Shipping to UK

K

kimyenchu

Cathlete
Hello,

Has anyone here purchased Cathe's DVDs and had them sent directly to UK? Did you have to pay extra charges when they arrived?

I first ordered directly from Cathe years ago and they sent the package using UPS which I then had to pay nearly £100, the cost of the DVDs themselves, when they arrived. It was extortionate! I've never purchased directly since instead purchasing the workouts when I've been over to US or Canada where it was cheaper.

This time I would like to pre-order the new low impact series but not sure if I should risk it. Can anyone advise how much import duty I would have to pay for a package that is $150?

TIA

Yen
 
Hi Yen

I'm from the UK also and I haven't bought from Cathe for ages for the same reason. I usually wait and buy from Mary.

However, I'm thinking about taking the risk with the new series, as they now use USPS for shipping. Mary uses USPS and I've not had any tax on anything from her site. I haven't bought a series this expensive though, so I think it could go either way!

This is probably of no help at all! If you're really worried, then wait until Mary does her presale for Cathe's series.

Emma
 
Emma,

Who's Mary? Does she have a web site? I will check out her shipping methods. Cathe also uses USPS now after some international customers complained about import duty with UPS so I think it would be cheaper or no fees if we order now. However, I would not take my word for it, if I were you.

I am hoping someone else can respond.............

Yen
 
Pre-sale import fees

Distributors are not allowed to do pre-sales. The pre-sale we're doing now is for a limited edition box set that will only be sold during the pre-sale at a special price and will not be sold as set after the the pre-sale ends. The pre-sale box set is only available from us.Once DVDs are in stock you will be able to order individual DVDs at $22.97 each from our distributors.

As for shipping there is just no way to to know if you will be charged import taxes by your country. The UK is supposed to charge import fees on all packages, but on USPS packages they quite often don't bother to charge the tax on a package under a certain price. There doesn't seem to be an exact rule on when the tax is charged and when it is not, but your best chances of not being charged are with USPS. With UPS you will always be charged the tax.
 
SNM,

If order the pre-sale DVDs and then purchase a couple more DVDs in older series would the DVDs in stock be delivered first or would they have to wait until the new series are ready and sent out together?

And do you know the price under which no import duty is charge? Where can I find this out?


Yen
 
import taxes

There is no answer for the price you have to be under not to have to pay import taxes. It's totally arbitrary. Depending on which custom official/postal worker processes your package will determine if you get taxed. Higher priced packages are more likely to get charged than lower priced packages, but not always.

As for your other question if you're an International customer any current DVDs/products you order along with your presale DVDs will ship when your pre-sale DVDs ship.
 
SNM Videos said:
There is no answer for the price you have to be under not to have to pay import taxes. It's totally arbitrary. Depending on which custom official/postal worker processes your package will determine if you get taxed. Higher priced packages are more likely to get charged than lower priced packages, but not always.

As for your other question if you're an International customer any current DVDs/products you order along with your presale DVDs will ship when your pre-sale DVDs ship.
Click to expand...


Respectfully, I disagree that the UK and its customs/postal services would work on such a whimsical basis.

In your shoes, I would consult those services directly and find out the pound sterling £ upper limit beyond which tax charges would be levied and then take it as red that they will be.

NB: when my sisters sent me a velvet scarf through the mail 6 years ago from London, they reported honestly on the customs ticket affixed to the package that the value of the item was £80. I was charged $50 in taxes. It wouldn't be hard to find out what the respective upper limit for tax charges is in the UK.

Clare
 
I have to agree with Clare. I'm in Germany, not the UK, but believe the shipping rules to be similar.

There is a difference between taxes and duties. All shipments of new goods (including old items sold on eBay) are subject to taxes, following the same tax rates applicable within the country. No threshold applies and all shipments are subject to charges.

Duties/import charges are based on a threshold amount. Here in Germany, I believe it is 150 Euro. Customs includes shipping in the total, so my order total of $126.68 for the new series falls below that amount. So, I may have to pay taxes, but not duties. The STS Cardio series was above the threshold and, at the time, I had to go and pay tax and duty to receive them.

It is true, however, that lower value items are more likely to "slip by" than higher value ones. As such, when I've ordered from Mary (TotalFitnessDVDs.com), and get 4 DVDs so they fit in a bubble envelope instead of a box or carton, they've been delivered without either taxes or duties.

My husband asked the Customs agent about the seemingly arbitrariness of it once and the guy agreed that some agents aren't as thorough as they should be.
 
Over £50 they usually take a good look. I live in Scotland and purchase alot of dvd's from the USA. The value of goods is usually on the outside and tax is on that total. Dvd's from Mary valued about $40/50 usually slide umder the radar. I have never paid tax on her orders. With Cathe's low impact order which I have factored in the tax will be about £16 if V.A.T. applied. Its either roughly about £10/dvd with tax factored in from Cathe or £13 from Mary (also includes postage and packaging with cathe). Basically pays your money and takes your chances. I have had no hassles using the US postal service. Delivery times can vary depending on which part the USA the despatch originates from. Some you win some you loose. We can't free shipping end of issue and 'nae point in moaning aboot it! Want the dvd's from the USA you have to stump up or go without. Cathe ain't going to put her dvd to retail's. Hard facts of life for international orders.
 
Hi

I'm also in the uk. When I preordered STS I ended up paying about £40 import duty which I suppose is about what I expected. When I preodered STS cardio I didn't pay anything. Possibly because then I was using USPS. That being said I have never paid duty on anything from Marys site and that was after purchasing another fitness set that was $160 and another set about $80. However I can never resist Cathe preorders. I suppose it would possibly be wiser to factor in no customs and Marys 10% discount to see if it would work out cheaper. However I just can't resist temptation from preordering.

Laura
 
Its simple arithmetic with the worst possible outcomes factored in. Not rocket science. Simple basic adding and substraction. it would appear that duty levied is abit of a lottery for others as well. Cathe or Mary its take your pick!
 
Mary's site is totalfitnessdvds.com. I've never paid tax for anything from her. I do know that the limit above which they are supposed to tax in the UK was around £18 (not much :() and I think the new government were talking about reducing that limit, so it'd be best to check.

It's a 50:50 chance, to be honest!

Emma
 
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