buying gear from USA

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 21:03:10 +0000, Dean Edwards <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I'm looking to replace some kit that mysteriously disappeared last summer. I was looking for
something similar to the akto and came across the Mountain Hardwear 'Mountain Wing' one and 2
man tents. Much cheaper than an akto (in the US at any rate) but it's proving hard to find in
the UK. So I was considering trying to buy from the US. Anyone got experience of this tent or
buying from US?

No experience, but you'll get hit by taxes and import duty, which will probably add at least 30% to
the price :-(

Quoted message said:

Anyone got experience of this tent or buying from US?

thanks for any advice

Dean

I have a tale of woe to tell and it begins thus: T'was the ides of September 2002. The runes and
brooding stormclouds foretold of a harsh, cruel winter ahead. There came to pass a lowly traveller
afoot who thought he'd better get himself a cosy, warm down bag lest his old synthetic one expire.
He went to a local sorceror who spun a web and on that web he found an ME down bag which came highly
recommended by tramps afoot on the Apalachian Trail. The bag was in a faraway land at only 70
guineas, half the best UK price. Then came the carriage - despite the bag weighing less than 3lbs,
the greedy merchant demanded £20 and would not be haggled down. The bag duly came and the waistrel
was much pleased with it, but later came a demand from Her Majestty's Excise Men for Import duty and
VAT of £42 under pain of flogging. At the outset the poor soul had felt quite smug at the savings
achieved, but in the end his net saving was less than a tenner for all the hassle I went through -
not worth it. The poor soul later located an identical bag on E-Bay for a similar price on and had
he waited, and bought one as a 'Private Sale', could have saved all the import duties. So the moral
of the tale is the next time ye pass a lowly beggar on the street sitting in a nice down bag, please
give generously, it could be me!

Steve 'broke' Jones

Dean Edwards said:

I was looking for something similar to the akto and came across the Mountain Hardwear 'Mountain
Wing' one and 2 man tents. Much cheaper than an akto (in the US at any rate) but it's proving hard
to find in the UK.

Not single skinned by any chance?

Paul
--
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photosig.comuserphotosOpen ↗

Steve Jones said:

Quoted message said:

Anyone got experience of this tent or buying from US?

thanks for any advice

Dean

I have a tale of woe to tell and it begins thus: T'was the ides of September 2002. The runes and
brooding stormclouds foretold of a harsh, cruel winter ahead. There came to pass a lowly traveller
afoot who thought he'd better get himself a cosy, warm down bag lest his old synthetic one expire.
He went to a local sorceror who spun a web and on that web he found an ME down bag which came
highly recommended by tramps afoot on the Apalachian Trail. The bag was in a faraway land at only
70 guineas, half the best UK price. Then came the carriage - despite the bag weighing less than
3lbs, the greedy merchant demanded £20 and would not be haggled down. The bag duly came and the
waistrel was much pleased with it, but later came a demand from Her Majestty's Excise Men for
Import duty and VAT of £42 under pain of flogging. At the outset the poor soul had felt quite smug
at the savings achieved, but in the end his net saving was less than a tenner for all the hassle I
went through - not worth it. The poor soul later located an identical bag on E-Bay for a similar
price on and had he waited, and bought one as a 'Private Sale', could have saved all the import
duties. So the moral of the tale is the next time ye pass a lowly beggar on the street sitting in a
nice down bag, please give generously, it could be me!

Steve 'broke' Jones

b*****ds! I bet you thought you'd got away with it ;-) I wasn't optimistic. Looks like you have to
go the private sale/gift route to avoid those taxes :-( thanks for the help.

