Duties and taxes pay, either directly or indirectly for government services.
I have a car on order which is built in Thailand and to be delivered in Australia.
It is very popular and there are tens of thousands of them on back order.
Due to various shipping fcups there are thousands of vehicles from different manufacturers sitting in fields near the shipping terminals waiting for ships to become available.
Then in Australia there are the understaffed/overworked customs crews who find seeds from Thai plants in the chassis of the cars and the cars then need to be sanitised.
I am a farmer.
I understand the importance of doing this to protect our environment(Thai plants may not pose a problem in Olde Blighty).

TLDNR Taxes pay for services because multinationals and billionaires wont.

DavecUK from outside the UK e.g. China.

But one could argue the same for goods bought directly from Italy (e.g.: ACS - not picking on them, just the first one which comes to mind as they have a very successful model of selling directly to customers and supporting them) into the UK? I know Italy is closer in terms of distance, but the bureaucracy and responsibilities are no different now that we are of the EU.

      MediumRoastSteam Yes, but you pay the VAT…and ACS do support their 2 years parts only warranty…as it’s a requirement of EU law (the 2 years bit).

      Shouldn’t confuse that with what that website is doing

      Contact me

          DavecUK - Sorry I might be misunderstanding something. I thought that, if you buy that grinder from that site, you’ll pay whatever the checkout says (to them) PLUS whatever else HMRC charges you with (usually 20% VAT, duty and other handling fees)

          I did a dummy checkout and it clearly did not include any pre-paid custom fees. So presumably it will have to be paid by the importer when it reaches the UK.

          Some other companies, like Decent for example, will pay all the import fees/duties upfront to them so whatever you pay them is whatever you will pay.

          • LMSC replied to this.

              MediumRoastSteam My understanding is, as I had posted earlier, “no tax” is the US tax. The UK VAT and import duty are outside their remit. It is the arrangement between the importer, customs and Fedex and not the seller.

              I have infact sent a note to them requesting clarification on this.

                  LMSC - Yes, I get it. I’m just trying to understand what Dave’s explanation is about because I’m not understanding what the issue is with related to import tax and how that’s collected for the UK. As far as I can see, it looks pretty standard to me.

                  Edit: OK. I think I get it now.

                  Which is misleading of course. No taxes calculated and paid for at checkout/point of sale (as per my previous post and also your point LMSC) but no doubt the tax authority of the country it’s going to will require the importer (the purchaser) to pay taxes (as per my previous post). And @LMSC do notice the message also include the US in the list!

                    JahLaza Here’s one person’s experience with ordering from df64coffee.com, although it’s a DF64P grinder instead of the DF83. Looks like the order went through, but the package wasn’t really labeled correctly for customs.

                    So it seems that it’s possible to save some money through this site, with caveats. I’m in the US, so for me, that would be about $50USD savings on a DF83 compared to ordering from espressooutlet.net, which is the legit US distributor. But I don’t think that it’s worth the stress, the potential hassle, or the questionable customer support should something go wrong, all for the equivalent of 3 bags of beans from my local roaster.

                    I do understand that my priorities may not be the same as others, but TAANSTAFL certainly applies here.

                      LMSC They clearly state:

                      • no tax to UK and other regions
                      • they have a link to terms and conditions, but there are none visible
                      • Exceptions / non-returnable items Unfortunately, we cannot accept returns on sale items or gift cards.
                      • every thing is on sale (see above)
                      • finally the catch all against each product Kindly note that once you purchase on our website, it is considered sold, there is no return/refund policy. Thank you for your sincerity.

                      It’s so vague as to give them any excuse….to do pretty much anything. When you are paying the same, or almost the same as buying in your own country (whatever that is), with a warranty and distance selling rules etc.. e.g. they could substitute different burrs and you have no come back.

