As the Duty Calculator approaches 15,000 registered users, we would like to celebrate this by revealing a joyous fact about the roughly 27,000 import duty calculations that we have done so far. For around 40% of the calculations on the Duty Calculator, the result is that the import duty is actually ZERO! Isn’t that great? So in these cases people do not have to pay import duty when they purchase and ship items from abroad. Happy Duty Calculator users!

Why is duty nil? This is because either the total duty amount due is less than £8 (or €10), or the total value of the imported goods is less than £120 (or € 150) or, even better, some items are even duty free!. Here are some popular examples of import duty free items:

• Books
• Software
• Desktop PCs
• Digital camera’s
• Laptops
• Mobile phones (yes, the iPhone is duty free!!!)
• Video Game Consoles

There is of course a catch. On most items still VAT applies. In the UK this currently for most products 15%. But also here there is a ray of light: Neither duty or VAT is payable if the total value of the goods (not including shipping charges or insurance) is less than £18 (or €22).

Happy bundling

Andre

Finally it has arrived: the iPhone app for the Duty Calculator! Take the guesswork out of import duty now directly from your iPhone. It is absolutely smashing, it works even better than from your desktop.

You can download the app from the iTunes Apps store.

Thanks Pesh, Pieter, James & Nicola!

Happy bundling!

Andre

Hi all -

Today we launched the landed costs calculator for eBay! Now, with just one click, you can calculate the total cost of buying an item from eBay.com and shipping it to your home, including import duty & VAT! You just have to enter the eBay item ID and you will get the results immediately.

The eBay calculator is currently in beta and provides the total landed cost for an UK based eBay buyer who is evaluating a purchase of an item listed on eBay.com. The item can be located anywhere in the world. Soon we will be adding more eBay sites and other import-to countries.

The eBay calculator is the result of hard work by Pieter of Pi-Q, Nicola, Pesh of effect digital, Sean of Hexagon Consulting and Aleksandr or iTransition. Many thanks for this guys!

Happy bundling

Andre

Hi All -

We are very excited to announce that we signed an advertising agreement with American Express to promote their FX International Payments solution to the users of the Duty Calculator.

The FX International Payments Solution from American Express is quite a compelling one, especially at the rate of £1 per transaction! The FX International Payments solution is completely accessible online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, completely secure through advanced encryption, gives access to highly competitive rates, has no set up costs or maintenance fees and you’ll have a dedicated account manager. All at £1 per transation. Wow!

You can check this offer out for yourself here.

Happy Bundling

Andre

Hi All -

We are very excited to announce that we signed an agreement with logistics provider Seko Synergy to provide great international shipping services and rates to our users of the Duty Calculator.

Many of the calculations on the Duty Calculator are of commercial nature and involve sizable imports with significant shipping costs. Now we give our Duty Calculator users the opportunity to obtain savings on their international shipping costs through our partnership with Seko Synergy. Starting with imports from China and Hong Kong, the Duty Calculator users will be able to get an instantaneous quote from Seko Synergy, and achieve significant savings on the international shipping costs whilst getting an optimal service.

Seko Synergy, a fast track 100 UK company, are the industry’s leading provider of customer focused supply chain management solutions, offering Worldwide Contract Logistics, Ocean Freight Forwarding,  Global Airfreight Forwarding, Fashion Logistics Services, Cargo Management Services and Web Fulfillment Services.

The Seko Synergy logo already popped up on the bottom bar on the Duty Calculator, and the quotation system will follow soon.

Happy bundling

Andre