Exporting from Hong Kong to UK - Duties/Taxes

[rbehl]

Hi,

Apologies if this has been answered many times before but I'm new to the forum here.

I am currently based in Hong Kong (a British ex-pat) and am looking to start an export business over here. I am no longer a UK citizen as I am pretty much permanently based here for the last 4 years and forseeable future.

I am looking at a business opportunity to export a range of products from HK/China to the UK both to retailers directly and also possibly to customers via an online shop.

I am now trying to establish my cost price of the products so I will need to know about all the shipping/packing charges as well as any import duties/fees/levies that will be charged on the items once they reach UK shores. Looking quickly through the customs & excise website it seems that the information is really for 'UK-based' companies/traders rather than those based outside the EU.

Can anyone please help provide information on what I may be required to do in order to start selling products in the UK in terms of any licenses/permits as well as any costs/charges that I am going to have to include in my calculations?

Thanks in advance,
Rick

[consultant]

Duty, taxes etc are for the importer, not exporter. If you will be getting the goods cleared, the costs will apply to you!

How will you be selling? FOB, CIF, DDP?
Will you have a UK company handling transaction or only HK?
What items? - although the basic duty/VAT applies the same, certailn items may have restrictions, exclusions etc.

Selling direct to consumers is very popular from HK. Selling to retailers will be more difficult!

[rbehl]

Thanks consultant. Those are all good questions and to be honest I'm not sure I have worked all this out myself yet. This is all quite new to me so I had to look up some of those abbreviations :-)

The products I am looking at selling I don't believe should be subject to any restrictions/exclusions as they are electrical/electronic/photographical... general consumer stuff.

I was thinking of 2 channels for selling. The first to be direct to consumers worldwide (targetting the UK and US specifically) through an online store and the second to be direct to shops/chains through wholesale/distribution. I guess it might be wise to start with the first channel (online store) as this appears to be logistically simpler ? As I am based in HK I am right in assuming that I can charge prices which do not have to include UK VAT? Obviously that will enable me to offer products at price points more attractive to customers and also a bigger profit margin potentially.

For the second channel I think I need to do a bit more reading on import/export in general at least to understand the general basics/principles (such as the terms you mentioned) before I proceed... I would appreciate if you had any pointers on any resources for the basics of what I would like to do?

Thanks in advance,
Rick

[consultant]

Rick,

a consumer site and ebay store would be a good start. You supply goods at the prices you want and the importer (i.e. customer) will have to manage duty/VAT if applicable, so keeping to lower price products and highlighting this in the stores is necessary.

As for the bulk supply, there are opportunities, such as selling to members of this forum, but selling in big volumes to larger buyers will be difficult, for many reasons!