                      Contact me

                          I’m sorry I ever posted anything about this now!! (Only joking). I’ve no interest as I have 2 perfectly good grinders and only room for one at any one time in our kitchen. I just thought I’d pass this on as it could interest someone here, seeing as there is a thread set up discussing it from before.I’m not based in the US or UK either, but probably no harm this conversation happened, actually for people to be aware of such sites/deals!

                          Agree the site needs to be improved. The “no tax” thing is very misleading. And the constant sale price stickers are tiresome. The no cancellation policy also sucks.

                          I’ve ordered from them despite all of that for the simple reason that it seems to take Australian retailers 6 to 12 months to offer their new models. And worse still, with e.g. the DF64V no one here in Australia can tell me when it will be available or at what price. It might be 6 months, could be 12. Might be $900, could be$ 1,500. I prefer to order from Australian retailers for various reasons and I do so when possible but there are limits to that.

                          And of course the other reason to order from overseas is sometimes the price. By way of example, right now, I can have two DF64 grinders landed from the df64coffee website for the price of buying one DF64 locally. Yes, there are potential warranty and support issues. But it’s a massive price difference. (If an imported item costs under AU$1,000 there is no duty payable here in Australia.) Two for the price of one, is hard to ignore.

                            tompoland here is the response from DF64coffee in response to my email asking about the brand/make of burrs that come standard with the new DF64V.

                            Hello Tom,

                            Sure! To clarify,

                            The burrs are now from our Professional Burr Chinese Manufacturer, they are sharper. The new burr is 100% Stainless steel with DLC coating. Sharper, less prone to rust and more durable.

                            All our resellers and distributors did their tests in the initial stage and they found the coffee qualiy and grind quality to be superior to the italmill burrs before we launched the new burrs.

                            Italmill was alloy steel, prone to rust, not as sharp and easier to become blunt. Previously we used to get from them.

                              Portakeeper rates the new DLC burrs up there with SSP. If so, it adds significant value to an already favorably priced grinder.

                              Portakeepers comments on the DLC buurs are around the 4min 30sec mark on this video…

                              The new Australian version of the DF83 also comes standard with these new burrs.

                                @DavecUK I started a new thread for the DF64V because I felt like I was hijacking this one. But I can’t delete the two posts above with the videos. Feel free to delete them if you want to. Thanks.

                                tompoland Two for the price of one, is hard to ignore.

                                This is very true. I mean… You can even buy one and, if one is a dud… You can buy a second one and hopefully it won’t be faulty… And then you have one for spares… A risk worth taking IMO.

                                  tompoland - This is definitely a grinder which is catching my attention. It’s almost as if they heard all the feedback related to the DF64 and applied to this one. The chute is ace, the grinder looks very sleek . Personally, I could do without the variable speed - maybe one day they will have a version for it. But as an end product (very similar to the Lagom externally at least) they hit it, and the price is competitive. I’m keeping an eye on this grinder with interest.

                                  Niche better hurry up with implementing that patent of theirs (for the flat burr grinder).

                                    The df as a company seem to be blasting grinders out atm, there’s quite a few models now.

                                    It would be nice to have UK support, but that comes at a price, I know it’s not often you buy a dud, but it can happen.

                                    What sort of age and conditions are the first grinders the df company supplied in now? Or do users upgrade pretty quickly

                                    I do like big burrs, I prefer them to the smaller flats, that’s just me.

                                    Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                                      Cuprajake What sort of age and conditions are the first grinders the df company supplied in now? Or do users upgrade pretty quickly

                                      I have a first edition DF64, which is coming up to 3 years old now. I love it - haven’t had any issues with it, albeit I have chosen to mod the clump crusher, I’ve switched out the burrs for Mazzers, bought a new sticker for the top to make the zero point at zero and fitted a device to act as a flow control disk - all in all I’ve spent about £70 on it. I’ve got a couple of 3D printed mods to hold the cup closer to the chute and keep it in place plus an arrow indicator for the top, but I have no concerns over build quality at all and expect the grinder will last me many years. I paid an additonal £30 or so for an extended 4 year warranty with BB so it’s cost me about £500 in total - same as a Niche would have