Steve Jones said:

Quoted message said:

Anyone got experience of this tent or buying from US?

thanks for any advice

Dean

I have a tale of woe to tell and it begins thus: T'was the ides of September 2002. The runes and
brooding stormclouds foretold of a harsh, cruel winter ahead. There came to pass a lowly traveller
afoot who thought he'd better get himself a cosy, warm down bag lest his old synthetic one expire.
He went to a local sorceror who spun a web and on that web he found an ME down bag which came
highly recommended by tramps afoot on the Apalachian Trail. The bag was in a faraway land at only
70 guineas, half the best UK price. Then came the carriage - despite the bag weighing less than
3lbs, the greedy merchant demanded £20 and would not be haggled down. The bag duly came and the
waistrel was much pleased with it, but later came a demand from Her Majestty's Excise Men for
Import duty and VAT of £42 under pain of flogging. At the outset the poor soul had felt quite smug
at the savings achieved, but in the end his net saving was less than a tenner for all the hassle I
went through - not worth it. The poor soul later located an identical bag on E-Bay for a similar
price on and had he waited, and bought one as a 'Private Sale', could have saved all the import
duties. So the moral of the tale is the next time ye pass a lowly beggar on the street sitting in
a nice down bag, please give generously, it could be me!

Steve 'broke' Jones

I can't reply as eloquently as that, but my only imports ever from US were:

1. my camera, accidentally left behind and posted on by the friendly souls in the company I was
visting. It cost me a packet in UK carriage and lots of hassle with excise demanding original
receipts which were never returned.

2. a set of two shaft encoders for measuring where a big telescope was pointing. $160 inc carriage
in US, but £160 by the time we had paid import duty, VAT, import handling agencies, UK postage,
post office special fees for 'recipient pays' etc. More bills kept on coming in just when you
thought it was done. That was in about 1994 when the pound was strong too. Mind you, we did save
state taxes!

Shudder!

Phil Brady

Paul Saunders said:

Dean Edwards said:

I was looking for something similar to the akto and came across the Mountain Hardwear 'Mountain
Wing' one and 2 man tents. Much cheaper than an akto (in the US at any rate) but it's proving
hard to find in the UK.

Not single skinned by any chance?

Paul

No it's not the single skinned one, that's called the waypoint IIRC. This one has an inner but it is
mostly mesh, which I suppose is how they get the weight down but will make it a bit draughty. It's
similar to the akto except both sides of the vestibule open up so handy for when the wind changes
direction. I got my doubts about it now though, especially since it's vastly more expensive here in
UK (£200+).

I want a tent for solo use but not too cramped, with a decent vestibule, at least 1m headroom and a
drying room ;-). I had an akto till it got nicked but won't be buying another as my budget is
somewhat lower this time round.

I'm also interested in the saunders tents. A friend has a jetpacker which he likes, but I am
inclined more to the semi-geodesic style such as the hill-trek. There doesn't seem to be much
comment on these though, unlike the space packers which are very popular. It'd be nice to buy a
British made as well.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm looking to replace some kit that mysteriously disappeared last summer. I was looking for
something similar to the akto and came across the Mountain Hardwear 'Mountain Wing' one and 2
man tents. Much cheaper than an akto (in the US at any rate) but it's proving hard to find in
the UK. So I was considering trying to buy from the US. Anyone got experience of this tent or
buying from US?

No experience, but you'll get hit by taxes and import duty, which will probably add at least 30%
to the price :-(

If they _do_ stop your order then you will have to pay import duty at around 3.5% and VAT at 17.5%
making 21% in total. (Note that VAT is chargeable on the shipping too)

But you are fairly likely to avoid paying at all IME. "Feeling lucky, punk ?"

--
Boo

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 22:44:01 +0000, Boo <boo@spam_me_no_spam.net>

Quoted message said:

But you are fairly likely to avoid paying at all IME. "Feeling lucky, punk ?"

They seem to be a lot stricter these days than in the past. Probably because it's so much easier to
by things from abroad via the interweb.

Simon Caldwell <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Boo boo@spam_me_no_spam.net said:

But you are fairly likely to avoid paying at all IME. "Feeling lucky, punk ?"

They seem to be a lot stricter these days than in the past. Probably because it's so much easier to
by things from abroad via the interweb.

I bought my GPS in the States and just brought it back with me.

Of course if it had been a special trip it would have added £345 to the trip, but if I had brought
another five over and sold them at the GPSWarehouse price I would have covered my flight costs. :-)

Hmmmmmmmm. <thinks>
--
Gordon