Buying parts from the US

Dongl

Anyone know how badly I'm likely to get ****ed by customs?

I'm planning to use Intel's Employee Purchase Program to pick up a some very nicely discounted parts. Problem is they come from the states. If I'm going to end up paying ~25% VAT/Excise duty on the ~€700 worth of parts then I might as well source them elsewhere.

I know a co-worker who said they'd got no extra charges on a processor through the same program they had delivered to the office. That would have been under €150 though and from what I've found searching myself that might have been under the limit for being charged.

Anyone done anything like this before maybe could help me out?

Cheers.

Digital Solitude

Limit is €22 for everything imported as far as I know. He may have just gotten lucky in dodging customs, as you might. Get the total cost of the shipment, including shipping costs and multiply by 1.23.

If its cheaper than say, hardwareversand, and worth the extra postage time, there's no reason not to go for it

Dongl

Right, well I'll find out in a couple of days so. Shiny graphics card and processor just passed Ohio.

Works out a good deal cheaper even with the additions so we'll see. I'd be getting the processor there regardless and if I ended up not getting taxed on it I'd be kicking myself for not buying more.

Thanks.

Lu Tze

The reason it seems so much cheaper general is a combination of it actually being cheaper, and that american websites list them without sales tax (thats AT this side of the pond) as it differs from state to state.

As it is coming from outside the EU, there is also customs duty if it is over €150.

Worst case scenario seems to be 17% for customs duty.

So say worst case scenario for maybe €700 of parts.

700 * 40% (17 + 23) = €280.

So if its still cheaper once you add on VAT and Duty go for it!

My main concern would be the hassle and problems with support afterwards, including if needing to ship back a part it could be very expensive.

Note: Figures above are approximate and based on assumptions, i am not a tax consultant! Best of luck with it though, hopefully customs dont catch it. The final kick in the teeth is the handling fee and an post or whoever will charge!

Dongl

Well the worst case scenario seems to bring me up to roughly what I would have paid buying them from hardwareversand.

Seems worth the risk to me. Only potential better situation would have been buying just the processor since that would have been under the€150 threshold. Sure we'll see how it goes.

If I get burned it's a learning experience

Lu Tze

Dongl wrote: »

Well the worst case scenario seems to bring me up to roughly what I would have paid buying them from hardwareversand.

Seems worth the risk to me. Only potential better situation would have been buying just the processor since that would have been under the€150 threshold. Sure we'll see how it goes.

If I get burned it's a learning experience

The calcs above assume that they dont charge VAT on the duty, so if could be slightly worse!

Have no idea what customs duty category they fall into though, so it could be charged at a lower duty rate.

Dongl

Package arrived today. No mention of any customs fees so I think I'm golden.

i5-4690K and a GTX980 for €650 euro plus shipping wasn't half bad.

vlad2009

I'm planning on building a pc soon, and I may risk it and try order the graphics cad or the processor, or both from the states. I have been stung with customs before on bike parts etc and it's actually quite expensive.

the_syco

OP; will the part be shipped over to you personally, or in a big package to your company, and then redistributed among you?

vlad2009 wrote: »

I may risk it and try order the graphics cad or the processor, or both from the states.

What's the prices compared to somewhere like hardwareversand.de?

Dongl

the_syco wrote: »

OP; will the part be shipped over to you personally, or in a big package to your company, and then redistributed among you?

It was shipped to me personally but was delivered to my place of work and went through Intels own shipping guys before it got to me.

It's arrived now and it looks like I came away untaxed. The exact specifics of how or why aren't something I've looked to hard into. Gift horses and such.
Saved about €350 compared to hardwareversand.de.