Costs of Buying from Japan Yahoo (UK)

I know about the 3rd party agent (e.g. Jauce, Japamart, etc.) fees and shipping costs, but what I don't see any mention of, when you guys in the USA are using these services, is import fees and taxes.

Is this because you don't have to pay any, or because they are negligible?

Here in the UK, except on the most trivial of imported purchases, we have to pay 20% tax on the cost of the item and the shipping costs, plus import duty, plus a fee charged for collecting the tax and the duty, all of which makes buying from Japan very expensive indeed.

I wonder whether any BPT members in the UK buy from Japan Yahoo at all? I'd be very glad to hear of your experiences if you do, and if there are any tricks I need to know about.

What about Oz, NZ, Canada, etc?

we do not have these extra fees in the U.S. Just the fees induced by Jauce.

Import duty is a fact of life in the UK .The only way I win with it is being vat registered so it doesn't hurt too much .

Most of my Japanese suppliers use a mail
Service rather than a courier so it usually avoids any charges .

we have customs charges in new zealand, but they usually wont sting you unless its over, i think, $400 including shipping costs. ive not been stung yet, but most of my buys dont come anywhere near that amount.