Very new!! and need advice on importing please.

[staffbull]

Not even self employed yet but soon to register.
Made redundant from last job and still waiting my mast wage so I am going it alone!
I am an electronic engineer by trade and have an extensive knowledge of games consoles so am going into th repair buisiness. I have looked at the market and there is enough work to make a living.
I can source all the parts I need from Hong Kong, but how do i import legitamatley, it is easy to have "gift" parcels turn up but I want it done properly.
I take it I would need to reister for VAT to claim import VAT back?
And I would not be albe to claim Import Duty back.
If I also sell those repair items to joe public do I need to pay VAT on them after I have claimed Import VAT back (I'm staring to confuse myself here ---brain fog!!!!)
On the import side, can I simply order what I need and pay import VAT on their arrival?

Sorry for my complete ignorance on the matter but I have been a turn up do job get paid person for sooo many years. I have to do this though as it's what I want to do, and know it can work.

Any help is very much appreciated, and many more posts to follow I'm sure!!
any help most welcome.

 

[scoota]

Good Luck Staffbull.
When i used to import electrical acessories from China they used to get delivered to me by UPS or is it UPC you know the brown van that Dug drives.
Any way they dealt with the import duty and vat and i just paid them cash on delivery. It really was that simple, I guess it was the courrier company that my supplier used and i dont know if they all use this system. The VAT is just standard vat that you pay on goods in this country. You pass it onto the customer and claim it back when you do your VAT returns. As for import duty that not reclaimable.

 

[staffbull]

thanks

sounds way too simple, But I am not complaining!!

 

[scoota]

Wait till you start bringing in containers.
This site might be worth checking out if you need supliers.

www.alibaba.com
its always nice to chat to a china man called Dave

 

[KateCB]

If you start bringin in large amounts, less than a containerm but still too much for UPS to handle, you need a freight forwarder- we use AAI in Shipley - very good people, personal service etc.

I bring around 60 tonnes weight (60 palletts) abouts 3 times a year.

basically, you pay your supplier - your frieght forwarder pays the VAT/Import dty, documen fees, handling, custms clearance fees and cartage (This is the delivery to you from the dock) - they will send you an ivoice whch must be aid immediately for the VAT/Import duty....then they send you the invoice for the rest which isusually on 30 day terms.

Works well for us - also talk to HMRC as you may need a licencefor each shipment - this is provided free of charge, hweer you need to apply for it as soona s you get the documents from your supplier as if you are late thegoods can arrive, be de-vanned (unloaded) and left t siton the dock until the licence is available - they charge you for sitting your goods on the dock!

Sounds hard, but once you have done it once you will wonder what all the fuss was about!
If you do need large shipments deliveringm always arrange delivery fro port for mid-week - houliers charge less then - Monday and Friday deliveries are premium rate!

Kate

 

[staffbull]

Thanks, my weight wont be nearly that much or as large as they are electronic components, but specific for the games consoles so not available anywhere else.
the parcels sont be more than 30Kg at a time and should last me for 3-4 months, so theoretically I shoud negate the need for the dockside dropoff?

thanks,

 

[KateCB]

If you can keep it under 30kg that will be better - simple reason is that 30k and 1gram and UPS/Carrier companies won't deliver - it then becomes freight!

Hope it works out - good for you!

Kate

ps. to thank someone, click the thanks button......!!

 

[gongxunlee]

Hi i am a chinese i know nothing but handmade and crochet sweaters, but i think me chinese insight can help,if you need some information or else, pm me, i just want to knwo more people and learn english, trust me and try me

 

[ohara]

Whats up with Europe and VAT!!, Here in the US we only pay customs, I bring tons of stuff from Target Tech International and sometimes Chinavasion. With Target Tech rarely something gets caught up as they send them as gifts.

 

[staffbull]

Whats up with Europe and VAT!!, Here in the US we only pay customs, I bring tons of stuff from Target Tech International and sometimes Chinavasion. With Target Tech rarely something gets caught up as they send them as gifts.

But if your IRS catch up to you?

It would be very easy for me fly under the radar, but I really dont want to to be honest, i prefer everything on the level and done correctly, as if and when I grow it will be that much easier.
For now I will be happy to make a living and pay the mortgage in these crazy financial times !!

 

[Christiane]

Do you really need to register with VAT from the outset? You don't need to until you reach £67k gross turnover. Personally I wouldn't bother, more hassle than it's worth if you can avoid it.

