American forwarders thread - Stackry, Am-Forward

[chip75]

Received my order this morning via YODEL, thick cardboard box with the Blus stacked on the edge with large bubblewrap filling the empty space. If this is helpful I've broken down the costs below:

Birds of Prey $9.99
Total Recall $9.99
Terminator: Dark Fate $7.99
A Quiet Place Part II $9.99
Requiem For a Dream $7.99
The Green Knight $9.99
Ghostbusters $9.99
Anna $7.99
The Goonies $9.99
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins $9.99
Tenet $9.99
Home Alone $9.99

$113.88

STACKRY

Consolidation $18 (9 x $2)
Shipping and Handling $29.99

Total $161.87

That works out as $13.49 per title, or as of today that's £9.96.

All in all I'm very happy with that, I was hoping to keep things to around £12-15 per title as I wouldn't feel too bad when they cropped up in our multi-buys (which nearly all of them have done), but around £10 a title, I'm very happy. Not sure how often I use the service, but everything went smoothly enough (shipped on December 15th).

Thanks to all the members that helped out with my questions, it was daunting at first, but straightforward once you got going.

[Aclea]

Glad it worked out for you.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Glad it worked out for you.

I appreciate all your help, mate. Just need to find space for them!

[jackranderson]

Shipped on the 27th arrived today, well packaged - I paid the extra $5 and everything’s arrived in perfect condition, I also got $10 off through Yami’s referral code. It was £48 in total - all consolidated, I put the values under £135 despite being more and I wasn’t even charged VAT, very happy.

EDIT - Used Stackry.

[Marcus Aurelius]

My consignment from Stackry arrived this week containing items from the KL sale and some from Shout Factory albeit I missed their 'sale'.

I did ask for bubble wrap and fragile stickers but there was none despite having paid the five dollars. For bubble wrap they placed brown paper. Still everything arrived intact and I will be using them again when their are sales from KL & Barnes this year.

[AlexJRascal]

I received my second Stackry shipment last week and was less happy than first time I used them.

8 discs. I didn't pay for extra protective packaging so it was at my own risk. (I hadn't been very strategic. Even though just 8 discs it was made up of 4 individual consignments - so consolidation costs were already high for such a small shipment.)

They were sent in a simple waxy DHL envelope, inside which as soon as I accepted it from the Yodel guy I could feel the discs moving around.
On opening it turned out that although a piece of bubble wrap had been put around the stack of discs to cover the face/rear of the cases (not enough to cover the ends too) - it hadn't actually been taped.
So of course the stack would have very quickly moved around in the spacious envelope and freed itself from the bubble wrap.

PXL_20220112_111645531.jpg

Damage is minor but the package had obviously taken a whack at some point as 4 of the discs had case damage in the same corner. Plastic "clasps" broken on all of them so none of those now close properly at the bottom.

Could have been a lot worse, but can't help thinking that if their operative had taken the time to actually apply a couple of pieces of tape to the bubble wrap around the discs ...

I suppose this echos the point some have made that they're best for large volumes of discs that are going to get boxed.

Also, you do get the impression that your experience may depend on which of their staff does your consolidation.
I didn't pay the extra on my first shipment either and that was much better packed even though not boxed.

[ACID81]

Since black friday have used stackry 3 times. Delivery times between 8-14 days. Packaged well no damage. No import charges, all 3 were declared as under £135 (even though the 3rd package was about £150).
Did a 4th order. Declared under £135 however was a bit over over.
Today have received email from customs with the following charge.
Customs entry £8.50
Import duty £0
Import vat £31.**
Total £39.**
No qualms about paying it but i just wanted clear somethi g up for myself. As i understand it, if it was over £135 thats when import duty is applied.
For the vat though, i was under the impression that it was now the seller who charges/pays vat?
Obviously i was wrong there, so is it the case that all packages unfortunate enough to get opened up at customs automatically get charged vat? Many thanks.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by ACID81

For the vat though, i was under the impression that it was now the seller who charges/pays vat?

If the seller is VAT registered in the UK (like Amazon.com) VAT is added at the point of sale and paid by the buyer.

£31 for VAT would imply that the items were over £150. It wasn't the 3rd package?

[AlexJRascal]

Originally Posted by ACID81

Since black friday have used stackry 3 times. Delivery times between 8-14 days. Packaged well no damage. No import charges, all 3 were declared as under £135 (even though the 3rd package was about £150).
Did a 4th order. Declared under £135 however was a bit over over.
Today have received email from customs with the following charge.
Customs entry £8.50
Import duty £0
Import vat £31.**
Total £39.**
No qualms about paying it but i just wanted clear somethi g up for myself. As i understand it, if it was over £135 thats when import duty is applied.
For the vat though, i was under the impression that it was now the seller who charges/pays vat?
Obviously i was wrong there, so is it the case that all packages unfortunate enough to get opened up at customs automatically get charged vat? Many thanks.

I may be getting completely the wrong end of the stick here - in which case, apologies.
(This kind of stuff is generally above my level of intelligence so I'd welcome anyone putting me straight.)

