bingroy

I am planning on buying a box set of 36 DVDs from Amazon UK. I will be playing the PAL files on VLC player on my computer.

The questions I have are on shipping:

1. Will I be charged 36+2 pounds for shipping 36 DVDs? (per Amazon UK International Shipping rates to North America)

2. What about Custom Duty? What are your previous experiences with paying this? How is this paid?

3. What is the convenience fee charged by VISA / Mastercard for purchases less than $100?

Thanks so much for replying. This will be my first Amazon UK purchase!

Preterite

I'm pretty sure the charge is per item. I've ordered a few multi-disc sets and never gotten charged shipping per disc. On the other hand, I've never ordered anything like a 36 DVD set.

manicsounds

easiest way to check is to put the item in your shopping cart, select your address, and then it will tell you the price for shipping.

Lastdaysofrain

They charge per item not per disc, they will also remove VAT (Value Added tax) if you are shipping to the US, which is usually almost the same price as the shipping.

I've never had to pay a customs duty on anything I've ordered from Amazon UK

It depends on your particular Visa/Mastercard company, but it's usually not any more than $1 or $2, if you have a charge at all. Amazon UK actually gives you the option to charge you in US $$ rather than pounds, which you can enable if you want to avoid fees from your credit card company.

cine

Most credit-card companies charge ~ 2-3% fee for currency exchange and/or foreign transaction.

Last I looked into it, Amazon.uk's USD price-conversion builds in the 2-3% surcharge (over the open market currency-exchange rate). On top of it, some credit-card companies (such as Citi and Chase) levy fee on foreign transactions even when the payment made is in USD, so the USD price-conversion feature is at best more of a convenience rather than money-saving tool.

TerryW

Customs fees don't usually start until you reach the $200 mark.

bingroy

Thank you everyone for replying and helping a noob out! The facts that (1) Customs fees will be none (2) shipping will be 3-12 bucks depending on the item are huge loads off my mind. Otherwise the whole cost structure would have changed!

I hope that the products get shipped right to my door without any bother! Thanks again!

mythmaker18

Also, the more items you order all at the same time, the less the per-item charges are. If you were to order, say, a dozen invidual DVD titles, the total shipping would be about 12-15 pound, or in the region of 1 pound per item.

So, I usually end up placing only a few orders with Amazon UK each year, but they're almost always 10 titles or more at a time.

Another helpful hint: on items you definitely want at some point, keep them in your cart in the "saved for later section." This way, each time you log into your account, you can keep track on whether the item's price has gotten higher or lower. I use this all the time to track huge price drops, and when titles get "low enough" for my taste, I move them to the "active" part of my basket. If the price of an item shoots way up, I movie it back down to the "save for later" section. When I get enough titles I want at--or below--what I'm willing to pay, I place my order.

bingroy

Thanks Much. I will do a consolidated order.

I am planning or putting in an order for a 36 disc box-set and another 12 disc box-set. Do you think that shipping charges will be lower (per item shipped) if I order them separately. I have been keeping track of the price and want to order the items when their prices are the least!

FYI, I have been tracking prices for Amazon items using camelcamelcamel website...

CritterYawn

Use a Capital One credit card which usually eats the Visa conversion fee, or some other card which gives some sort of rewards that cover said fee.

As for the number of orders, it has been my experience to be charged 3 or 4 quid for the first item and only about 1 for the rest of the items in the same order. If you have multiple orders, you will then pay more for shipping. But I've never order a big collection of the type you're trying to get, so your experience may be different.

mythmaker18

One way to find out is to put them items in your cart together, and go through all stages of the order proces except for confirming the order. Once you get to this next-to-last stage, you will see the postage charges.

Then, take a note of the charges, and re-do the order, only this time, move one of your item to "save for later", go all the way to the next-to-last step again, write down that charge, and repeat the process again, but for the other item by itself.