American Sellers For A Scope Import

[Farmerpalmer]

Can anyone recommend a US etail business from which to buy, for example, a Leupold Scope. As the exchange rate is looking good, I wondered if it would be cheaper to import, or should I go to Sportsman or opticswarehouse.

[Recurve]

Been looking at a site called binoculars.com

Not sure how they compare price wise (other than the prices seem to be the same number in $ as we pay in £!), but they do include a shipping calculator in their checkout for the UK. Interestingly if you go through to checkout, it will quote you a much lower s&h charge than if you click on the blue 'shipping calculator' button.

HTH, Phil

[Farmerpalmer]

Had 2 PMs from 2 different people recommending smartgunner.com as well.

$380 seems to be the US price for a FX-III / M8 6x42
which is £200 - plus carriage and VAT (if I get caught)

These are £280 from opticswarehouse, and £285 from Sportsman

[Paul.]

Go to the sportsman then Shaun :) new scope and a nice cup of tea with keith! wish I still lived relatively close.

[Farmerpalmer]

Anyone tried these people :

http://stores.************/D-R-Sports-Center-United-Kingdom

replace the *s with a famous auction site ;)

[Davestate]

Had 2 PMs from 2 different people recommending smartgunner.com as well.

Superb chap is Tommy, you won't find anywhere better.:)

[rustynator]

they will post it as a gift so you shouldnt have to pay customs tax if your lucky,


I have always wondered about the penalties for getting caught whilst avoiding paying customs tax, in effect you are cheating the goverment out of money. What would happen if they discovered that you were avoiding VAT. For example by shipping as a gift or marking down the price of the item on the customs form? At a minimum I would guess that they would make you pay the VAT back, but would you have to pay a fine or even worse...serve prison time etc.?

[JSD]

you will serve time in alcatraz, just like al capone !
rgds.. J.S.D.

[Spanner.]

I have always wondered about the penalties for getting caught whilst avoiding paying customs tax, in effect you are cheating the goverment out of money. What would happen if they discovered that you were avoiding VAT. For example by shipping as a gift or marking down the price of the item on the customs form? At a minimum I would guess that they would make you pay the VAT back, but would you have to pay a fine or even worse...serve prison time etc.?

I think they cheat us out of enough don't you:D

[rustynator]

you will serve time in alcatraz, just like al capone !
rgds.. J.S.D.

Seriously??? :D :D :D

[Berne]

http://www.riflescopes.com/departments/16/rifle_scopes.htm

[Recurve]

http://www.riflescopes.com/departments/16/rifle_scopes.htm

Get as far as checkout and find that they will only ship to the US :(

[David]

I think you wil find that even if the scope is sent as a gift it may still be liable to V.A.T., Import Duty, Handling Fee.
Typically the lot will add 30 % to the USA price.
I am expecting delivery of two used scopes from the U.S.A. anyday now and if the Customs have noticed them I will let you know how the charges work out :(

[David]

Well - Happy to say my last post was wrong or at least in this case not right :D .
My scopes arrived today all the way from Virginia USA within 7 days. No Customs, no hassle, only what looks like two excellent scopes. At the price I paid its worth taking a chance on the Customs/V.AT./Import Duty front.:)

[lance]

Been looking at a site called binoculars.com

Not sure how they compare price wise (other than the prices seem to be the same number in $ as we pay in £!), but they do include a shipping calculator in their checkout for the UK. Interestingly if you go through to checkout, it will quote you a much lower s&h charge than if you click on the blue 'shipping calculator' button.

HTH, Phil

yes. excellent

brought a bushnell elite 3200 10x40 from them about 18 months ago
and a bushnell lrf. both arrived in just 3 days with standard 3-5 day fedex
delivery. had to pay a small duty charge on them, as fedex pay the duty for you and then you re,imburse fed ex the amount. this is via a letter which you receive about a week later both were only about 20 quid if i remeber right.
even after i paid the duty both were still around fifty quid cheaper than
over here.and the exchange rate was lower than it is now

atb
lance

[wrigles]

Can anyone recommend a US etail business from which to buy, for example, a Leupold Scope. As the exchange rate is looking good, I wondered if it would be cheaper to import, or should I go to Sportsman or opticswarehouse.

you could try colorado optics , ive baught a couple of burris scopes off them in the past with success.