But if the package comes to us via Stackry then US retailers sell goods to us at our US address. It's a domestic US sale.
The retailers have no knowledge that we are really based in the UK, or that the goods are going to end up here. So there is no reason for them to account for UK VAT on that order whether they are registered for it or not.

And Stackry don't handle it for us either

So that leaves us liable if UK Customs decide VAT is payable at the border?

If you look at your shipment history on Stackry, and download the "Commercial Invoice" for that consignment, is it possible that the total value stated there was more than £135?

[Sifox211]

Any items coming in to the UK without VAT paid via the IOSS system will be liable for VAT, regardless of value. I don't understand why the £135 limit (for import duty) has any bearing on that. Are people just getting lucky avoiding customs and VAT with Stackry shipments?

Edit: I'm planning on trying Stackry for the first time next month with the Criterion flash sale. It will be one shipment so will hopefully just be forwarded in the original box, which should avoid any risk of things getting dumped in a bin bag.

[ACID81]

Originally Posted by chip75

If the seller is VAT registered in the UK (like Amazon.com) VAT is added at the point of sale and paid by the buyer.

£31 for VAT would imply that the items were over £150. It wasn't the 3rd package?

My mistake, the total was around £35, which makes more sense regards vat when you deduct import entry fee.

I guess the fact that it was around black friday/xmas meant that the first 3 packages were able to sail through without tax due to sheer numbers?

[AlexJRascal]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

Any items coming in to the UK without VAT paid via the IOSS system will be liable for VAT, regardless of value. I don't understand why the £135 limit (for import duty) has any bearing on that. Are people just getting lucky avoiding customs and VAT with Stackry shipments?

Edit: I'm planning on trying Stackry for the first time next month with the Criterion flash sale. It will be one shipment so will hopefully just be forwarded in the original box, which should avoid any risk of things getting dumped in a bin bag.

Thank you.

Yeah, the only thing I could find relating to a £135 VAT "limit" was this:

"For imports of goods from outside the UK in consignments not exceeding £135 in value (which aligns with the threshold for customs duty liability), we will be moving the point at which VAT is collected from the point of importation to the point of sale. This will mean that UK supply VAT, rather than import VAT, will be due on these consignments."

(Taken from here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/public...1-january-2021 )

Which seems to say not that VAT isn't payable - just different VAT, collected at a different point.
But, as we've established, I'm not the brightest spark in this area so it's all a bit nebulous to me.

My working assumption so far when thinking what I can afford to spend on shipments has been that by keeping under £135 I can avoid duty - but it's just chance whether I avoid VAT or not.

[EddieLarkin]

I've received about 20 packages from Stackry and Vinegar Syndrome over the last year, all under £135 but obviously all were due VAT since none had been paid at the time of purchase, but not one was touched by customs.

My theory was that HMRC were not spending time on the stuff below £135 as most foreign retailers had signed up to collect the VAT anyway. But perhaps something has changed now? Though the important thing is exactly what the USD value was declared at in this case, as the GBP value entirely depends on the exchange rate at the time, which is why I would never declare something even close to £135.

[drush9999]

I'm still receiving packages with no VAT paid upfront just fine via stackry, vinegar syndrome, severin, imprint, sanity.com.au etc.
Must be luck of the draw if the package gets caught, and if it's once in a blue moon it doesn't matter in the grand scheme

[Mr. Thomsen]

Have been quite satisfied using Shipito until now, but I am thinking about trying out Stackry for a change.

Any pros and cons I should be aware of?

From what I gather, both have free 45 days storage. Using their shipping calculators, it appears Shipito may be just a bit cheaper on shipping - at least at the volume I tested.

But Shipito's free warehouse is in California, so you have to pay Californian sales tax on everything you get shipped there, whereas Stackry's is in New Hampshire, which do not appear to charge sales tax - am I right?

Also, Shipito's consolidation fees have risen quite a bit, and Stackry's fees seem more reasonable, though I am uncertain whether their "repacking fee" also gets charged on every package you consolidate?

[chip75]

Received my Stackry box from YODEL this morning. Well packed like the last one. But my Knight Rider box set was absolutely trashed, unsealed and obviously a return to Amazon, cheeky buggers even put a "New" sticker on the back of the box (which has holes in it!).

I'll see what their (Amazon's) customer service says.

[Blu Lemmy]

Originally Posted by chip75

Received my Stackry box from YODEL this morning. Well packed like the last one. But my Knight Rider box set was absolutely trashed, unsealed and obviously a return to Amazon, cheeky buggers even put a "New" sticker on the back of the box (which has holes in it!).

I'll see what their (Amazon's) customer service says.

And what did they say?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Blu Lemmy

And what did they say?

Amazon kindly refunded the total for the set. It took me longer to get to chat with someone than resolve the issue once I got through. Not a fan of Amazon gatekeeping human interaction.

Sorry I forgot to update my post.

Received a box from Vinegar Syndrome (directly) yesterday from their Valentine's Day sale.

[Sifox211]

How long do Stackry take to turn around a parcel? My Criterion flash sale order has been with them since Monday (according to tracking) but they still haven't logged it as received.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

How long do Stackry take to turn around a parcel? My Criterion flash sale order has been with them since Monday (according to tracking) but they still haven't logged it as received.

They're usually very quick.