As Cyprus is in the EU, but the UK is not, surely you would get hit with UK duties??

 

Yep. Cyprus to UK duty is about 60 Euro.
BUT I AM NOT TRYING TO AVOID DUTY!

I will then be paying appx 10% (it seems impossible to find accurate info) UK to US tariffs. Thats OK. If that number was 100%, it would still be less than the product + extortion shipping charge that DHL and FedX are charging Cyprus.

This was the vendors idea, as no country in the EU (INCLUDING CYPRUS) is shipping via postal to the US. Cyprus can easily ship to the UK, and the UK Royal Mail system IS back to US shipping. So this box could be shipped either Royal Mail or FedX/DHL/whatever - in the more mainstream UK-to-US shipping channels. I guess because Cyprus is so small and isolated (had to look it up - it's 2000 miles from Cyprus to the UK!), AND the fact DHL/FedX now have a monopoly on shipping items to the US, they feel ...unhindered... to charge these exorbitant rates.

My offer is still open to anyone trustworthy in the UK.

 

The HS code on your Simple Duty link is for piano parts…..????

 

Ummm... it's not supposed to be. You can see I entered "Auto Parts" above. I did not code their software, I am clueless as to the accuracy of same, and I know as much about specific HS Codes as I do about the biology of an aardvark...

As it appears you are familiar enough with the HS codes to identify an error, thanks for pointing that out.

A little more time on that site indicates the HS Codes are... cr@p.

Entering "Fiberglass automotive accessories" as a description yields an HS code of 6217.10.0000; which correlates to... Made-up clothing and accessories.

Entering automotive plastic parts as a description yields an HS code of 4202.12.1900; which correlates to ... trunks, suitcases ...and similar containers.

Doing this by finding the relevant HS code to enter is not much better. There is nothing I can find in the "Taric Code lookup for the EU" search portal for 8708 (automotive) section for fiberglass accessories, plastic parts, fender flares... and I finally gave up and entered the 3926 code for "plastic components".

Entering this code to the "Simple Duty Calculator" yields...nothing. Because I have now used my free 5 Duty Estimates allowed per day. Have to wait till tomorrow I guess.

But again... WHATEVER the duty is, up to 100% is still lots cheaper than dealing with DHL/FedX price gouging.

Great. Learned a lot today...

 

And now to learn even more:

What is Fittings for Coachwork(plastic autoparts) HS:392630

www.customslegaloffice.com

I believe your HS code should be 3926.30.

 

Well, that was useful:

This is now a "Nike air or Guitar"...
While this has been an interesting exercise, it is way deeper than I need to get.

All I am trying to do is get a package from Cyprus to the UK. This can't be the first time anyone has tried to do this...

Went to a UK freight forwarding site again - as it seems no one is interested in driving to the Royal Post for $100 US... Assuming it took a couple hours, that's $50/hour! That's what I made designing Hospital Operating Rooms Mechanical Systems, and I have a 4-year engineering degree, a bunch of certificates, and 40-years experience... But I digress....

The UK freight forwarder, for this size box and weight, want 200 Euro to ship from the UK to the US. Plus tariffs. Can't avoid the new tariffs, but because the tariff is based upon CIF (cost + insurance + freight), when shipping is exorbitant, the tariff becomes crazy.

The thing is... a couple weeks ago I ordered headlights from Germany via ebay. Lights were 100 Euro, shipping was 100 Euro, for a bigger and heavier box... So there is a way to do this without being financially abused; I'm just too green in this area to figure it out.

 

The way your supplier in Cyprus has packaged your flares will open the possibility to damage. Airfreight is determined by weight or volume weight, whichever is greater. The HS code is basically a heading, under which the HTS specific codes reside (harmonized tariff schedule). HS3926.30 is the heading for items of plastic for ‘furniture, coachwork or the like’. You will not find a specific code for ‘fender flares’. Your illustration above is indicating an example of what you need to put in as a product description…not that the HS code is for ‘Nike air or guitar’. Presumably guitars and sneakers will have different tariff codes.
And I think you advised that the length of your shipment was 40 inches? Is that not larger than what Royal Mail will accept?? 61cm is 24 inches.

https://www.royalmail.com/sending/international/international-tracked-signed-heavier

 

When you enter a specific code on that site, the "product description" is automatically populated. And when you enter a product description, their program generates a code. The apparent fact that it may or may not be accurate I have no control over. I only used this to get an estimation of duty and VAT. Is the estimate correct? I assume it should be... but again I don't actually know. But it should be...close.

The data the vendor provided: 4kg, 54x102x17cm. Call it 9 lbs, 22" x 40" x 7".

If that's bigger than what Royal Mail accepts, then I guess the seller can't use Royal Mail. He gave me a price; I don't care how he gets it to the UK. And by extension, the package from the UK to me could not use Royal Mail either. OK. So instead of driving to the Royal Post they could call for a pickup or drive to DHL or FedX or whoever is available as a commercial carrier. Thanks for the clarifications.

 

I suggest you look at the Royal Mail website to see what their specs are. In the link I found, they indicate the longest length can be 24 inches. There would be no sense in going through this procedure finding someone in the UK, who then brings your (VERY poorly packaged, IMHO) parcel to Royal Mail, only to have it refused, right??