 

[staffbull]

Do you really need to register with VAT from the outset? You don't need to until you reach £67k gross turnover. Personally I wouldn't bother, more hassle than it's worth if you can avoid it.

Hi, from what I understand (and I could very easily be wrong so no flames please!!) I need to be VAT registered to reclaim VAT on goods I import?

Just what I have read though, and probably not fully understood!!!

 

[Christiane]

yes but you don't need to register for VAT until your turnover has reached £67k.

If you don't register, you save yourself the hassle of increased paperwork whilst your business is taking off, but you can't claim the VAT back.
Bear in mind the VAT claimed goes against the VAT you will collect from your customers.

Once you have to register by law, then you will know a bit more about all this hopefully and how to handle it.

 

[staffbull]

yes but you don't need to register for VAT until your turnover has reached £67k.

If you don't register, you save yourself the hassle of increased paperwork whilst your business is taking off, but you can't claim the VAT back.
Bear in mind the VAT claimed goes against the VAT you will collect from your customers.

Once you have to register by law, then you will know a bit more about all this hopefully and how to handle it.

Thanks, but I will loose out on 15% of everything I import, which is better off going back into the buisiness than the chancellors pocket to pay Sir Fred's butler!!

 

[Christiane]

Thanks, but I will loose out on 15% of everything I import, which is better off going back into the buisiness than the chancellors pocket to pay Sir Fred's butler!!

Gosh you haven't got a clue, have you?

You pay for the goods say £100 then VAT on entry + duty. You charge the customer what the hell you want. You have not LOST 15%, just include it in your selling price calculation if you want.

And to confuse you even more you pay VAT on duty. Please go on the HMRC website and read about VAT.

It will fall into place after your first import, I am sure.

 

[staffbull]

Gosh you haven't got a clue, have you?

You pay for the goods say £100 then VAT on entry + duty. You charge the customer what the hell you want. You have not LOST 15%, just include it in your selling price calculation if you want.

And to confuse you even more you pay VAT on duty. Please go on the HMRC website and read about VAT.

It will fall into place after your first import, I am sure.

No I havent got a clue as the title??? I am absolutley green to ALL of this, hence me joining this forum.
And my take on it I can not charge the customer anything I like, as if I want the custom I have to be as competative as possible, hence claiming back the 15%
the cheaper I am the more market share I will gain, especially in these times price is KING.

 

[Christiane]

No I havent got a clue as the title??? I am absolutley green to ALL of this, hence me joining this forum.
And my take on it I can not charge the customer anything I like, as if I want the custom I have to be as competative as possible, hence claiming back the 15%
the cheaper I am the more market share I will gain, especially in these times price is KING.

No, it doesn't work like that, you are not ''saving'' 15% since you have to charge the customer that 15% back if you are VAT registered.

You would be out of pocket if you were VAT registered in some way.
Put simply, your sales should be higher than your purchases.
Say you buy £100 worth of goods on which you pay 15% tax on entry, that's £115. You resell for £230, make 100% profit but you keep it all. If you were VAT registered, you'd have to give 15% of the resale price back to the govt, so your selling price may have to be higher.

For example sake, if you were VAT reg:
purchase = £115 inc £15 VAT
sale = £230 inc £30 VAT
You pay £15 VAT but have to give back £30.

If you're not VAT reg, you pay the £15 but don't have to give £30 back.

Hope this makes sense, this is a very simplistic explanation.

 

[MH1]

Do not register for VAT unless you have too, basically you are simply acting as an unpaid tax collector.

Ask an accountant for advice suited too yourself, but very few people just starting out require registering, sometimes registering straight away has some benefits where you are purchasing large items, so the reclaimed VAT would probably exceed the sales VAT.

Apart from that there is not a particularly good reason to be VAT registered if dealing mainly with the public, whilst B2B it would be beneficial since your clients would want a VAT invoice.

 

[GM Wholesale]

please contact me m8 i was in same situation about a year ago i have my own business but lost thousands to get were im at today contact me and il give a few pointers would take to long to post

visit: gm-wholesale.com

 

[GM Wholesale]

just watch this site most suppliers are wanting paid with western union
i started bringing my own containers over by actual visiting usa and japan and buying stock i offer free dropship account which could benefit you your free to contact me if you like
my url is gm-wholesale.com

 

[TotallySport]

Not even self employed yet but soon to register.
Made redundant from last job and still waiting my mast wage so I am going it alone!
I am an electronic engineer by trade and have an extensive knowledge of games consoles so am going into th repair buisiness. I have looked at the market and there is enough work to make a living.
I can source all the parts I need from Hong Kong, but how do i import legitamatley, it is easy to have "gift" parcels turn up but I want it done properly.
I take it I would need to reister for VAT to claim import VAT back?
And I would not be albe to claim Import Duty back.
If I also sell those repair items to joe public do I need to pay VAT on them after I have claimed Import VAT back (I'm staring to confuse myself here ---brain fog!!!!)
On the import side, can I simply order what I need and pay import VAT on their arrival?

