Pattern pricing. UK v. USA

[Tiggy]

I just followed a link kindly provided by Tamnymore, about the Vogue winter pattern release and was struck by the prices.  Patterns reduced from $35 to $5.99. I’ve heard about the pricing sales that happen in the US, and wonder why we over the pond, don’t get the same offers.
If my maths is correct, then that’s a sale reduction of 82%!

I’d buy, but don’t want to get stung by import tax. 

[classical retro]

I’ve never paid import tax. I always buy 3 patterns at a time, maximum number for minimum postage costs. US sales are more frequent than UK too.
CR

[Samantha]

You only pay import tax if the value is over £18 and there is the Royal Mail handling fee of £8 regardless of the value. 

However it say on the RM website that 'Letters, postcards and parcels containing only documents are normally exempt.' so I guess that's why @classical retro has never had to pay anything extra?

[Tamnymore]

If you get 3 Vogues in a sale on the US site and you are a club bmv member (with the extra reduction) you won't reach the threshold for UK tax (thought it was £15. Has it gone up??? ). But if you go over the tax limit you could get charged even for patterns as they have a monetary value. This has happened to me. The value of the contents is declared on the packet so the customs people can see.

[Esme866]

A pattern should be considered a document as an architectural floor plan is a document.

For the difference in price, it may be worth trying at least once.

[Tamnymore]

Well the UK customs don't regard.patterns as documents if the value is over the tax limit! I've tried and paid the tax. However 3 Vogues at sale and club price from the US with postage work out at about £8.50 each and will be below the tax threshold. You have to buy them in 3s to make it worthwhile. I imagine the reason they are so much cheaper in the US is that these are US companies with a huge market in the USA. The UK market must be much smaller and the pound haa dropped against the dollar.

[Tiggy]

I’ve been caught by taxes and it just made me wary.

[Tamnymore]

From discussions we had on the old TSP
it seems that some packages a bit over the tax limit will slip through customs without charges, some not, and it's about 50/50 but you can never tell which ones it will be! But if you keep below the tax limit you will be fine

[Samantha]

you won't reach the threshold for UK tax (thought it was £15. Has it gone up??? ).

You're right it is £15 - when I was looking for info I found a page on Ebay that said it was £18