buying from abroad?

i am awsome

Is it ok to buy airsoft pistols from websites, such as ehobbyasia, i have ordered parts and they arrived ok, but say i was gonna order an m1911, that is under the joule, will it arrive safely to me, and do i have to pay any other taxes, other than the added vat that you pay when buying on the website?

Kashkai

i am awsome wrote: »

Is it ok to buy airsoft pistols from websites, such as ehobbyasia, i have ordered parts and they arrived ok, but say i was gonna order an m1911, that is under the joule, will it arrive safely to me, and do i have to pay any other taxes, other than the added vat that you pay when buying on the website?

My advice, don't bother. I recently bought a TM 1911 which is €200 in the shops here. I saw it on Redwolf for $218 delivered so I thought I was saving a few quid (about €30). Trouble is, I got hit for €67 in Vat and "other charges" before the courier would release it to me so I ended up paying €30 more than I would have paid for it here, had I waited until mid February when Airsofteire said they would get it back in stock.

Then there's the possible issue that a gun you buy may be over the 1 joule which would then mean that it would be destroyed by Customs and you'd be out of pocket with nothing to show for it.

Moral of the story, the shops here are good value Compared with the Asian suppliers when you take the taxes that you'll be hit with into account. Plus, if you have a problem with the gun, the shops here provide good after sales service IMO. Try sending a gun back to China if it has a fault!

Buckmark

Just recently I bought a pistol from redwolf airsoft for 173 dollars including postage. FedEx billed me 45 euro after delivery , 32 euro VAT and also 10 euro administration fees.

i am awsome

Well i checked and an m1911 on ehobbyasia is 70 dollars, about e50-55+ vat would be around 65+ postage would be 71+ 10 administrasion fee that you mentioned=81, and here the exact same pistol, exact same brand is 99 euro, do you guys think its worth it?

i am awsome

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

My advice, don't bother. I recently bought a TM 1911 which is €200 in the shops here. I saw it on Redwolf for $218 delivered so I thought I was saving a few quid (about €30). Trouble is, I got hit for €67 in Vat and "other charges" before the courier would release it to me so I ended up paying €30 more than I would have paid for it here, had I waited until mid February when Airsofteire said they would get it back in stock.

Then there's the possible issue that a gun you buy may be over the 1 joule which would then mean that it would be destroyed by Customs and you'd be out of pocket with nothing to show for it.

Moral of the story, the shops here are good value Compared with the Asian suppliers when you take the taxes that you'll be hit with into account. Plus, if you have a problem with the gun, the shops here provide good after sales service IMO. Try sending a gun back to China if it has a fault!

) good point!

Southern Dandy

Honestly I would not bother, a few reasons why

It could shoot hot and say bye to your pistol like dave said.

You will get it much quicker.

Buy here you have a warranty, and can be fixed and returned to you a lot lot quicker.

Your helping out local business'sssssss .

When you factor in all cost, exchange rate, vat @ 23% or whatever the fook it is, vat charged by the courier (thank you UPS ) think its 2-3% of the total cost, handling fees blah blah blah your not really saving a whole pile, well in my experience anyways which was fairly recent not to mention a pain in the balls for my brother who made a total of 19 phone calls because customs over charged us by at least 30euro.

i am awsome

Southern Dandy wrote: »

Honestly I would not bother, a few reasons why

It could shoot hot and say bye to your pistol like dave said.

You will get it much quicker.

Buy here you have a warranty, and can be fixed and returned to you a lot lot quicker.

Your helping out local business'sssssss .

When you factor in all cost, exchange rate, vat @ 23% or whatever the fook it is, vat charged by the courier (thank you UPS ) think its 2-3% of the total cost, handling fees blah blah blah your not really saving a whole pile, well in my experience anyways which was fairly recent not to mention a pain in the balls for my brother who made a total of 19 phone calls because customs over charged us by at least 30euro.

Whoa!! Damn, all of you guys seem to be saying its pretty crap to buy abroad, well i guess now that i know all the extra charges i don't think that the irish retailers are ripping us off anymore, but all these chinese websites, are pretty good for buying parts tho!

sharpy2010

Parts are ok but you could still get caught for vat and taxes.
I know €20 is €20 but is it worth all the worry about losing shipments to customs when you can feel and hold the gun before you decide to buy it here all over €20.
And even though in the end dave got caught for €30 more thinking he could save that by buying it abroad. I would have said pay the €30 in the 1st place. I know its all good to say what to do in retrospect but if you thought you could save a days wages by buying abroad on anything then it may be worth the risk but for what is relatively a small amount in comparison to the pistol then it is alot less hassle free to buy here.
BUT
If you still wouldn't be happy with the price here and your worried about customs buy in europe and you could still save.
Gunfire.pl
Taiwangun
Firesupport

sliabh

Because this keeps coming up, and as I need to prove to myself from time to time that it is cheaper to buy in Ireland, here is a simple calculator.

