How to get the best Black Friday deals from the US when shopping in Britain
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Black Friday is almost upon us – the US sales extravaganza that has been big news in the UK for the past five years. The trouble is, even with the Black Friday deals on offer, lots of things are still cheaper at their full price in the US.
Historically, we've seen goods ranging from phones to cameras to clothes and cosmetics frequently sell for less than half the price Stateside. And that's before the mega discounts US shops unleash on Black Friday.
Take iPads. In 2014 a string of retailers like John Lewis knocked a few pounds off the popular tablets for Black Friday. But even with money off, they still came nowhere near their price if you'd just bought them in America, where they were almost £70 cheaper on Amazon US at £140.85 vs a price of £209 on the UK store (based on exchange rates at the time).
The good news is that with a bit of careful planning you can – in effect – double your discount, not just getting the Black Friday sale price, but the US Black Friday sale price.
poll loading Are you excited for Black Friday? 1000+ VOTES SO FAR Very much so! I love the deals Not really, it all seems a bit of a con I might buy a few things if they take my fancy, but I'm not overly hyped
How to get US Black Friday prices in the UK
(Image: Reuters)
Shopping online from US stores is frequently as simple as shopping from the UK versions. Just add “US” to a search for the shop you're looking for – be it Amazon , Apple or direct from the manufacturer.
Then there are stores like Walmart, Target and more that aren't over here at all. There's a list of the top US online shops here .
“The biggest hassle is still shipping,” Ramesh Bulusu, chief executive at MyUS , told Mirror Money .
(Image: REUTERS)
Shipping an iPad Mini to the UK costs about £30. That said, you'll still save a significant amount overall. An iPad Mini 4, 16GB, with WiFi only, costs £68.15 less from the US version of Amazon.
The better news is that you don't need to pay for shipping for each and every thing you buy. You can get them all delivered to one US address, then boxed up there and sent on to you in one package – cutting as much as 80% of the shipping cost overall.
Shipping companies like MyUS and USGoBuy give you a secure US address to have all your items delivered to , let you store packages there free for a set period (typically 30 days) until all of your orders have arrived, then box them up and ship them to you in one package.
You also get cheaper deliveries, because the size of these companies – with hundreds of thousands of customers – means they negotiate better deals with delivery services.
Generally packages arrive in two to four days.
What to watch out for
Shipping might be the biggest concern – not to mention cost – but it's not the only one.
First, you need to watch out for customs charges.
“Anything posted or couriered to you goes through customs to check it isn’t banned or restricted and you pay the right tax and ‘duty’ (customs charges) on it,” the official gov.uk site explains.
You could end up being charged VAT, customs duty or excise duty on anything shipped to the UK – and if you don't pay up in three weeks, the goods get sent back where they came from.
The good news is that things costing less than £135 are exempt from customs duty – and the cost is waived if it comes to less than £9.
You'll also pay VAT on the goods at the standard UK rate if they're worth more than £15 (or £36 for a gift) or on any alcohol, tobacco or fragrances.
You'll also be charged excise duty on any alcohol or tobacco you receive.
The whole process is a lot faster if you include customs forms with the packaging (something specialist shipping firms normally do automatically) stating what's in the package and its price in dollars. If this isn't done, there's also a risk the goods could be seized.
There's a full explanation of the rules here .
This is what you're not allowed to ship to the UK while here's a list of things that you aren't allowed to export from the US .
That seems hard – is there an easier way?
Yes, yes there is.
Firstly, but using a shipping company like MyUS they'll automatically inform you if what you've bought is banned as well as provide full customs documentation.
Secondly, head to a site like http://www.dutycalculator.com/ and they will work out exactly how much you'll pay. You get three free calculations, but can sign up from more than one email address if you need more.
The good news is that the more items you buy, the lower the shipping cost is and that a great deal of items don't attract VAT, so will be far, far cheaper in terms of duty.
If you make sure you do your sums first you can still make huge savings .