BUMNOTE
Member
Dont know if this in the right place,so sorry if incorrect....if you wanted to buy a sax from u s a,would you have to pay any extra charges.ie import tax or anything else
.Thanks Bumnote.

If you are receiving a package from overseas (unless it’s from another EU Country), please be aware that it may incur customs charges. Any package assessed as being liable for customs charges will also incur a Royal Mail handling fee of £8.
Any goods imported into the UK over the value of £15 are liable to import VAT. Gifts between private individuals over the value of £36 are also liable for VAT
The value you pay VAT on includes:
local sales taxes
postage, packaging
insurance
any duty already charged
so, you'll pay 20% VAT on the value of the instrument and the cost of shipping and insurance, plus a handling fee of £8
Dont know if this in the right place,so sorry if incorrect....if you wanted to buy a sax from u s a,would you have to pay any extra charges.ie import tax or anything else.Thanks Bumnote.
Have bought four horns from the USA over the last year....works out at about 30% of the cost you pay for it including delivery
Packing well is a must and distance hardly ever matters because most of the times a package go through a similar amount of changing of hands while only the length of the haul in between the main shipping points changes.
Regardless whether you send a horn to the next county or across the world one should always pack well.
My wife and I have discovered that one of the best isolation material to put all around a case are egg cartons. Which we save especially for this purpose.
The horn inside a case needs to be padded in the case so that it cannot shake, rattle and roll 🙂 anyway. Then you put your case in a large carton box (or you make one around the case using smaller carton boxes) making sure that is completely suspended on all sides with egg cartons all around the inner case.
The saxophone this way will cushion any hit (but the saxophone inside the case has to be absolutely incapable of moving in the case!!)
Egg cartons are lightweight but (when closed) very sturdy (they are made to protect eggs after all).
We have been complimented many times for our shipping technique.
Yes, as you can see from the calculator that I have provided.
30% is a rough figure, some people would need a precise one
I disagree on the fact that distance makes the need to pack better or greater. Most of the times distance only plays a role for the train or aeroplane haul between the same handling factors and number of handling.
when I shipped a bassoon to England to a shop, they sent me that advise, once they received my bassoon they said they had never seen anything so well packed before