advertisement


Buying vinyl from the US

For me, the greed is the individual trying to avoid paying taxes.

Shop locally or pay taxes - in some countries these are way higher.
import duty I don't mind, but the unavoidable £8 "admin fee" is a mockery on an item between £15 and, say, £40.
 
Best to buy from Amazon traders in the USA. Only charge £1.26 for delivery and, so far, no taxes to pay.

Did that but was charged £3 vat and £8 handling fee for a sub £20 record. Even if I ask Amazon for the £3 back the £8 is a goner. Frustrating but the album was not available on vinyl in the uk.
 
import duty I don't mind, but the unavoidable £8 "admin fee" is a mockery on an item between £15 and, say, £40.

I can understand the frustration but the admin fee is surely for someone to complete customs clearance, and that's going to cost the same regardless of purchase price I would have thought. Half an hour of someone's time?

People could always buy from Diverse (technically the Welsh economy :) ) or possibly club together once a month and share a lot of the costs.
 
I got caught by a similar charge for Donald Fagen's latest which I ordered directly from his website. Having paid the customs charge, and Royal Mail's handling fee, I was well peed off when I opened the package to see it was pressed in the Netherlands. The return address was in Belgium so I am not sure the album was ever in the US at all.
 
UK suppliers such as Diverse can usually get you what you want. And if you must order directly, then surely the more you buy in one order the cheaper, pro rata. That;s why buying from a dealer can make more sense. As for leaving the EU.....what a total disaster that would visit upon us, purely so that the Tory right-wing can wreck the economy still further.
 
I've bought several LP's over the years direct from Sundazed and never paid any duty over here. It's always been a single album at a time maybe that's why i've never been charged duty.
Regards,
Martin
 
I can understand the frustration but the admin fee is surely for someone to complete customs clearance, and that's going to cost the same regardless of purchase price I would have thought. Half an hour of someone's time?

Customs is administered by HM government and they don't get the fee, the courier does. The courier doesn't charge an admin fee for items that don't incur a customs charge (presumably because they aren't allowed to) For the life of me, I can't see what additional work the courier does to warrant charging a fee - I presume they just deliver the parcel to customs then collect it when customs have finished with it, whether it receives a customs charge or not.
 
Over the years i've bought LP's either from Sundazed or Mobile Fidelity although i've never bought more than one at a time. I have also bought DVD's again these i bought through Amazon and again one at a time and never been charged any extra in tax.

Regards,
Martin Dawson
 
It's OK saying support your local record shop which i do i have bought vinyl / CD's from " Cruisin' Records" in Welling Kent for many years. Should you need LP's that are not available you have no alternative but to buy from the States.

Regards,

Martin
 
Did that but was charged £3 vat and £8 handling fee for a sub £20 record. Even if I ask Amazon for the £3 back the £8 is a goner. Frustrating but the album was not available on vinyl in the uk.

That's a surprise to me. Just received a double album from all your music via Amazon for £1.26 shipping - no problem. I think they ship in bulk to a UK handling agent who then forward it. Maybe direct sales cause financial inconvenience?
 
second this.' All Your Music' are really good they also sell on ebay. Excellent value vinyl.

However they now tend to group multiple orders together so its best to order one LP at a time and under £15 so as not to get hit with customs and other charges.

For Jazz Mosaic are good as they only give the cost of the media at around a dollar per disc. I have had packages worth over a hundred crisp notes come through customs without any charges.

Cheers,

DV
 
When I order from Mobile Fidelity directly normally get hit with a tax bill. However when I order from Amazon uk from American dealers not once have I had a tax bill.
 
If I'm buying music on a small label or a by relatively unknown band, I tend to check Bandcamp. I can buy music there which would cost me a fortune to import on on vinyl or CD at lossless quality (FLAC) and with zero additional overheads like customs, postage, 'handling charges'. Also, the majority of it goes straight to the musicians.
 
You guy's in the UK are getting screwed as you can bring up to $1000.00 into Australia without any tax at all.
 


advertisement


Back
Top