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Question for any UK person who has ordered from OWC
- Thread starter peejack
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I would have thought it would just be VAT, and Royal Mail will let you know before they deliver it. But I have never bought anything expensive from another country so I don't know.
As well as VAT you also have to pay a customs handling fee. Not sure how much this is though. I was thinking of buying from OWC but think I'll wait til crucial have it in stocl.
It's fedEX though not royal mail.
I just wanted to see what the charges are and how they go about collecting them.
I may wait for Crucial too.
I bought something from eBay in America once and ParcelForce delivered it (although the same as Royal Mail in a way), and I had to go and collect the item from their local depot and pay the fee while I was there.
They send you a bill for the VAT charges after the fact.
Crucial will cost a lot more.
So you dont pay the driver when he delivers? How much did it cost you in total, you brought 2x2gb, thats what I want. What were the VAT and handling fees?
My main concern with buying from outside the UK would be where do you stand if it a) doesn't work on arrival, or b) develops some fault several months down the line.
No.
The fees are negligible. I am not even sure that FedEx charges an extra fee. I think it is part of the service.
Yeah, that's right. You get a letter afterward with the amount you need to pay and a bank giro slip attached.
Funnily enough, I had my own nappy business importing from the US using Fed-Ex and I don't remember if you have to pay a clearing fee. It's been a few years since I quit the biz.
Although, just for sake of mentioning. Anything over £18 is eligible for customs duty and VAT. If they mark it as a gift it goes up to £36. There is more on the HMRC website on that.
i ordered 16GB (2gb sticks) on the 17th, ($811 inc. shipping) they shipped via FedEx on the 23rd, on the 24th got a call from FedEx asking to pay customs charges over the phone which came to £83.71 (which i always expected to have to pay).. without customs it should have been here yesterday, but its coming on monday now.
I went with FedEx because i read they were better than DHL for getting through customs, i found out during the phone call that FedEx now just get the payment upfront to avoid any hassles, so i think you will definitely have to pay the customs if using FedEx.. but even still you are saving a significant amount of money... going by the US suppliers the 800MHz is more expensive than the 2007 Mac Pro 667MHz RAM, so i don't see why that won't be the case when companies like Crucial UK start stocking it, so don't expect them to charge the same as what they have the 667MHz Ram listed at. But even at that price, and with customs i saved more than £200.
I went with FedEx because i read they were better than DHL for getting through customs, i found out during the phone call that FedEx now just get the payment upfront to avoid any hassles, so i think you will definitely have to pay the customs if using FedEx.. but even still you are saving a significant amount of money... going by the US suppliers the 800MHz is more expensive than the 2007 Mac Pro 667MHz RAM, so i don't see why that won't be the case when companies like Crucial UK start stocking it, so don't expect them to charge the same as what they have the 667MHz Ram listed at. But even at that price, and with customs i saved more than £200.
I tracked my DHL order from USA to europe ... the stuff left early morning and arrived in my office the day after (payed the taxt to the delivery guy).
DHL IS GREAT
OWC RAM for Mac Pro (Christof in London, UK)
HI FOLKS.... well i received on Monday 21st my mac Pro 2.8 8 core with 2 gB RAM. 10 mins later, UPS Express arrived with my 4 GB extra RAM from OWC. ...firstly I paid $199 plus $48 express shipping. Then, to the UPS driver, I paid £22 "import vat" plus £11 "brokerage fees". Still hugely cheaper than anything we're gonna get in the UK, so why not? Data Memory Systems and TransIntl.com are both selling similar priced RAM in the US at the moment.
Sadly, during the course of an exhausting "transfer stuff" week, though I didn't get any of the video card problems or sleep restart issues..I got a couple of odd freezes, then did the Apple Hardware test and got a memory error with the OWC RAM in (4MEM/9/40000006: B:1 C:1 R:1) and after more tests with REMBER and with re-checking the System Profiler, they all showed there was a fault with one of the RAM sticks from OWC. Bad luck I guess....shipped back to OWC yesterday with an OWC RMA number (returns number) and hopefully I'll eventually get a replacement. Shame cos with 6GB RAM, Logic Pro 8 is nicely functioning, whereas with 2GB now, no good.
