The Wholesale Forums

[peterburfoot]

I am completely new to the idea of importing. I will be importing Tents, Camping Equipment, and fishing equipment.
Every thing I have read I have found quite baffling. For example importing from some countries is free of duty. How do I find out what ones as I want to import from China mainland. And VAT payable etc.

It really is confusing me and the last thing I want to do is get it wrong and end up with problems.

Thanks for helping

[The Werks]

It is quite baffling at first Peter, MOQ's, FOB's, import tax VAT and so on.

Like most things, if you keep exposing yourself to them you can get used to the idea.

Strike up a good relationship with potential suppliers from the off, many times they will clarify areas the are still somewhat murky.

Also, the HMRC site has some valuable information, mostly in layman's terms.

Combined with this forum, you will find that most of the stuff you are finding daunting at the moment melts away, and it all starts to make sense.

Don't rush into anything and don't be pressurised into making a deal if you've not got everything in place yet!

[Fardel]

Hi Peter, yes indeed it can be a minefield I have a thread with a basdic of importing in another section, i have pasted it below to give you a helping hand with some of your questions.
I am happy to advise you all the steps of the way just ask away

cheers
Paul

Good Morning all

Many times I am asked to advise the basics of importing to UK and also i have advised below in many posts so i thought i would give its own thread purely for basic info and advise but hope below proves useful to many.......

The below is something that i provide many first timers as a very rough guide, of course the whole importing proceedure means i could rattle on for hours i will try and list the important parts to make sure that you are in the know of the basics and the rest we can tackle part by part
So in no particular order....

Firstly Rates,

it is important to understand the terms you are buying from the supplier on they will prob give you a CIF rate which means origin charges and frt is included on comm inv, at this stage it is important to find out what charges you will pay in UK as shippers normally get good deals locally but someone has to pay for the charges it costs us consolidators to move the cntr etc, so you end up getting hammered in UK for import charges

Check an FOB rate out which of course you would get from the UK Agent such as ourselves, then you can check what works better for you, you can also ask for an EX WORKS price this means all you pay supplier for is actual goods and you pay the rest from their factory to yours

Secondly Arrival in UK

it is important to know that the cargo will arrive in a groupage cntr if LCL (less than container load) i.e. if we bring in for you we will have to arrange to customs bond the cntr to our customs approved whs then arrnage devan, this takes 1-4 working days on ave depending on volume of cntrs arriving that week. In our bonded whs it will be given a UCN number (Unique consignment number) of which is then the reference for your actual goods and the reference used to clear the goods

Until the goods are cleared and we have received all our funds due the cargo will not be released or delivered to you, this bit many stumble on and think that they can have delivery instantly goods arrive in UK

Important to note here that the clearance proceedures normally take 3-4 days from time of paperwork rcv'd from yourself and full clearance being granted subject to payment from yourself

Thirdly Clearance

Of course there are millions of Tariff codes and all have set Duty and VAT % set to them , some are free some are high, we can advise you on your tariff code or goods accordingly with just a quick mail or call

We would require the following from you - basis commercial goods

Commercial Invoice
Packing list
Bill of lading
Commodity code
VAT number / Psuedo turn
Certificates - now these may not be needed it depends again on your goods and normally these are issued at origin like a certificate or origin (form A) or health cert depending on goods
****note here any products of animal origin like foodstuffs and leather may need port health certs , DO NOT SHIP THESE UNTIL YOU HAVE ENQUIRED FULLY ***
Deferment number - this most do not have, it is an account number set up with customers to take vat/duty from of which you have to put up guarantee's etc, we have one as we are a UK clearing agent but the only companies who have them are those who import a lot of goods - there is a charge for use of this facility as well.

Once we get all docs we would then process through the electronic customs system, this would generate the vat and duty figures of which we would advise you along with all your other charges, once you have paid (normally cleared funds) then we put that through on our deferment account and your goods will go a particular route through customs , route 6 is pretty much instant , route 3 and route 1 could mean a lenthy hold/delay and before you ask it is a random amount depending on what customs want to look into route 1 being the worse

Once full clearance is through then full delivery or collection can take place - of course note that most deliveries within our industry require the consignee to unload unless you payfor a tail lift or the labour to unload

this is a rough guideline and in no way legally binding, there is of course a lot more to it but i have tried to keep it informal as poss but informative

Best regards
Paul

[oakmast]

Hi Fardel,

Also you need to register with HM Revenue and Customs for what used to be called a TURN number but is now called an EORI number (This is needed by your shipping agent in the UK).

Regards

Pat

[Fardel]

Hi Pat
thanks for note and useful to highlight , however that is in my thread just under the commodity code bit
cheers
Paul