Second Hand axe from the states

jamieh

Hi all,

I'm thinking of getting a second hand guitar from the states.

Would I have to pay vat and customs on the retail price or the second hand price?

68 lost souls

Generally on whatever price the customs value it at but I know people that have gotten stung for tax and they provided a paypal receipt for the goods. They based the tx on that receipt.

Demeyes

You should pay customs even on a 2nd hand instrument. It's around 21% and I think it's based on what the declared value + shipping is so it should be on the 2nd hand price.

smokiebeverage

It works like this, you pay 3.6% import duty on the cost of the item to you plus the shipping, then you are charged 21% on the total. If its a cheap guitar generally they don't bother, but if its expensive then they stop it at customs and charge you. If its with USPS they will expect you to fill in declaration forms and pay the taxes, if its with USP or Fedex they will handle the paperwork and just charge the taxes directly. For expensive guitars you will probably want full insurance so you will have to declare the cost. If they manage to ship it without paperwork (which is very unlikely) customs have the right to value the guitar at irish street value and charge you accordingly

Dord

It's based on the declared value usually. I usually figure it at about 25% on the shipping & instrument cost together.

Johnny Storm

Your Euro can buy a lot of dollars these days.

Kenny_D

As already mentioned, the easiest way is to take 25% of the total cost including shipping and have that set aside for import fees. It can still work out a lot cheaper and there's some great deals on used guitars from the states. I've bought from chrisguitars.com in the past and had no problems but did have to pay import fees. Same deal with a guitar I bought from Japan