[Nursie]

I'm not sure the business rates. According to what I can find, as an individual, I could buy one of these from the US and only be liable for the 20% VAT I've already accounted for, as the electronics->consoles category seems to be exempt from any duty.

I'm not sure if this is true for businesses, finding that info seems to be non-trivial.

--edit-- So far as I can tell (from gov.uk)

"The commodity code for importing is 9504500000.

Importing from outside the EU is subject to a third country duty of 0.00 %."

[ValentineC]

If it's handled via Royal Mail, they'll charge an additional £8 processing fee on top of VAT. [1] That's still £14 savings, of course.

[1] http://www.royalmail.com/business/help-and-support/I-need-ad...

[Nursie]

Heh, and I'm sure we could swallow some or all of the rest of it in postal costs in general, were I to order one for personal import from the US.

BUT if we're examining the £99 price point, I'd assume there would be economies of scale for the importer that's shipping to (for instance) amazon.co.uk, in terms of US->UK shipping. And that's if it is all shipped from the US to the UK, rather than coming from the Chinese manufacturer via the Hong-Kong distributor straight to Britain, in which case the costs should be comparable.

I probably couldn't personally import one from the US for much cheaper than the UK price, but that doesn't mean I can't still feel a bit miffed!

[DanBC]

Wow, okay.

You're right about it being non-trivial.

I also agree about feeling ripped off on many products.