By the way, having read so many forums this week, it does seem like these early machines are like every Mac tower has been since the G3s, always some problems...and I guess we're all kinda beta-testers really. Other point. It does seem pretty clear that the more RAm, the better, but a symmetrical RAM set up involving the number 4 seems best...ie 4 x 1gb 4 x 2gb or 8 of each of course. Me? I'm hoping I get fresh ram from OWC that's 100% good, and I've also ordered from DMS another 2 2gb sticks hopefully ending up with 4 x 2 gigs RAM plus the apple 2gb...Phew. I'm going to bed...hope some of the above helped.
ps guy from Crucial UK said their RAM is gonna be PRICEY.....
HI FOLKS.... well i received on Monday 21st my mac Pro 2.8 8 core with 2 gB RAM. 10 mins later, UPS Express arrived with my 4 GB extra RAM from OWC. ...firstly I paid $199 plus $48 express shipping. Then, to the UPS driver, I paid £22 "import vat" plus £11 "brokerage fees". Still hugely cheaper than anything we're gonna get in the UK, so why not? Data Memory Systems and TransIntl.com are both selling similar priced RAM in the US at the moment.
Sadly, during the course of an exhausting "transfer stuff" week, though I didn't get any of the video card problems or sleep restart issues..I got a couple of odd freezes, then did the Apple Hardware test and got a memory error with the OWC RAM in (4MEM/9/40000006: B:1 C:1 R:1) and after more tests with REMBER and with re-checking the System Profiler, they all showed there was a fault with one of the RAM sticks from OWC. Bad luck I guess....shipped back to OWC yesterday with an OWC RMA number (returns number) and hopefully I'll eventually get a replacement. Shame cos with 6GB RAM, Logic Pro 8 is nicely functioning, whereas with 2GB now, no good.
By the way, having read so many forums this week, it does seem like these early machines are like every Mac tower has been since the G3s, always some problems...and I guess we're all kinda beta-testers really. Other point. It does seem pretty clear that the more RAm, the better, but a symmetrical RAM set up involving the number 4 seems best...ie 4 x 1gb 4 x 2gb or 8 of each of course. Me? I'm hoping I get fresh ram from OWC that's 100% good, and I've also ordered from DMS another 2 2gb sticks hopefully ending up with 4 x 2 gigs RAM plus the apple 2gb...Phew. I'm going to bed...hope some of the above helped.
ps guy from Crucial UK said their RAM is gonna be PRICEY.....
I'd ordered 2 x 2Gb sticks from OWC, paid 210 + 27 shipping (US Dollars)... just been given a bill for £33 (UK Pounds) from Fed Ex to cover VAT etc.
Works out about 160 quid in total, not too bad considering on the US Crucial site they have 2 x 1 GB listed currently for 310 US !
Works out about 160 quid in total, not too bad considering on the US Crucial site they have 2 x 1 GB listed currently for 310 US !
Mac Pro RAM
Well, just got 2 x 2GB RAM replacement sticks from OWC and exactly the same sticks from Trans Intl....
All in all (10 GB) working super well...USA RAM comes to about £ 150 per 4 GB here in the UK, and as there's none available at all yet in the UK, it's all we've got!
Why Crucial UK are being so slow, no idea, they've just only re-posted PC2-5300 RAM for the last Mac Pros.......
Well, just got 2 x 2GB RAM replacement sticks from OWC and exactly the same sticks from Trans Intl....
All in all (10 GB) working super well...USA RAM comes to about £ 150 per 4 GB here in the UK, and as there's none available at all yet in the UK, it's all we've got!
Why Crucial UK are being so slow, no idea, they've just only re-posted PC2-5300 RAM for the last Mac Pros.......
I ordered 4 x 2GB from OWC and it cost $468 with tax and shipping. Here in UK I paid another £53 for import duty and handling fee. This comes out to about £300 in total.
This is much less than the £672 for the same amount of ram from Crucial here in UK.
This is much less than the £672 for the same amount of ram from Crucial here in UK.
Thanks for all of the info, guys.
I'm looking at 8GB RAM (4GB x 2) for $749. It's $47.72 for delivery, so about £400. On Crucial.com/uk it's £620 for 8GB.
By the looks of things, it'd be cheaper to buy 16GB From OWC than 8GB from Crucial UK.
I'm looking at 8GB RAM (4GB x 2) for $749. It's $47.72 for delivery, so about £400. On Crucial.com/uk it's £620 for 8GB.
By the looks of things, it'd be cheaper to buy 16GB From OWC than 8GB from Crucial UK.
How do you calculate £400 + £400 + tax to be less than £620?
I think you better read his post again.
As for the duty tax, 17.5% is correct.
Just got an email saying OWC shipped my 4x2gb kit (Im in the UK). Ill post my experience when it arrives. (I chose FedEx)