Sorry for my complete ignorance on the matter but I have been a turn up do job get paid person for sooo many years. I have to do this though as it's what I want to do, and know it can work.

Any help is very much appreciated, and many more posts to follow I'm sure!!
any help most welcome.

I might have missed something, but don't all the manufacturers repair their own machines, even outside of warrenty times, and if they are tampered with by a 3rd party they are no longer able to be returned?

Xbox 360 out side warrenty only costs £60 to get repaired and that includes all carrage, send it off it comes back fixed (normally a different console).

If your planning to sell consoles then I am under the impression and I could be wrong but there is a fairly strict distribution network and if your importing them from China it might get a little hairy. A few might go un-noticed but start churning them out and they will pick it up.

Good Luck.

 

[staffbull]

No, it doesn't work like that, you are not ''saving'' 15% since you have to charge the customer that 15% back if you are VAT registered.

You would be out of pocket if you were VAT registered in some way.
Put simply, your sales should be higher than your purchases.
Say you buy £100 worth of goods on which you pay 15% tax on entry, that's £115. You resell for £230, make 100% profit but you keep it all. If you were VAT registered, you'd have to give 15% of the resale price back to the govt, so your selling price may have to be higher.

For example sake, if you were VAT reg:
purchase = £115 inc £15 VAT
sale = £230 inc £30 VAT
You pay £15 VAT but have to give back £30.

If you're not VAT reg, you pay the £15 but don't have to give £30 back.

Hope this makes sense, this is a very simplistic explanation.

Yes!! and thank you ver much for your time in explaining it. The penny has dropped! (finally I'm sorry!!)
As I say I have always been the employee, turning up doing the daily and getting the monthly salary. So the whole idea of running my own buisiness does scare me somewhat, problably unjustified.
And at the moment out of work for a month, not a lot to loose really!!
After 20 years of the 9-5 (well supposed to be - more like 50 hour weeks) and being shafted majorly twice I want to do something myself, and something I enjoy doing.

thanks once again.

 

[staffbull]

please contact me m8 i was in same situation about a year ago i have my own business but lost thousands to get were im at today contact me and il give a few pointers would take to long to post

visit: gm-wholesale.com

will do thanks, will be in touch tomorrow

 

[staffbull]

I might have missed something, but don't all the manufacturers repair their own machines, even outside of warrenty times, and if they are tampered with by a 3rd party they are no longer able to be returned?

Xbox 360 out side warrenty only costs £60 to get repaired and that includes all carrage, send it off it comes back fixed (normally a different console).

If your planning to sell consoles then I am under the impression and I could be wrong but there is a fairly strict distribution network and if your importing them from China it might get a little hairy. A few might go un-noticed but start churning them out and they will pick it up.

Good Luck.

Hi, I will not be concentrating on the Xbox however I could still repair them for half that price including return, not take the six to eight weeks MS does and still make a very tidy profit.
I will not be selling any consoles, the profit margins are to small anyway and as you say distribution rights are sewn up tight in this country.

cheers

 

[TotallySport]

Xbox 360 have a turn arround of 3 weeks, (i have just had mine done) but to be honest we wouldn't have used anyone else, MS guarantee to fix it, so the worry about paying out half the price of a new one is gone, they make it easy as they collect from my house via UPS and return it back to my house, and provide full tracking and alerts to let you know when it will be done.

I would expect to start your courier prices would be at least £10 each way and that if they are 100 perfect with no no deliveries etc, which leaves £7-10 (include vat and fuel surcharge) to fix it for half price.

There is simply no way I would have sent it to anyone else, even if we knew someone that did it locally. I don't know where you are but do you think there are enough Xbox's needing repairing in your area and enough people will to not use MS? even if you where going to by faulty ones and sell them on they are still going for £40-60 on ebay and you can by a new one for £130.

Customising consoles on the other hand I do think there is a market, if you can get the right courier prices, and the right gear.

Sorry I am not trying to put a damper on your idea, these are just my thoughts and experience.