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Seen some rare earth magnets on ebay (from back 2 base-ix), they are up for about £3.20ish, what I'd like to know is postage is 'free'.... am I likely to get a fee for importing etc that would make it not worth the hassle?
Unless anyone can point me in the direction of a UK supplier for 50 2x1mm magnets for a similar price?

I import stuff from the UK via ebay all the time and have never had to pay more than the postage as advertised.
Back 2 base-ix give good service, I'd send the guy a message, most likely if you are logged in to ebay and it says free postage, it's free postage.

Import duties most likely only apply if you are receiving goods over a certain monetary amount , unless you are ordering hundreds of magnets you should be safe.

Thanks for the reply, just first time I've considered buying from abroad and don't want to get stung (not by the seller, but by our waste of space government)

Yeah, commonwealth countries, the EU, and, strangely, China, are generally ok.

Anything from the States has a higher than average chance of being caught though, for some reason.

If it were to be picked up, you'd be liable for VAT on the selling price plus a Post Office fee of £8, but I order from abroad a lot, and its only US that has ever given me issues, and then only perhaps a third of the time.

That said, there's loads of UK places with free postage for magnets, spidermagnets on eBay have just shipped me a couple of orders and were brilliant both times.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/spidermagnets


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and while its cool to wail on the govt, in this case, expecting you to pay taxes that are due on your purchases isn't exactly the worst thing they do.

Also, for some reason, many countries get stung by import fees (at any value) - whereas, in Aus, we only pay them on objects valued at $1000 or more.

 chromedog wrote:
Also, for some reason, many countries get stung by import fees (at any value) - whereas, in Aus, we only pay them on objects valued at $1000 or more.

I hear they're going to lower that to a $500 limit at some point though.

 Maddermax wrote:

 chromedog wrote:
Also, for some reason, many countries get stung by import fees (at any value) - whereas, in Aus, we only pay them on objects valued at $1000 or more.

I hear they're going to lower that to a $500 limit at some point though.

That's the rumor and what Aus retailers want but it isn't going to happen because it actually costs the government more to charge the tax on goods under $1000 than what they would make back from it.

Also want to point out how wierd it is to see how apprehensive a lot of non-Australians are to purchasing stuff from overseas, to us it's almost second nature. I've heard that quite a few kickstarters struggle to get funding because it is in pounds not $US.

Gerry Harvey wants it lowered.

Only because the Aussie consumers cottoned onto something he had been doing for years and he didn't like it.

Doesn't mean it's going to happen.
Also, sometimes the duties CAN be levied on something valued at less than $1000 but that's generally a commercial operation.

 Madcat87 wrote:

 Maddermax wrote:

 chromedog wrote:
Also, for some reason, many countries get stung by import fees (at any value) - whereas, in Aus, we only pay them on objects valued at $1000 or more.

I hear they're going to lower that to a $500 limit at some point though.

That's the rumor and what Aus retailers want but it isn't going to happen because it actually costs the government more to charge the tax on goods under $1000 than what they would make back from it.
Also want to point out how wierd it is to see how apprehensive a lot of non-Australians are to purchasing stuff from overseas, to us it's almost second nature. I've heard that quite a few kickstarters struggle to get funding because it is in pounds not $US.

It actually used to be $500. It was based on the ethos of "if we can collect $50, then we will charge it, if not it's not worth the time." This was over a decade ago, though, so it was good news when I found it had been raised to $1k.

UK customs will by law impose fees on an import worth more than £18. In addition to the fees on the actual value, they will charge for the postage and also a handling fee usually of £8. This can make a relatively cheap item very expensive if you are unlucky.

You can buy rare earth magnets cheaply in the UK so I would not bother with the hassle of getting them from Australia. Google will help you find suppliers.

Use these, uk based, low prices, quick service

http://www.ebay.co.uk/spider_magnets/

Thanks for the info, I found the magnets I need on the above link :-)

If a mod could now lock this please :-)