Hi folks,
There's a particular RIF I'm interested in purchasing - the Thompson 1928 - and the only decent version I've found is produced by King Arms, which appears to have no availability of this model in the UK at all, in fact the only place I've found it still for sale is on KA's own website, which I assume is based in China.
Has anyone tried purchasing direct from them for delivery to the UK before? Are there any potential pitfalls I should be aware of?
I've been smitten with the classic Chicago Typewriter since I was a wee lad and I think it's long overdue time I picked one up.
Bear in mind that when it hits customs you are the “importer”
That renders you fully responsible -
Is the one that arrives UK legal? (Within UK power limits)
Are you permitted to import ? (Valid VCRA defence … there are other defences available but UKARA is the commonly recognised one, and as noted by @auster you want the UKARA number marked clearly - place it in your name / address when ordering - and make sure the details match especially if you’ve moved home )
Has the sender completed the customs declaration properly ? (You are responsible even though the sender declares it - many Hong Kong / Chinese exporters try to be “helpful” with false / underpriced declarations
On arrival at customs it will actually be handled by the carrier, they will request a UKARA declaration questionnaire) search the forum and you should see some existing posts. One has posted up pictures. Basically answer as - yes it is a RIF, yes it is UK compliant, yes I have a defence as an Airsoft skirmisher playing at an insured venue & here are my UKARA registration details
There will be import VAT charged at 20%.
But that 20% will be calculated against their assessed UK value which can be different than the invoice value
There may be an import duty, but that depends on the declared / assigned commodity code and could depend on the source country
As there will be import charges the carrier can and will charge a handling fee. That should be in the region of £8 to £20 as a fixed fee depending on the carrier it comes through. Mostly a fixed fee but could be a percentage of the value
An option to avoid all of that is to call around UK retailers. They may not have stock of the item you want, but they will be importing stock ( or going through their own middle man) and you could get someone to import for you.
That will put the price up to UK prices, and depending on the profit margin or if it actually is “special” they may charge you some extra for importing …. But then you are not the legal “importer” and they are instead. They get the admin load of importing
