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OWC Ram to UK, how much are customs?

2contagious

2contagious

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 29, 2008
755
0
UK
Hi,

I have never ordered from the US before, but I'm interested in buying some OWC ram for a Mac Pro hexacore and getting it shipped to London, UK. Has anyone done this before? How much are custom fees/VAT? I've asked this a couple of times in other threads, but nobody has commented on this - there must be SOMEONE who has done this before :confused::(

Are the fees always different depending on what the item is and how much it costs or is there a certain percentage? I've read somewhere it's 21% for customs and VAT, is that true?

Any info is greaattly appreciated ;)

see you,
2c
 
That sounds about right - Royal Mail put a £10-20 fee on for clearing then you pay the VAT on the amount.

(I haven't done it for ram but thats what happened with my iPad).
 
Is there any specific reason for settling with the OWC RAM?

In fact there are less than a hand full (3 IIRC) of chip fabricators these days, which means that you can get absolutely equal RAM from other vendors, even in the UK. ;)


Should be cheaper than paying for additional taxes and shipping.
 
Transporteur said:
Is there any specific reason for settling with the OWC RAM?

In fact there are less than a hand full (3 IIRC) of chip fabricators these days, which means that you can get absolutely equal RAM from other vendors, even in the UK. ;)


Should be cheaper than paying for additional taxes and shipping.
Click to expand...

It actually works out about 120 pounds cheaper per stick (if the 21% is true:confused:)
 
2contagious said:
It actually works out about 120 pounds cheaper per stick (if the 21% is true:confused:)
Click to expand...

120 quid less per stick? :eek:

I can get a 4GB stick 1333 for roughly 140€ over in Germany, and I didn't even look at cheap online stores.
Where did you look for the sticks in the UK?

Edit: Less than 130€ per 4GB stick which is specifically advertised to work with the Mac Pro from Transcend.
 
Check out crucial, they're not that expensive at all.

Bear in mind if something goes wrong with the ram you have to send it to America and have new ones sent out (which may incur another charge)
 
sochet said:
Check out crucial, they're not that expensive at all.

Bear in mind if something goes wrong with the ram you have to send it to America and have new ones sent out (which may incur another charge)
Click to expand...

While Crucial are the same sort of price for 2GB and 4GB DIMMs there is over £120 difference in 8GB DIMMs (£240@OWC vs £360).
 
Crucial's DIMMs are registered as well which will ever so slightly impair performance.

I ordered 24 gig of RAM from OWC to the UK with a 240 gig SSD. Paid £213 for customs and handling which is around 20%. I just paid UPS on collection. Delivered in 48 hours. Brilliant!
 
costabunny said:
That sounds about right - Royal Mail put a £10-20 fee on for clearing then you pay the VAT on the amount.
Click to expand...

Its been a while since I imported anything but if memory serves it was approx 20% import duty + 17.5% VAT and then the PO handling charge.

I tried to look up on the HMRC site - but its too convoluted to quickly understand. Every item comes under a different category. Probably best to call the PO or HMRC to get the specifics.

EDIT:"Alternatively the VAT, Excise and Customs Helpline on Tel 0845 010 9000" says the HMRC.
 
stujmac26 said:
Crucial's DIMMs are registered as well which will ever so slightly impair performance.

I ordered 24 gig of RAM from OWC to the UK with a 240 gig SSD. Paid £213 for customs and handling which is around 20%. I just paid UPS on collection. Delivered in 48 hours. Brilliant!
Click to expand...

Which one you choose?
 
VAT is 17.5%. OWC are first rate at markig the product value on the package so the right VAT is charged.

If you get Royal Mail delivery, they gold onto your package until you go to the sorting office and pay the VAT and another £10-£14, plus VAT on that.

If you get DHL delivery, they deliver immediately and bill you for the 17.5% VAT and an admin fee of something like £0.50, maybe as much as £1.50, which you can pay online with MasterCard, etc.

For me, DHL was a pleasure, Royal Mail / US Postal Service was slow and expensive.
 
stujmac26 said:
Crucial's DIMMs are registered as well which will ever so slightly impair performance.
Click to expand...

Please explain.

Memory benchmarks I have done actually show some registered modules to be higher performance than unbuffered in this machine, specifically 8GB modules.
Granted, the modules I tested were not crucial.
 
stujmac26 said:
Crucial's DIMMs are registered as well which will ever so slightly impair performance.

I ordered 24 gig of RAM from OWC to the UK with a 240 gig SSD. Paid £213 for customs and handling which is around 20%. I just paid UPS on collection. Delivered in 48 hours. Brilliant!
Click to expand...

If you have 8GB DIMMs from OWC they are registered memory too. You can't get unbuffered 8GB DIMMs.
 
Umbongo said:
If you have 8GB DIMMs from OWC they are registered memory too. You can't get unbuffered 8GB DIMMs.
Click to expand...

