16 euro. Does That sound about right?

Cass

Not quite.

VAT @ 21% on €228 is €228 divided by 100% X 21% (VAT) = €47.88

Add to that the 5% duty = €228 divided by 100% X 5% (Duty) = €11.14

So your total could be €59

tommyboy26

Ezridax wrote: »

Not quite.

VAT @ 21% on €228 is €228 divided by 100% X 21% (VAT) = €47.88

Add to that the 5% duty = €228 divided by 100% X 5% (Duty) = €11.14

So your total could be €59

sorry forgive me kev Im a bit slow tonight just realised i was doing it using the 327 dollar.......

tonysopprano

Customs work on a 1$ to 1€ basis and include postage and insurance in their calculations. They also charge a processing fee and An Post charge a €6 fee for having to collect the charges.

Hate to rain on your parade, but your bill will be closer to €100.

Cass

We all have our off days.

Still €59 sounds better than €84.

Which rest did you go for?

Cass

tonysopprano wrote: »

Hate to rain on your parade, but your bill will be closer to €100.

Jaysus, seriously?

I ordered the same as Tommyboy, and through USPS, but never got charged. Wasn't trying to avoid it, wouldn't know how. Is it that imports are more heavily scrutinised now or was mine a fluke?

tommyboy26

tonysopprano wrote: »

Customs work on a 1$ to 1€ basis and include postage and insurance in their calculations. They also charge a processing fee and An Post charge a €6 fee for having to collect the charges.

Hate to rain on your parade, but your bill will be closer to €100.

if thats the case the whole lot with postage came to 368.75 usd

tommyboy26

Ezridax wrote: »

We all have our off days.

Still €59 sounds better than €84.

Which rest did you go for?

i bought the Sinclair f class bipod in black (to match the black accuracy stock). And the edgewood original rear bag with grab handle

tonysopprano

Ezridax wrote: »

Jaysus, seriously?

I ordered the same as Tommyboy, and through USPS, but never got charged. Wasn't trying to avoid it, wouldn't know how. Is it that imports are more heavily scrutinised now or was mine a fluke?

You were lucky it was around Christmas and sheer volume probably let it slip through.
I have questioned customs in Portlaoise regularly about their practices and each time was told to complain to media, government etc about their practices. They are ordered to basically screw you for as much as possible with exchange rates etc. Joe Duffy had 1 or 2 shows about it last year.

Cass

Might be putting a hold on that wishlist so.

Croppy Boy

tommyboy26 wrote: »

what are the usual costs of excise and vat

Any time I got caught, it worked out about one third of the total cost, that is, including postage.

bunny shooter

As a rule of thumb anything over €100/$100 customs will want their cut

It wasn't me!

I ordered a tube from Eric Uptagrafft for my prone gun. Never got charged anything for it, and the packaging had a big feckin' note with "TUBE FOR AIR RIFLE" on it. Dunno why, Eric knows it's not an air rifle... When I saw that I was expecting a follow-up phone call, but nothing. Cost would have been about $125 as well. I think half the time it's just sheer fluke.

landkeeper

anytime i had stuff that was inspected by customs the bill was around a third to a half of the total price of items +packing
word of warning they go on what the declared value is as stated on the customs label i once bought a pair of custom limbs for one of my bows the seller thought he'd do me a favour by doubling the value in case they went astray the bill for revenue for those was not nice :mad:

tommyboy26

how long do customs usually hold on to things?

zeissman

tommyboy26 wrote: »

how long do customs usually hold on to things?

Usually not long. You will probably get it tomorrow hopefully.

tommyboy26

zeissman wrote: »

Usually not long. You will probably get it tomorrow hopefully.

Yeah with a bit of luck i will get it before weekend. Do customs ring you and let you know how much you owe before an post deliver?

zeissman

tommyboy26 wrote: »

Yeah with a bit of luck i will get it before weekend. Do customs ring you and let you know how much you owe before an post deliver?

No. It will be on the parcel and you just pay the postman.

tommyboy26

arrived today and i was only charged 54.50....