Advice when buying from USA

Shanewalsh

Hey Guys

Was going to buy myself a rifle from evike.com and they told me that even tho i was living in Ireland they still by law had to paint the tip orange. Is This true that its the law even tho they are shipping to Ireland?

Im sorry if this is a noob question i dont have experience buying guns online from outside of Ireland.

Shiva

Shanewalsh wrote: »

Hey Guys

Was going to buy myself a rifle from evike.com and they told me that even tho i was living in Ireland they still by law had to paint the tip orange. Is This true that its the law even tho they are shipping to Ireland?

Im sorry if this is a noob question i dont have experience buying guns online from outside of Ireland.

I believe it has something to do with US customs law - there's nothing stopping you painting the tip black or replacing the flash hider once you receive the gun.

Inari

Is their any particular reason why you're ordering from Evike, as opposed to the likes of RSOV, EhobbyAsia etc?

Puding

unless the trademarks are licences they will be destroyed ( or covered and take the risk ) to go thought customs, they take IP protection a little bit more seriously.

all airsoft devices need to have a orange front end of a sufficient size when being shipped, there is some debate and confusion as to if it is still needed after shipping but that is purely an issue for domestic USA ( be it a replacement flash hider or painted section ) once you have the rif you can take this off

many people stay away from US shops due to the trademark restrictions and also the relatively high shipping costs

Shanewalsh

Thanks for the feedback guys. I have priced a rifle with Ehobby and found the same product on evike for almost half the price.

I have bought from Evike before and i am quite happy with them just never purchased a gun. But i will take the advice and stick with ehobby.

NakedDex

Remember to take all charges into account. It won't seem like so much of a bargain when you have added on courier charges, courier admin charges, customs and whatever else they can tack onto it.

I'll offer an example of my own to explain. I ordered a Gamma Claymore from Redwolf back when the exchange rate was fantastically in favour of buying from sites dealing in US dollars. The Claymore itself was working out just over €120. Once shipping was added on, and customs got their pound of flesh, followed by the courier demanding extra money for doing what I paid them to do in the first place (they added a further charge for taking it back off customs and delivering it the rest of the way to me), plus the admin charge for the whole situation, the Claymore had now come to €215.
Just shy of €100 in delivery and delivery related charges.

I'm not at all saying don't go looking around the web for deals on unusual things, but if you can find it in Ireland it'll work out cheaper in the long run. If you're going online to get it, do be aware of the extra charges, and be prepared to have cash waiting to pay the delivery company at the door for the extra charges incurred from customs and for the company's service of collecting it from customs to finish the delivery.

Shanewalsh

Will i be hit with a charge from customs if i import an AEG from Japan? I calculated the cost of the product to about €330. I will explain more

i am looking at buying these 2 items
Tokyo Marui G3 SG-1 Airsoft AEG $305 (€239.68)


http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/tokyo-marui-g3-sg-1-airsoft-aeg.html

King Arms H&K 500rd Hi-Cap Metal Magazine for G3 AEG $25.50 (€20.03)


http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/king-arms-magazine-g3-h-k-500rd.html

Which works out to: €259.71 ( $330.50 ) + Shipping $81.00 = $411.50

Grand total: €323.37

Where as i cant find any in Ireland for sale except for the Taktik 2 in ATS for €330

If i am going to get hit with a customs charge what damage do you think it would be so i can prepare for it?

moggser

roughly add around 25% of that on to the price and that should be more then enough

if you go with ehobby they send it with UPS and they will put customs and their own little charge of 13.50 on to it so be prepared for a rough guess of 80 snots on top of your price

Shanewalsh

yikes they certainly know how to make there money.

Shiva

If its eHobby, they'll use UPS, in which case you're 100% guaranteed to get hit for VAT.

So take the cost of the goods, plus shipping - in your case 323.37

Multiply that by 1.21 to get the VAT due, which make it 391.27.
Then add 13.50 admin charge that UPS ask for because they very kindly processed your package through customs.

Final figure to you should be €404.

Depending on the customs officer who processes the package, you might also get hit with import duty from 1% to 5%, but thats unusual. It depends how he decides to classify the goods. Theres literally thousands of categories he could place it in, but you'll most likely have it classified as a non-duty item.

Stercus Accidit

Its generally not worth getting airsoft guns from the US unless you live in the US, all their stuff is imported from HK anyway, so you may as well get it from HK yourself.

Leftyflip

Shiva wrote: »

If its eHobby, they'll use UPS, in which case you're 100% guaranteed to get hit for VAT.

I've gotten about 4 orders from Ehobby sent by UPS and not once have I been hit by tax, I must be lucky so.

Shiva

Leftyflip wrote: »

I've gotten about 4 orders from Ehobby sent by UPS and not once have I been hit by tax, I must be lucky so.

Yeah? I've been hit every single time. I thought it was their policy to process everything. Were they over the VAT threshold, yeah ?

Leftyflip

Shiva wrote: »

Yeah? I've been hit every single time. I thought it was their policy to process everything. Were they over the VAT threshold, yeah ?

Aye, by quite a bit.

Puding

Leftyflip wrote: »

Aye, by quite a bit.

all i can say is lucky you

Rooky1

Leftyflip wrote: »

I've gotten about 4 orders from Ehobby sent by UPS and not once have I been hit by tax, I must be lucky so.

You are a lucky git!!:D

Every order I get through UPS or TNT, etc I get hit with duty.
Even on small orders.

So I think I will be asking you to order for me from now on:D:):D

cheecch251

I used to work for UPS and i'm just letting you lads know that it is their policy to make sure anything from outside the EU will have Vat applied . When the packages are sorted these items from oustide the EU are seperated from the rest and are checked individualy and there is a guy whose job it is to place a duty envelope and sticker on it and the place it on the van by hand. This is to ensure the driver collects the money ,also the charge UPS apply to collecting duty is a major part of their revenue so the make sure the value has been checked with the sender.

Just a side note to watch UPS are such a big company that the odd package that goes missing or is damaged (which is most of the time) isnt realy a big deal to them. Having worked there i personaly wouldnt send or order from a site that ships with them , I know what goes on in there when they are sorting the packages.