Newbie question - Buying art from UK at Heritage/Comic Link/Comic Connect 0

[Skizz]

I was wondering if there are any UK based OA collectors here that have bought art at auctions from US based auction houses like Heritage/Comic Link/Comic Connect.

If so would you be able to give any advice on custom and tax charges that the UK revenue and customs will apply.  I understand that VAT on comic book is 0% whereas VAT on art is 5%. I’m not sure what OA will be treated as or if it will be treated differently as a collectible. 

I was also wondering what postage these auction houses will charge and how long it takes to receive the item.

Any help from those here based in UK who have bought art from these auction houses would be much appreciated.

Many thanks 

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Skizz

[filmboyuk]

What will usually happen is that once the package has been received at UK customs, FedEx will send you an invoice for the expected charges - which should be zero import duty, but 5% VAT on original art, so 5% in total. And they add a handling charge of something like £8. Once that's paid, they deliver pretty quickly.

My last shipping / insurance charge from Heritage to the UK was $124.92, and it took something in the region of 6 working days from dispatch to arrive, pretty quick. For some reason the tracking stops working once it leaves the US (or at least does for me) so it will still be saying that it's in the US when it's at UK customs.

I've only had Heritage ship to the UK - packaging is really very robust.

[vodou]

On 4/19/2020 at 11:30 AM, Skizz said:

I was wondering if there are any UK based OA collectors here that have bought art at auctions from US based auction houses like Heritage/Comic Link/Comic Connect.

If so would you be able to give any advice on custom and tax charges that the UK revenue and customs will apply.  I understand that VAT on comic book is 0% whereas VAT on art is 5%. I’m not sure what OA will be treated as or if it will be treated differently as a collectible. 

I was also wondering what postage these auction houses will charge and how long it takes to receive the item.

Any help from those here based in UK who have bought art from these auction houses would be much appreciated.

Many thanks 

 

 

1 hour ago, filmboyuk said:

What will usually happen is that once the package has been received at UK customs, FedEx will send you an invoice for the expected charges - which should be zero import duty, but 5% VAT on original art, so 5% in total. And they add a handling charge of something like £8. Once that's paid, they deliver pretty quickly.

My last shipping / insurance charge from Heritage to the UK was $124.92, and it took something in the region of 6 working days from dispatch to arrive, pretty quick. For some reason the tracking stops working once it leaves the US (or at least does for me) so it will still be saying that it's in the US when it's at UK customs.

I've only had Heritage ship to the UK - packaging is really very robust.

By far easier to have a domestic "friend" to receive and re-ship, thank have The House ship internationally directly.

[filmboyuk]

31 minutes ago, vodou said:

 

By far easier to have a domestic "friend" to receive and re-ship, thank have The House ship internationally directly.

True, I used to do that, but all my domestic friends are in California, and now the auction houses seem to follow the same approach at Ebay and add state sales tax, so there's not much in it.

[vodou]

26 minutes ago, filmboyuk said:

True, I used to do that, but all my domestic friends are in California, and now the auction houses seem to follow the same approach at Ebay and add state sales tax, so there's not much in it.

You need a friend in a no sales tax state. There are several. I live in New Hampshire.

[malvin]

15 minutes ago, vodou said:

You need a friend in a no sales tax state. There are several. I live in New Hampshire.

you live in New Hampshire? I was looking for a friend in a no sales tax state too :P

Malvin

[Skizz]

21 hours ago, filmboyuk said:

What will usually happen is that once the package has been received at UK customs, FedEx will send you an invoice for the expected charges - which should be zero import duty, but 5% VAT on original art, so 5% in total. And they add a handling charge of something like £8. Once that's paid, they deliver pretty quickly.

My last shipping / insurance charge from Heritage to the UK was $124.92, and it took something in the region of 6 working days from dispatch to arrive, pretty quick. For some reason the tracking stops working once it leaves the US (or at least does for me) so it will still be saying that it's in the US when it's at UK customs.

I've only had Heritage ship to the UK - packaging is really very robust.

@filmboyuk thanks for this. Would you be able to tell me what description Heritage put on the postage/customs form so that UK customs know to apply the correct charge.

19 hours ago, vodou said:

 

By far easier to have a domestic "friend" to receive and re-ship, thank have The House ship internationally directly.

Unfortunately I don’t have any US friends that I have the packages sent to 

[vodou]

4 minutes ago, Skizz said:

Unfortunately I don’t have any US friends that I have the packages sent to 

Then you should discover the PM feature and make one.

Edited April 21, 2020 by vodou
clarity

[ESeffinga]

Vodou, angling for more friends.

[filmboyuk]

49 minutes ago, Skizz said:

@filmboyuk thanks for this. Would you be able to tell me what description Heritage put on the postage/customs form so that UK customs know to apply the correct charge.

They put "1 ITEM - ORIGINAL ART"

Heritage have been doing this for a while, so I imagine have got the process down to as smooth as it's going to be. It's not like when buying comic books from a US store, and they write the name of the books on the shipping form, so the customs people charge you full whack as they don't know what "Fantastic Four #48" means...  (Although you can claim it back if that does happen, just takes a bit of time).

But I would agree with Vodou - getting a US friend would probably work out cheaper - I'm just impatient to get my hands on my purchases! 

[Skizz]

On 4/21/2020 at 2:53 PM, filmboyuk said:

They put "1 ITEM - ORIGINAL ART"

Heritage have been doing this for a while, so I imagine have got the process down to as smooth as it's going to be. It's not like when buying comic books from a US store, and they write the name of the books on the shipping form, so the customs people charge you full whack as they don't know what "Fantastic Four #48" means...  (Although you can claim it back if that does happen, just takes a bit of time).

But I would agree with Vodou - getting a US friend would probably work out cheaper - I'm just impatient to get my hands on my purchases! 

@filmboyuk you hit the nail exactly on the head. This has happened to me before; so I was concerned how Heritage treats descriptions on customs form.

I know how you feel being impatient to get the art in hand. 

Thanks again for your advice.