Experience with international shipment from Freeplaytech?
#1
Hi,

I wanted to know if anyone had the experience of ordering a Freeplay Zero or CM3 and having it delivered to the UK? I'm mostly interested in shipping time as well as VAT and custom taxes.

My two options consists of ordering from the Freeplaytech website (US, if I'm not mistaken) or from Retromodding (Canada). Knowing those costs and times beforehand would help me decide from which site it is best for me to order, and whether or not it is more advantageous to find GBA parts from a UK retailer.

Thanks!
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#2
Hello,
I am a French customer, it took about 8 days to receive my one via Priority Mail Flat Rate from Freeplaytech website.
For the custom duty (very simplified), in France you have to pay VAT+Import fee, for me it was around 40E (35GBP).

I already buy from Retromodding too, it took a similar time to receive order.
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#3
I can't really help you determine the VAT/customs duties. Every receiving country is different, and it seems that sometimes the official doing the assessment has a lot to do with it. Germany seems to be the one country where this matters the most. From our perspective, it's very random.

I can give you some tracking information from a handful of past orders we've shipped to the UK.

Order A: First Class USPS to GB, Shipped Feb 8, Delivered Feb 20
Order B: First Class USPS to GB, Shipped Jan 30, Delivered Feb 8
Order C: First Class USPS to Scotland, Shipped Jan 22, Delivered Feb 1
Order D: First Class USPS to Leeds, Shipped Dec 12, Delivered Dec 21
Order E: Priority USPS to Leeds (same customer as Order D), Shipped Oct 4, Delivered Oct 18

Note that the first 3 are just some samples I grabbed. I had to go back a ways to find someone that chose Priority Mail to the UK, but I found one that had 2 shipments (one First Class and the other Priority). Also note that shipments around December often take longer. AND, note that we can't really tell how long things take to clear customs. This is the piece that's very random.

Part of my point here is to show that it doesn't seem to make a huge time difference if you choose First Class versus Priority. On the other hand, Priority is about $20 more expensive than First Class. You do whatever you want with that info, but the vast majority of our international shipments to the UK are using First Class.
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#4
(03-02-2019, 02:09 AM)Porcinus Wrote: I am a French customer

Hi fellow French (I'm French too, but living in the UK)! Thanks for the information. I think the UK VAT is about the same as in France (around 20%).

Thanks Flavor for the details. I was expecting longer delivery times, this sounds great!
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#5
Smile

Did you already receive "priority" shipping will being in UK?
In France there is a 3/4 chance to get import duty applied, it also depend on the cost declare when shipping.
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#6
(03-02-2019, 05:03 AM)Porcinus Wrote: Smile

Did you already receive "priority" shipping will being in UK?
In France there is a 3/4 change to get import duty applied, it also depend on the cost declare when shipping.

What do you mean by "a 3/4 change"?

Also when you said 40€ custom duty + tax, for what product value was it?
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#7
Oups, sorry for the typo :/

Around 75% of luck to have to pay import duty when receiving the package, around 40€ in my case.

The order was around 200USD.
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#8
Just in case another person living in the UK wonders: I ordered my CM3 on March 3rd; on March 5th I got a mail from USPS saying that it was sent. On March 13 it had arrived in Cambridge (where I live) waiting for me to pay the custom fees. On March 14 I received a letter from Royal Mail with a link to pay the fees. The package then got delivered on March 16 (note that I could also have gone to the Royal Mail office, which isn't far from my place, and pay the fees there to get the package on the 14th, but I saw this option only after having scheduled my delivery). The fees were 16£ for an order of $228 (with shipping), really lower than I expected. Of those 16£, 8£ were for custom charges and 8£ were for Royal Mail handling an international shipment.
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#9
Not that expensive for sure Smile
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