Got some Pauls mounts a couple of weeks ago from the U.S. (
http://www.paulcomp.com/thumbmtn.html )
Broke down like this.
$67 for the mounts
$35 shipping
£21 customs
£12 some other charge Parcel force stuck on for handling the customs charge.
This is why I buy from UK or Europe if I can.
The thing that always raises a smile is getting a tracking number and watching how a package can race from Mid-America to the West Coast to the international shipping dept - onto the plane - in a morning then efficiently accross the Atlantic and into the quick sand of the UK postal system !
The tracking information usually looks something like this (based on what I remember of a delivery last year)
June 1st: received Colorado Main airport 8.07am
June 1st: left Colorado Main airport 9.43am
June 1st: arrived California LAX 11.02am
June 1st: move to international shipping 11.53am
June 1st: left California LAX 14.10pm
now we get to the UK. . .
June 1st: arrived London Gatwick 20.16pm
June 2nd: received by UK customs
June 3rd: received by UK customs
June 4th: received by UK customs
June 5th: received by UK customs
June 6th: received by UK customs
June 7th: received by UK customs
June 8th: received by UK customs
June 9th: received by UK customs
June 10th: received by UK customs
June 11th: left UK customs 11.10am
June 11th: received at depot 12.16pm
June 12th: no information
June 13th: no information
June 14th: no information
June 15th: disinterested postal worker attempted to deliver to the wrong address 16.40pm
June 16th: no information
June 17th: no information
June 18th: received at depot 12.16pm
June 19th: no information
June 20th: no information
June 21st: letter sent out to inform you that you were not in when we tried to deliver
etc etc etc . . .
I am just moaning now !
But my advice would always be buy from Europe (to avoid the high customs charges) and if possible avoid our postal system (including Parcel Force) and go for something like DHL on valuable or urgent items.