[Air Ranger 658]

Hi, I just bought a Harris Bi pod from Cabelas.com from the US.
The price worked out at £80.00. But I had to pay £14.50 custom import tax.

I could have got the same Bi pod from Utterings for the same price.

Think I'll stay in the UK in future.

[PALADIN]

Hi, I just bought a Harris Bi pod from Cabelas.com from the US.
The price worked out at £80.00. But I had to pay £14.50 custom import tax.
I could have got the same Bi pod from Utterings for the same price.
Think I'll stay in the UK in future.

Unfortunately too late now :(

but if buying from US
this seller..............*dnrsports*uk.......on ébay is brilliant :)
gift and speedy shipping,

may help next time though.


HIH ;)


Pete

[rossandjet]

Can anyone recommend a US etail business from which to buy, for example, a Leupold Scope. As the exchange rate is looking good, I wondered if it would be cheaper to import, or should I go to Sportsman or opticswarehouse.


I purchased a Bushnell Elite 4200 4-16x50 from Fox Optics on E***.com, the deal was done without any problems with all emails answered and they did what they said they would do. :) :) But I still had to pay the duty.:(

[stevie h]

Well - Happy to say my last post was wrong or at least in this case not right :D .
My scopes arrived today all the way from Virginia USA within 7 days. No Customs, no hassle, only what looks like two excellent scopes. At the price I paid its worth taking a chance on the Customs/V.AT./Import Duty front.:)
what was the name or web site you got your scopes from ??? thanks

[mikewills8904]

try bear basin outfitters had to from them 10 mths ago just ordered a leupold comp 45

bill is contact good people

[18 Wheeler]

Bear Basin are a good setup, just remember there's a -8hr time difference if phoning,they do reply to e-mail promptly. They also have a minimum $600 order value for overseas orders and don't ask them to put "gift etc" on the package to try and avoid any Duty, they won't be impressed!

[foxshooter]

Why not get a quote from Bones???

It'll beat any UK price and you wont have to pay any customs charges.....

Mark

[C.A.M]

When shipping from the states, its worth asking the shop if they would mark the item as a gift, or commercial sample.

That way you can avoid paying the import duty, some will some wont, its worth a try.

[xbow]

Must say, given present exchange rates I'm getting tempted to buy from dnrsports as they have free shipping as well!

[Rockey]

You would be better off asking it to be shipped as a 'Warrantee Return', I've had several and all came through no problem. :D

[Jamie Norton]

I bought a camera from USA a couple of years ago and couldn't avoid the duty as Fed Ex paid it then sent me a bill - about £25 for a £350 camera, as I recall.
There is also the fact that you'll have little or no comeback if things go wrong and the seller won't play ball.
For these reasons, I think you would have to be making a considerable saving to make it worthwhile.

[murph-e]

Parcelforce charge £8 to £13 handling charge on top of the vat and duty now as I've had a few small sub £100, or just over, items posted to me recently and ended up paying £20 odd to thirty odd on top of the price which makes a lot of things as dear as UK prices. I have avoided paying anything a few other times in the past months when the parcels have been marked as scientific research but I doubt this would hold water when it came to rifle scopes unless the customs could be fooled into thinking they were some sort of scientific instrument. :)

[kdubya]

purchased a few scopes from the states all from

http://www.arcadian-sales.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

spot on service and only had to pay the parcel farce handling charge (which strangely varies)
cheers KW

[Chris St. MH]

Bear Basin are the biggest bunch of self-abusers I've ever dealt with in 28 years of airgunning.

1) Surly and obtuse customer service.

2) Put my order on hold (without notifying me) because they were going to 'review their export policy'

3) Decided they would not export a B&L Elite 4200 because it was against their new, but secret, export policy (again I had to prise this info out of them)

4) Credited my credit card refund to someoe else's account - something they only owned up to after a couple more weeks.

[eddieb]

Just got a Leupold VXL from D&R. Ordered it through the UK site. No problems at all. Took about 10 days.

[xbow]

I've ordered a Leup comp from them, hopefully it will arrive in a couple of days then. Although I did order a sunshade for the scope as well so they may have to wait for that to arrive.