Import Tax & Shipping Costs on Logos Disk (UK)?

This is primarily a question for UK users....

Sometime in the next few weeks, I'm about to buy Logos for the first time and am likely to choose the DVD purchase option when buying (because I am told by Logos that the download time is v-e-r-y long).

However, one concern from experience of buying other unrelated goods from the USA is the risk that UK customs may open the package and charge VAT before resealing the package, and then make additional charges for their time in dealing with the package and re-posting the DVD.

My second concern on buying the disk is the shipping cost. Another piece of software bought elsewhere in the USA carried a warning from the publishers: that although there was zero cost in downloading the program, the shipping costs were prohibitively high relative to the cost of the program itself.

My question to UK Logos users therefore is this: did you suffer any imposed import tax on your purchase of Logos, and, did you notice any unexpected additional postage/shipping costs?

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Comments

DominicM

Although possible, this has never been my Experience ordering through Logos..

Alan Macgregor

Shipping costs are now IMHO prohibitively expensive - well over £10. (I think my last was $29.)

Download time is quite long the first time. Well, 6 gigs is a big download, but it's a one-off. The indexing time is far longer.

I've changed all my PrePubs to downloads.

Paul Bradley

Ive never had any import charges on the few shipping orders ive made, also the only time the shipping was expensive was when i ordered the logos training manuals, around $25 shipping. I Prefer to download cause you get the item instantly, however this is not always possible.

Paul.

lostlogik

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/166646#Comment_166646

I picked download for my "Silver" package. Yes it takes a while to d/l but not too long and in the grand scheme of things, it's much quicker than waiting for shipping (and cheaper). But I didn't get hit for any import duty on the one thing I did get shipped (learning Greek & Hebrew DVDs) if that's your main concern.

Todd Phillips

Depending on how up-to-date the resources on the DVD are, you may still have a large download to bring them up to the most recent versions. I'd like to think that the DVDs aren't more than a month out of date, but I'm betting that they're older than that. So be forewarned, the DVD might not prevent what you're trying to prevent.

Unless you have dial-up or a severe download cap, I'd go for the download.

Simon’s Brother

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/166649#Comment_166649

Depending on how up-to-date the resources on the DVD are, you may still have a large download to bring them up to the most recent versions. I'd like to think that the DVDs aren't more than a month out of date, but I'm betting that they're older than that. So be forewarned, the DVD might not prevent what you're trying to prevent.

Unless you have dial-up or a severe download cap, I'd go for the download.

A very good point on the 'age' of resources on a DVD. There is always going to be some catch up, and this is where controllable downloading is particularly important. I don't know what UK is like but in Australia 6GB would put a serious dent in a lot of peoples monthly download limit. Plans with reasonable downloads limits are only starting to emerge at somewhat affordable cost, but still at the higher end of price range. And for people who are forced to rely on mobile internet access (yes some people are not able to get either cable or ASDL access) then typically download limits are only 1 to 2GB per month after than fees apply for each MB over. Sof if internet cost in UK is anything like that I can understand someone going the DVD option, turning off internet usage in Logos 4 and then waiting to Logos releases an updated media only DVD, and ordering that once a year.

On the cost of postage of DVD-roms and CD's I have generally found them to be reasonable, without extra taxes or import duties being imposed when having them sent from Logos when they are a single item in a cardboard mailer like you get for a pre-pub title. At other times though they can be very expensive when it comes to 'packaged items' that they send the whole box. But as another use pointed out I find the biggest postage cost is for printed materials like manuals and CD/Book combinations. Postage cost on Bible Study Magazine is also ridiculous compared to the subscription price itself and it why some overseas readers are very disappointed in the policy and close minded attitude of not offering this as a download. Adobe Digital Edition would work well for this. Others are happy to pay the costs, and wait up to two months to receive the magazine, but it should be an option available for both printed manuals and bible study magazine.

David Matthew

I've bought several Logos items on CD/DVD over the years and never had to pay any duty. But a friend of mine, who bought a Logos base package on my recommendation, got stung with quite a substantial extra amount to pay. My experience suggests that the majority of packages get delivered without import duty being charged.

It seems that the customs people pick packages at random for charging duty, just to keep the system going, so to speak. So it's a bit of a lottery. You might find that your package arrives in your mailbox one morning with no extra charges, or you might find a card from your local Royal Mail depot saying you can collect it from there on payment of the duty. I wish you well in your decision!

Paul Davey

You could always order the download option, and then just the media-only DVD:

http://www.logos.com/products/details/5579

That should avoid any customs problems.

In Australia, you usually only worry about customs charges on items valued over AUD$1000 (or if it is delivered by DHL) - perhaps there is a similar threshold in the UK?

Andy

Hi Christopher,

I live in the UK (Manchester) and ordered L3 Gold on disk (there was no download option at the time) and did get hit with import costs which amounted to just over £30 (I recall). The most frustrating issue for me was the two week (to the day) wait.

In November '09 I upgraded to L4 Platinum via download. The download was lengthy (I think it took just under three hours), but it was considerably faster than waiting for the disks to be delivered. If you have broadband, I would definitely consider going with the download option.

In terms of the import, strangely I was not charged any import costs for the Greek and Hebrew video lessons (which are only available via DVD)

Andy.

Mark Barnes

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/166847#Comment_166847

You could always order the download option, and then just the media-only DVD:

http://www.logos.com/products/details/5579

That should avoid any customs problems.

Paul is correct. The only method to guarantee customs problems is to order the download, then the media-only DVD, and I've been recommending this method to friends for years without problems. VAT is payable on all imports, you could find yourself several hundred pounds worse off if you buy an expensive package from Logos. It's rare this happens - only once to me in about twenty non-downloadable purchases - but it's just not worth the risk. 17.5% of several hundred pounds is an awful lot of money.

Using Paul's method, you purchase the expensive software online, or over the phone, where the EU has no jurisdiction and therefore can't charge VAT. Then you buy a very cheap DVD by post (which gives them opportunity to charge you, but is under the threshold). You use this DVD to install Logos, and you won't need to download anything apart from later updates.