Buyer beware

[Yozzer]

Hello everyone 

I thought to share  a recent experience with you all to make you aware off what to expect when making purchases from the U.S of A.   So I decided to purchase a silver coin from the USMint As recent as last night,  I thought I’d try a silver proof American Silver Eagle ( standard US Coin from the said Mint) it was a little more than I expected to pay however I thought in the scheme of things let’s give it run for the sake of experience say.

the cost of the exercise is thus...... in dollars

coin.. 64.50

shipping & handling..20.85 ( yes nearly one third the cost already )

then today I receive an email to pay the import duty! Whaaaaaaat ?.. yes another whopping £ 26.04 POUNDS!!  ( 33.33 dollars

so in total 118.68 dollars for one Troy ounce of Silver 

Bargain!

[MickD]

Aye, sore one.

[Melon]

You weren't expecting to pay VAT when this went through customs? 

You also get hit with the carrier fee for processing through customs and paying duty for you. i.e. DHL charge £11 on top of the VAT. 

Bit of a learning exercise I guess, but on the bright side better to learn it with 1 silver coin than a monster box 😄

[Yozzer]

Yes. Absolutely correct!

ambushed would be an understatement.

I dipped my toe in the water for this one however the lessons learned are that it is so much easier and less expensive to ship purchases from Europe 

9 hours ago, Melon said:

You weren't expecting to pay VAT when this went through customs? 

You also get hit with the carrier fee for processing through customs and paying duty for you. i.e. DHL charge £11 on top of the VAT. 

Bit of a learning exercise I guess, but on the bright side better to learn it with 1 silver coin than a monster box 😄

  

[TeaTime]

I've done the same with rounds bought direct from Silver Shield (goldensate mint) - silver at spot seems like a bargain until you get clobbered for insured shipping and duty. Nearly always turns out to be cheaper buying from a UK dealer or silver forums

 

[Yozzer]

22 minutes ago, TeaTime said:

I've done the same with rounds bought direct from Silver Shield (goldensate mint) - silver at spot seems like a bargain until you get clobbered for insured shipping and duty. Nearly always turns out to be cheaper buying from a UK dealer or silver forums

 

Yep.. totally get it, I tried this with one coin just to test the pricing system as a friend in the music industry had bought music studio gear from the .U.S a while ago and was stung with the add ons. (he warned me to be cautious)

we are lucky in that we have the silver forum and European mint..goldsiver.be etc, the list goes on they all have their delays in getting metal to you at a times however I now know where ,what, and who I am buying from with a certain degree of confidence, here’s to the shiny stuff 🍻.

[oOMASOo]

I buy from a few sellers from the US on Ebay, they ship for 3-5$ to the Netherlands. List value as 1, mail it like a letter and up to 5oz sail through customs, time and time again...probably won't last 

[airmac]

That's why I send things to the family in the states and bring back with me when I visit