Buying ink from USA to send to UK

[Carpio]

Hello,

Not sure where to post this question, so doing it here.
I'll delete it if in the wrong place, sorry. (I know how to do that now, dontchya know) ;-)

I wish to buy some Iroshizuku from America (from Jet Pens - cheapest place I have found) owing to the price savings. (105.00 dollars for 4 bottles = £87.00 give or take a tad. In UK the same bottles would cost me approx £135.00 from cheapest place I know of this side of the pond)
I was wondering if anybody here has sent a parcel to UK from the US, or a price guide link would be good (I'm guessing weighed weight will be half a kilo including packaging)

Thank you in advance.

Carpio

[Runnin_Ute]

In addition to the shipping, have you factored in the UK VAT that you will likely have to pay upon delivery that you would pay as part of the price you pay there in the UK? A US dealer won't collect it from you.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[junglejim]

I shipped off a 1kg package to the London area by USPS First Class International and it was US$42. That was last year, and we have since had a price rise with another one coming in July. And don't forget you will have to pay VAT and UK Customs charges. His Majesty needs to pay for his coronation costs.

[Chrissy]

I can assure you that you won't find any Pilot Iroshizuku ink bottles from the US that will cost you less than you can buy them for here in the UK. They have to be sent tax inclusive if the value is below £160 and if they are above that amount VAT, duty and extra delivery fees from the courier service have to be added on. It won't just cost you more than buying them here, it will cost you very much more.

I don't even know if you can buy any from Japan now since some sellers have advised me that the UK doesn't accept their economy shipping via SAL anymore.

I've already done several searches for one colour that I wanted.

If you're in the UK you should do a Google search for each individual ink colour that you want to buy as all of the regular UK online places will come up with their prices. You might get lucky on Amazon for a particular colour but you might need to wait until a discount offer comes up. Cult Pens has discount offers regularly as do Hamilton Pens and Pure Pens. The Writing Desk also sells them.

Be careful on Amazon as there are some really wild prices on there. If the price doesn't begin with a 2 you can get it for less somewhere else.

Depending on where you live you may be able to visit one of these companies that have a B&M shop. Or you might need to go to a UK pen show to see if it's a better price there.

Very rarely one might come up at a reasonable price on ebay but you may as well only search for "located in the UK" as there will never be one that is worth getting from anywhere else nowadays. Beware of ebay international sellers quoting Global shipping as ebay adds VAT onto the item price and the shipping cost before you buy.

If you like, PM me with what colours you want and I may be able to assist. Or just add a WTB thread in the Classified WTB or Trade forum on here.

[Chrissy]

In addition to the shipping, have you factored in the UK VAT that you will likely have to pay upon delivery that you would pay as part of the price you pay there in the UK? A US dealer won't collect it from you.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

Some US dealers do now send tax collected items, but most can't be bothered with it all.

[Carpio]

Hello,

Thank you very much for the replies. Appreciated.
I had no idea as to add custom charges/VAT. I guess I should have realised, but I didn't, I just thought that was added into the price with the courier costs (having never ordered/bought from the States before).

Thank you so much for the offer Chrissy. I'll pm you with the colours I'd like, and if you can help, that would be real good. I bought 3 Iroshizuku inks from Amazon in the past, and very nearly ended up paying £43.00 for a bottle of Ama-iro, when over the next page it was offered at £32.00, so I see what you mean about being careful.
Anyway,... again, thank you all so much for the advice and replies from those that replied.

Carpio

[Chrissy]

I'm currently in pen and ink selling mode and while there are some that I will now part with I'm in no hurry to list them for sale. ebay offers me 80% off of fees every two weeks and sometimes I'm tempted sometimes not. LOL

[mizgeorge]

If it's any help, I also have quite a few unopened or used once bottles of Iroshizuku that I'd be happy to part with - some I still like very much, but others just don't do it for me any more, or are duplicates, so if Chrissy can't help, feel free to drop me the list

I have (ahem) a fair number of bottles of ink, so it's always worth asking if there's something you're particularly after...

[Carpio]

Hello,

Thank you very much for the offers. I have no doubt whatsoever I'll be taking the offer up.
I've scrolled through pages in the ink reviews and not seen anything with 'Yellow' in the title, and that, as sods law would have it, it is the colour I'm looking for.
I have just bought what I thought was a nice yellow, called, 'Amber' from Diamine. I realised before buying, that the word ''amber' isn't a yellow, as in the spectrum of my eye sight at least, but the swatch that I saw showed it as a lovely yellow. It arrived today, so loaded a pen up. It isn't yellow enough, although I guess it would pass as a yellow. If anybody could suggest a 'Yellow', much like the yellow on the little backing on the right of the typing box which pops up saying, 'Auto-Saved'.

Many thanks,

Carpio