The Ultimate Guide to international shipping to the United Kingdom
There are these moments where you find an item or a special deal on a foreign website that you just do not want to miss out on. While the process of international shopping from Europe or other countries is not that complicated there are some things that you should know ahead of time to make an informed decision. This will help you to make sure that the deal of a lifetime does not turn into a nightmare once it is at your door.
Specialities of international carriers
A glance at shipping carriers
While in domestic shipping customers are used to the item being picked up and delivered by the carrier directly this may not always be the case for international deliveries. Let's have a look at some of the typical options that online shops from Europe may offer for delivery to the UK:
- The postal service (e.g. Deutsche Post in Germany) will transport the item the UK through the postal network and hand it over to Royal Mail or ParcelForce for the delivery.
- DPD & Hermes/Evri will generally deliver the item themselves and transport it by road to the UK.
- GLS: GLS is a part of the Royal Mail group and therefore will also hand over the shipment to ParcelForce for delivery, however does manage its own road transportation network to the UK.
- UPS & DHL Express do run their own road (for economy) and air (for express) networks and do have a focus on international shipping, which means that in most cases they deliver the fastest and most consistent experience. They are also the only ones offering an overnight service from Europe into the UK.
If you are not shopping internationally from Europe your choice will likely be limited to either a postal delivery or shipping through one of the large express carriers.
Typical shipping cost
When looking at deliveries from central Europe to the UK the price range is typically between £8 and £30, but they will vary significantly based on on the size of the shop and whether they do have specific contracts with their shipping carriers to deliver to the UK.
Deliveries from the US typically start at around £20, as those shipments will have to be transported by air the rates do largely depend on the size of the item and can end up at £100 and more.
Due to the required customs documentation and other legal requirements many shops have stopped shipping to the UK completely. To not miss out on a unique item or a great deal that you found on a German or European website we at ShipGerman do offer shipping to the UK starting at only £12. Through our package forwarding service you can order from any German online store and receive your order in the UK, no matter if they do ship to the UK or not.
How to save on shipping
There are some ways to reduce your overall shipping cost and who does not like to save? Let's have a look at some of them:
- Buy multiple items at once: If you are ordering from a single shop it does make sense to stock up for a little bit longer. Many shops do apply a flat rate shipping fee, no matter the order size, so instead of buying twice make sure to buy everything at the same time.
- Have us consolidate your items: If you decide to use ShipGerman for your delivery you can have multiple parcels delivered to us from different shops, we can then re-pack them into a single box and ship it all at once. In 96% of cases consolidation results in a lower final shipping cost.
- Go for slower shipping methods: Some shops do offer express as well as postal deliveries. Especially for small and light items postal deliveries can be a lot cheaper than your standard parcel shipping - but beware, the transit times tend to also not be reliable.
Cross-border shipping equals customs fees - or does it?
A quick introduction to customs
Every parcel that is shipped to the UK internationally has to pass through HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). There is a vast set of rules on which items will incur which charges, generally there are three elements of potential customs charges:
- VAT is the most likely fee to incur, the percentage is determined by the value of the item
- Duties are a bit less common, they are determined by the kind of item and the value of the item and can also be 0%
- Clearance fees are charged by the shipping carrier and depend on the VAT and duties the carrier has to collect for you
The fees will be collected by the courier at the time of the delivery. Some carriers like UPS and DHL Express allow you to pay the fees online by card.
Some European online shops also allow the payment of the customs fees directly through their website, in this case no payment by you will be required at the delivery. The shops do generally show this information on their website.
VAT
Whether VAT is charged or not depends on the value of the shipped 2:
- Goods worth £135 or less: It is the sellers responsibility to collect and pay VAT, VAT will not be charged to the customer
- Goods worth more than £135: The recipient does have to pay the VAT to the carrier at the time of delivery
An exception are excise gooods like alcohol and tobacco. For those the £135 thresold does not apply and VAT must be paid even for lower values.
The applicable VAT rate depends on the kind of goods you are 4
- Standard rate of 20%: Applies to most goods and services
- Reduced rate of 5%: Some goods and services, for example children’s car seats and home energy
- Zero rate at 0%: Zero-rated goods and services, for example most food and children’s clothes
For a more detailed view on what VAT rates apply to which product group you can check out HMRC's website that provides a list on product types.
Duties
For duties the £135 threshold applies as well meaning duties will only be charged on items worth more than £135 or excise goods.
The duty rates typically range from 0% to 25% depending on the type of good you are shipping. To research the applicable duty rate for the commodity you are wanting to import you can check the UK Integrated Online Tariff. This tool allows you to enter the description for the item you want to import and to determine the applicable duty rate.
Clearance fees
For the service of clearing your shipment through customs and for the fact, that the carrier has to pay the customs cost to HMRC in advance and then only collects it from you afterwards, carriers do charge a fee.
Those clearance fees are typically zero if no duties and taxes have been collected, otherwise they depend on the amount of duties and taxes and vary by carrier. Here are some of the major carriers:
- DHL Express charges a fee of 2.5% of the duties and taxes, but at least £11.00
- UPS charges a fee of 2.5% of the duties and taxes, but at least £12.90
- Royal Mail (and therefore all items shipped through postal services) incur a flat fee of £8
- DPD charges a flat fee of £6
Exception Northern Ireland
Despite the UK leaving the EU Northern Ireland stays part of the EU Customs Union. That means that shipments to Northern Ireland do not have to clear customs and no fees will apply.
Summary
If your shipment does not exceed a value of £135 you will likely not have to pay anything. Otherwise you will typically pay a clearance fee somewhere between £6 and £12.90 except for high value items.
What if a shop does not ship to the UK
We at ShipGerman can help with that. What we run is a so called package forwarding service.
We provide you with your personal free German address that you can use to shop in Germany and anywhere else in the EU. Once we have received your item at our warehouse we can forward it to the United Kingdom for you.
We do offer a large variety of shipping services (from the postal service to faster solutions like UPS and DHL Express) and can help you save on shipping with our consolidation service.
Footnotes
