US/UK Price Divide

[matio57]

Yesterday I got some advice on a first build that I want to do using a Ryzen 5 1600 and GTX 1050 ti. Since, I have spoken to a friend currently living in Chicago who can buy parts on my behalf and send them to me as a gift thereby eliminating the 20% VAT tax that would be due on the parts. Has anyone got experience doing anything similar? As such I can now get more for my money out of the computer so I'm thinking of upping the GPU to a 1060 6Gb and getting a bit more ram and 250Gb SSD. 

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/x3ys3F
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/x3ys3F/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($197.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($81.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($134.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($104.64 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB FTW+ GAMING Video Card  ($314.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1039.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-10 12:05 EDT-0400

[Oshino Shinobu]

You still pay VAT and import fees on gifts if they're worth more than £39. 

 

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

 

EDIT: Bear in mind that is on top of shipping and duty charges, not just on the value of the item. 

[matio57]

Well that's buggered that plan then, thought you only had to pay duty tax on gifts up to £630 but didn't see that you still had to pay VAT. Thanks

[tom_w141]

2 minutes ago, matio57 said:

Well that's buggered that plan then, thought you only had to pay duty tax on gifts up to £630 but didn't see that you still had to pay VAT. Thanks

Buggers it legally... Illegally however... Ever ordered anything from China that was free shipping? That's because the Chinese seller declared the value at like $2 with the description "toy"

[Oshino Shinobu]

Just now, matio57 said:

Well that's buggered that plan then, thought you only had to pay duty tax on gifts up to £630 but didn't see that you still had to pay VAT. Thanks

It's basically there to stop exactly this from happening. Unless it's below the VAT threshold, or if you're bringing the items back with you on a flight, it's almost always more expensive to buy things internationally. If your friend was flying to the UK at some point, then it would be cheaper, but as they'd have to be sent via courier, you have to pay import and VAT. 

 

 

[Oshino Shinobu]

Just now, tom_w141 said:

Buggers it legally... Illegally however... Ever ordered anything from China that was free shipping? That's because the Chinese seller declared the value at like $2 with the description "toy"

You're buggered if customs decide to open it up though.

[tom_w141]

1 minute ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

You're buggered if customs decide to open it up though.

Yes but the chance is slim especially as you are an individual not a business

[Oshino Shinobu]

Just now, tom_w141 said:

Yes but the chance is slim especially as you are an individual not a business

Depends really. If everything come in one shipment, they're more likely to open it up. 

 

But yeah, it's mostly business shipments that get checked. Recently had some stock come in from China and Pakistan and every shipment has at least one box opened. Turns out customs workers can't repackage things for shit either