This compares the cost of buying from an Irish retailer vs using an Asian one.

Everytime I have used it recently the Irish route is cheaper. As well as giving you the local come back, and usually faster delivery.

http://goo.gl/cjyde

Nuke1973

And let's not forget that technically only the retailers are legally allowed to import RIF's.

Not that the law is enforced but they may decide to start enforcing it tomorrow.

T4RGET

I've ordered gear in the past and even that doesn't works out cheaper anymore, I used to think it did because I was just factoring in the price. Once shipping, customs and tax was added in it rarely worked out cheaper, eventhough I told myself it did because you pay the customs after the package arrives, rarely actually factoring it in.

Shops in Ireland are in a niche market, they're not going to be ripping us off as you put it. They buy their product in bulk which means they pay more that us for postage but they're getting a lot of gear in one order, at wholesale price. that gets translated in the price for us

Shop around, after being in airsoft for 3 years I've come to realise that you can buy almost everything in Ireland as long as you look around, if not you can at least ask retailers to order it in. Certain retailers have connections with distributors. (SG with G&G and Hobby with Cybergun and Madbull for example )

Kashkai

Just to clear up my post, I think the Irish retailers are excellent, giving advice free and are not pushy when it comes to sales. I was just impatient and didn't want to wait until mid-end February for my pistol, that's why I ordered from Redwolf. I won't be buying abroad in future, well from Asia in any case. I believe the European retailers like Taiwan Gun might be worth a look though as you won't get screwed for taxes and other charges.

i am awsome

well actually i don't know, i just read over the revenue page and checked out this customs and vat tax calculator: http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/ , and the pistol i want to buy, still comes out cheaper, maybe this isn't i all cases, but i think i might go ahead and buy it.

mack1984

i am awsome wrote: »

well actually i don't know, i just read over the revenue page and checked out this customs and vat tax calculator: http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/ , and the pistol i want to buy, still comes out cheaper, maybe this isn't i all cases, but i think i might go ahead and buy it.

duty calculator doesnt add on the delivery companys admin fee so dont forget to add that on aswell.

i am awsome

mack1984 wrote: »

duty calculator doesnt add on the delivery companys admin fee so dont forget to add that on aswell.

Yea i know on revenue.ie it says its 6 euro for anpost to deliver it within ireland and i did add that on, so i think ill go ahead and buy it, and maybe tell you guys how it worked out, if you guys think of ever importing.

sliabh

i am awsome wrote: »

Yea i know on revenue.ie it says its 6 euro for anpost to deliver it within ireland and i did add that on, so i think ill go ahead and buy it, and maybe tell you guys how it worked out, if you guys think of ever importing.

The courier bringing it into Ireland will charge you about €13 as an administration fee for collecting the revenue duty and VAT that is owed as well.

Jsmurff

The only reason why I would buy abroad is because I absolutely can not get it here which would have to be pretty impossible for example airsoftguns.ie have never told me they couldn't get what I was looking for and while they're order may take 4-5 weeks to make it to the counter (takes a week for rif's to clear customs in Shannon) I don't have to worry and if anything goes wrong in the ordering process then there's no harm Iam not out of pocket. And again if the item in question is damaged I can send back for repair/ replacement

TheDoc

Problem for me lately is that Irish retailers Im asking seem reluctant to get in the rifles and equipment I'm looking for, which is fair enough considering there probably isnt that great a demand.

But I'm a bit surprised that with all the talk of clamp down on importing etc. and all this jazz, someone doesn't get setup as an ehobby partner and operate an ordering service or some ****, planting a few quid on top for the service.

So there is a gun I want at the moment.

Two Irish retailers are looking into it for me, but seem hesitant and not that interested.
There is a UK retailer who has it, but the Euro - GBP is **** at the moment and its coming in expensive.
Ehobby have it for pretty cheap, but with VAT and that, still comes cheaper then UK. Issue is customs and the risk.

And Irish retailer to order this in, I'd throw them a few bob for doing so, wouldn't expect a warranty, and its job done. They are just a middle man for me.

Its mental that I want to just literally hand someone a few hundred quid to get me a gun, and there is hesitancy , but I can kinda see where they are coming from. I guess I'm just at the point in the game where the stuff I want is typically niche

Jsmurff

Well you could chance having the retailer be it ehobbyasia it whoever remove the spring so it does not work and then slap in an M90-m100 and you should be okay