Samsung makes them, but its cheaper to stick gold bars in the memory sockets. As you said, OWC 8GB are registered.
 
LXguy said:
Samsung makes them, but its cheaper to stick gold bars in the memory sockets. As you said, OWC 8GB are registered.
Click to expand...

They only started mass production recently, so they aren't in the market place yet as far as I know.
 
Crucial's 8GB stick, part CT1431610, is not listed in the online store. You have to call them up. The online store only lists sets of 2 or 3. The single stick of 8GB RAM costs £359.99 ex-VAT (!) So you're paying £422.99 including VAT.

OWC's 8GB stick costs $369.99, which is £239 excluding shipping, customs etc. If customs are 21%, then for this stick customs should be £50.19. Shipping is $27.71 = £18 pounds with Fedex Priority. Add that up and you get 307 pounds for the RAM, shipping and customs.

422.99 - 307 = 115.99 pounds difference per stick.

Say you buy three 8GB sticks for max. bandwidth, you save 347.97 pounds going down the OWC route compared to Crucial in the UK. You could even get a 4th stick for the money you saved and you'd still have some money left.
Now, all of this is based on 21% fees to be paid extra- Only problem is: Are customs really 21%? Some people are saying it's "20% import duty + 17.5% VAT", some are saying all they paid was "around 20%" in extra total, some say it was 21%. I'm confused about what exactly is "customs", what is "duty" and what is "VAT", as in... which ones exactly have to be paid :confused:
 
2contagious said:
Only problem is: Are customs really 21%? Some people are saying it's "20% import duty + 17.5% VAT", some are saying all they paid was "around 20%" in extra total, some say it was 21%. I'm confused about what exactly is "customs", what is "duty" and what is "VAT", as in... which ones exactly have to be paid :confused:
Click to expand...

So let me clarify. My OWC order came to $1,809.70. Excluding shipping it was $1,753.97. Order placed on 23rd August, on which day the closing F/X rate according to Bloomberg was £1 = $1.5512, so my order value for goods was approximately £1,130. Can't be exact as I don't know exactly how the F/X rate is calculated for tax purposes - probably at the point it enters the country, but I'm not sure.

This bit is from memory, but I am fairly certain of the tax amounts - will check when I get home later and update this to be more precise. So I paid £213 in taxes which included a £10 fee for handling the payment (charged by UPS but possibly on-charged to them by customs & revenue). We're then looking at £203 left to account for which is just under 18% of the value of the goods per the above calculation.

So in conclusion you pay VAT at 17.5% plus some small fees, and it should come out to around 18% or so of the value of your goods.

Hope that helps

Stuart
 
I've just done the same (24GB + SSD from OWC into UK) so can clarify:

In the UK, memory products are exempt from duty under an EU code called the TARIC. Search for 'TARIC CODES' and navigate through the various types to reach electronic components (which will say 'including memory products' or something to that effect).

It means that bringing RAM and SSDs into the UK you only pay 17.5% VAT on both the items and the shipping charge, then any admin fees, but no duty.
 
sochet said:
Check out crucial, they're not that expensive at all.
Click to expand...

Likewise, I've always bought my Mac memory from Crucial. However I've raised another thread about whether the temperature sensor is important since Crucial's memory doesn't have it. OWC's memory does have the temperature sensor.

sochet said:
Bear in mind if something goes wrong with the ram you have to send it to America and have new ones sent out (which may incur another charge)
Click to expand...

I've talked to OWC this morning. You pay for shipping back to the US, they pay for shipping the replacement item (which they only do after they have received the faulty goods back).

So you'll incur an extra shipping cost and, likely, 6-10 business days before you receive the replacement.

The OWC guy I spoke to said it might be possible for them to test the items before dispatch. This would add a small delay but reduce the likely of needing to return something. I'm waiting to confirm this with a sales guy.

Matt
 
Thanks guys, great news that you only have to pay VAT + small charge :)
I'll definitely be ordering from OWC then. I have a good feeling about this :D
 
2contagious said:
Thanks guys, great news that you only have to pay VAT + small charge :)
I'll definitely be ordering from OWC then. I have a good feeling about this :D
Click to expand...

How about crucial in the UK, they are excellent? Oh I see. OWC - I was looking at them for SSD as boot for my Octo too.
 
M Zorin said:
I've just done the same (24GB + SSD from OWC into UK) so can clarify:

In the UK, memory products are exempt from duty under an EU code called the TARIC. Search for 'TARIC CODES' and navigate through the various types to reach electronic components (which will say 'including memory products' or something to that effect).

It means that bringing RAM and SSDs into the UK you only pay 17.5% VAT on both the items and the shipping charge, then any admin fees, but no duty.
Click to expand...

Interesting information. Do you know if this applies in the Netherlands? You said EU, so I would presume so, can you clarify?

It's not a huge issue though, I have a visit to the UK planned in a few weeks anyway. I'll let my Mom pay the vat if you are unsure. ;)
 
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