Cost of importing goods from overseas

Unanticipated costs consume what was expected to have been profits. Consequently, it's essential to double check when determining the complete cost of importing goods

Transport and the overall cost of importing goods from offshore

When you decide to obtain a quote straight from a freight forwarder, you must meticulously look over your offer to ensure that no additional costs will show up during the transport process.

Customs duty and VAT on the merchandise and on the shipping

Customs duty

Usually, there aren't customs duty on the shipping or products when sending from one EU country to another. Nonetheless, you will discover some exclusions, e.g. with alcoholic drinks and tobacco.

In most cases, there's always customs fees on merchandise and the shipping when goods cross EU borders, e.g. from USA to UK or India to UK.

VAT

If you're importing goods from another EU country, most commonly it is the freight forwarder who collects the VAT on the transport. If you're importing goods from a non EU country, you aren't going to be charged VAT on the delivery by the freight forwarder. Alternatively, HMRev will collect VAT on both the merchandise and the shipping when the merchandise are passing through customs.

Transport insurance

It's always a great idea to purchase a transport insurance when you buy shipping. An insurance for ordinary freight commonly only costs 1% of the worth of your merchandise and the delivery, however the cost can fluctuate from supplier to supplier, destination to destination, and dependant on particular varieties of merchandise.

Calculating the cost of importing goods

Hopefully the information helps you to calculate your total costs of importing. If you have still got any concerns, you're welcome to contact Speedshift for assistance.

Speedshift | Importing Goods?  call 0845 519 0270