got to pay tax on anything costing over $ equivalent of £18..

ie..approx 3 to 5% import tax on value of instrument

+ VAT on combined total cost of instrument + import tax + shipping charge


then on top of that..

+ bastard Royal mail extortion racket charge for handling



eg.. i recently paid $396 + $70 shipping for a guitar

total $470   [£247]




Guitar       £247.00
Customs Duty £ 8.59
Customs VAT   £ 48.51
Clearance Fee £ 8.00 [theiving bastard royal mail parasites]

Total =      £312.10

..but it can still work out a fair bit cheaper than buying same instrument in UK..

..though if you can find the same instrument for reasonable cost in EEC
then you dont have to pay the VAT