Why is postage to the uk so expensive

[IRONFISH45]

As far as I have been able to discover the VAT is going to eat you alive. You pay the tax on the item and shipping. Then there is the flucuation of $.

Warbonnet did have a distributor in the UK. Maybe contact Warbonnet for further information. I had a nice hammock imported from the UK a few years ago.

From time to time people from the UK offer their gear for sale so watch the For Sale Forum.

All the vendors mentioned are excellent possibilities. Simply Light designs is top rate, speedy and very reasonably priced.

Dream hammock very nice and fair price.

To the best of my knowledge Warbonnet is the only vendor on HF that has hammocks being sold in the UK but I could be wrong. The discussion about the Blackbird being sold in the UK was a long time ago.

DIY might be a consideration for you.

Egad I was just looking at Air Fare really cheap right now. You could s lmost fly here, pick up your gear, use it, fly home pau Vat on used gear.

[Jonathankcr]

As far as I have been able to discover the VAT is going to eat you alive. You pay the tax on the item and shipping. Then there is the flucuation of $.

Warbonnet did have a distributor in the UK. Maybe contact Warbonnet for further information. I had a nice hammock imported from the UK a few years ago.

From time to time people from the UK offer their gear for sale so watch the For Sale Forum.

All the vendors mentioned are excellent possibilities. Simply Light designs is top rate, speedy and very reasonably priced.

Dream hammock very nice and fair price.

To the best of my knowledge Warbonnet is the only vendor on HF that has hammocks being sold in the UK but I could be wrong. The discussion about the Blackbird being sold in the UK was a long time ago.

DIY might be a consideration for you.

Egad I was just looking at Air Fare really cheap right now. You could s lmost fly here, pick up your gear, use it, fly home pau Vat on used gear.

I have looked at a few options regarding shipping the parcel forwarder seems to be the cheapest option and from what I found out the vat is 20% so $300 would be $60 and the parcel forwarder is $10-$20 so it works out cheaper as some shipping is $80 to do it direct also I may have someone at work with a house in the states do you know if they would pay vat if it was shipped as a gift/standard package and/or if they where to bring it over from one of there trips over
its disappointing how little hammock gear we can get in Scotland
as for diy I'm a big guy so would need to watch fabric choice and weight limits I have back issues so wont be walking far with it so weight of the gear doesn't need to be supper light as its all car camping im also not sure I have the skills to make something like that

[GadgetUK437]

Apparently you have to pay 20% import duty on anything over £15 from the US to the UK.

I have only got stuff from wish eBay and amazon and never had anything like that

Right, let's straighten things out here.
Under £15 (including shipping) you pay nothing extra.
Over £15 (including the shipping) you will pay 20% VAT on your total payment (including the shipping) plus you will get a handling charge for dealing with the import (Royal Mail currently charge £8)
When you get over a grand total of £135 (still including that pesky shipping) that is when you get hit by import duties. These are usually around 12% for camping gear. That is applied first, then VAT is added to that total, lastly the handling charge.
Effectively, for the bigger orders, convert the bottom line to UK£ at the current exchange rate, then multiply that by 1.344, then add the £8 handling charge.
(I have an Excel spreadsheet that does all that for you, contact me if you want a copy)

On the issue you bring up about ebay and Amazon.
The vendors on there prepay all the import costs for you, therefore the costs are factored into the price you pay.

But I suspect it wasn't really the import duties that really sparked this off, rather its the shipping that the US vendors charge. This isn't really their fault, the US Postal service doesn't have many cheap options available for overseas shipping. They do have other (potentially cheaper options available), but that entails extra faff in their side, and that's time they would rather spend making gear.

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, a fair approximation was to look at the dollar price and just interchange the dollar sign for a £ sign, but that was before the arse fell out out the exchange rate.

I do have a list of UK and European vendors I maintain on the UK hammock forum (see my sig for the link)

j

[Hemlock]

I think I’ll stick with my 18 quid hammock from Aldi. It’s comfortable enough for me.


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[bluesam3]

Of the US hammock manufacturers, SLD generally has the cheapest international shipping. Dutchware and Warbonnet are also generally relatively cheap. There are also a handful of resellers on UK Ebay.


In all cases, though, keep an eye on the custom charge threshold: if you buy too much at once, you'll end up having to pay a fortune in import fees.

[bluesam3]

I think I’ll stick with my 18 quid hammock from Aldi. It’s comfortable enough for me.


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If you've got a basic sewing machine, you can get the fabric to make a hammock pretty cheaply, and it's dead easy. If not, I'd be happy to make you one at cost (once I've finished moving house, which is currently eating all of the time I've got). Might not have the prettiest stitching in the world, but it'll be big, solid, and way more comfy than ALDI's.

[Jonathankcr]

I have had a look at some UK manufacturers and found easy hammock for £220 they do an insulated hammock good to - 5°c I'm go to enquire about that

[oldgringo]

You could just leave the EU and join the US. Simple.

[Hemlock]

If you've got a basic sewing machine, you can get the fabric to make a hammock pretty cheaply, and it's dead easy. If not, I'd be happy to make you one at cost (once I've finished moving house, which is currently eating all of the time I've got). Might not have the prettiest stitching in the world, but it'll be big, solid, and way more comfy than ALDI's.

I have a sewing machine and a roller hem foot. I bought some camo ripstop nylon to make myself a 12’ hammock but ended up making a winter down UQ instead.
The hammock is next on the list!


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If you do decide to go down the DIY route I've found that FabricLand in the UK actually sells a very limited range of ripstop fabric for a very very reasonable price. I've made 2 hammocks from their material, a single layer and a DL both at 11'. I think the total cost for 12 metres was somewhere in the ballpark of £35-40...

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