| 2002-10-09 | Document created. Converted to HTML. |
| 2002-10-10 | Added information about The Movie Store (Giles, quen) Added information about DVD Box Office (Sienar_Fleet_Systems) Added information about BK1 (quen) Updated Post Office handling fee (quen) |
| 2003-05-29 | Removed The Movie Store and DVDMod, since they've shut down Added information about DVD Pacific (shokoti) Changed URL for The Firmware Page Edited information about Amazon UK to reflect the new TokyoPop UK expansion Edited information about CDJapan Edited information about Play.com (shokoti) Added information about ADV Films UK website Added information about Lite-On DVD drives Updated contact information |
| 2003-07-22 | Edited information about ADV Films UK website Edited information about DVD Pacific (Philip Reuben) Edited information about MovieTyme (Philip Reuben) |
| 2003-07-23 | Added information about courier handling fees (Adrian_B) |
| 2003-08-18 | Edited information about Play.com/Playusa.com |
| 2003-09-08 | Edited information about Amazon.co.jp (Mr. Nice) |
| 2003-09-09 | Edited handling fees (quen) |
| 2003-12-03 | Added information about YesAsia.com (Demonanya) Edited information about AMOTokyo (Demonanya) Edited information about MovieTyne (Demonanya) Removed link to AyaCon and added link to AmeCon (IronFrost) Updated information about animeondvd.com |
| 2004-02-05 | Edited information about VAT rate on books (Mr. Nice) Edited information about couriers (Mr. Nice) |
| 2004-06-14 | Edited Post Office handling fee (Demonanya) |
| 2004-06-15 | Edited ParcelForce handling fee (Demonanya) Added FedEx handling fee (Demonanya) |
| 2004-06-18 | Added HMCE exchange rates (Demonanya) |
| 2004-08-09 | Moved PlayUSA to the non-EU based stores section
and edited its information (william jones) Added DVDsoon.com (william jones) Edited information about ADV Films UK website |
| 2004-11-02 | Moved this document to
h2g2 article A3211697 and updated it. Edited ParcelForce fee. |
| 2005-01-10 | The BBC have chosen to remove this document
from h2g2 "because it contains content that is potentially libellous or defamatory". I have emailed them back to ask them what exactly they consider "libellous or defamatory" about it, but in the meantime I'm moving it back here. |
| 2008-04-09 | Added news about VAT limit going up. |
| 2008-04-20 | Changed links to point to new HMRC pages. Added information about waiving of duty if the duty is less than £7. Added United Publications and Axelmusic to DVD section (exedore) |
The main content of this document was located at h2g2 article A3211697, however the BBC have chosen to remove it since it allegedly "contains content that is potentially libellous or defamatory".
For the purposes of this document we'll consider two types of online store: stores that ship from within the EU and stores that ship from outside the EU (e.g. the US or Japan). Purchasing from a store that ships from within the EU will involve less hassle in terms of Customs, VAT and shipping charges, but the prices do tend to be more expensive.
The reference document for information about HMRC (formerly HMCE) policies and charges relating to personal importation is Notice 143, entitled "A guide for international post users". The relevant sections are (at the time of writing) sections 3.2 and 3.3. Basically, what it boils down to is, if your package is coming from outside the EU and is marked as worth more than £18 (or equivalent in US$) then you will have to pay customs duty, VAT, plus a handling fee on it. NOTE: According to this news this limit will be rising to £118 as of 1st December 2008. HMRC also have their own set of exchange rates, so rather than using your bank's rate or an online currency converter like XE.com you should check HMRC's Rates of Exchange page. At the time of writing, duty on DVDs is 3.5% and VAT is 17.5%, and these are charged cumulatively (i.e. they charge the duty and then the VAT). However, duty is now waived if the amount of duty would be less than £7, so this means that on shipments worth less than £200 you will only pay VAT. In this country, books are VAT-rated at 0%, so when ordering manga you may not be charged (provided your order consists ENTIRELY of manga and no chargeable items), however I have not tried to verify this so do be prepared to pay extra. Also, if you use a courier service rather than a regular mail service, the chances of being charged increase quite a lot.
Here's a list of various couriers' handling fees:
| Carrier | Fee |
| Post Office | £4.00 |
| ParcelForce | £13.50 |
| UPS | £10.00 or 2% of goods value, whichever is larger |
| DHL | £1.25 or 2% of goods value, whichever is larger |
| FedEx | £4.50 |
There are a few types of shipping available for purchases from outside the EU; the only one I've used recently is USPS Global Priority. The advantages of this type of shipping is that it is cheap and reasonably fast (~6 days), however it has no tracking facility and no insurance. If you are making a large order you may wish to consider a trackable shipping type such as UPS, EMS or FedEx.
With non-EU stores you are generally restricted to Mastercard or VISA (Switch is a UK-only system and is being phased out in favour of Maestro over the next few years anyway). There are a small number of stores who ship from the US but are able to accept payment in UK currency; you may find that this is less hassle, but I haven't used any of them so I don't know what their service is like. Another option is PayPal, which now allows for direct deposits and withdrawals to and from UK bank accounts, and can be used to pay anyone with an email address. However please note that PayPal have experienced many security breaches in the past and may not be safe to use.
If you're planning to import US anime DVDs you will need some multi-region or region-free DVD playing equipment. My suggestion would be to get a DVD-ROM drive for your computer, since this is the cheapest option and the easiest to modify for region-free operation. If you already have a DVD-ROM drive, check out www.rpc1.org for utilities, information and patched firmware for modifying your drive. I personally recommend Lite-On DVD-ROM drives, since these don't require a firmware flash to be made region free.
DVD Pacific (highly recommended)
It is worth noting that importing is no longer the only option for those of you wishing to get hold of anime DVDs. Thanks mainly to the efforts of ADV Films UK there are a sizable number of UK domestic anime DVD releases, which can be had from stores such as Play.com, Amazon UK and DVD.co.uk. Wherever there is a UK version of a particular title, I strongly recommend supporting the domestic anime market and purchasing it rather than importing.
| Email: | dan@jacko.demon.co.uk |
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| MSN: | danarthurjackson@hotmail.com (do not use this address for email) |
| AIM: | danarthurjackson |
| Yahoo!: | danj2k |
| IRC: | #animedvd on Espernet (see www.animedvd-chat.org for more information). |
When contacting me PLEASE mention that you got my contact details from this document.