[Ian Bell[_2_]]

I recently ordered some PCBs from ExpressPCB in the USA. They cost a
total of 51USD plus 45USD carriage (UPS Express) giving a total of 96USD
or about 60GBP at current exchange rates. I am in the UK but even with
the carriage costs this was as cheap or cheaper than European suppliers,
the software is a doddle to use and you don't have to worry about file
formats.

The boards arrived yesterday and I was disappointed to have to pay an
extra 22.50GBP (about 36USD) in import charges. This consisted of
11.50GBP VAT (roughly the same as sales tax in the US) and 11.0GBP
brokerage for for paying the VAT. I have purchased tubes and various
other items from the US and other parts of the world and this is the
first time I have ever had to pay duty. I don't know if this is a UPS
thing, simple bad luck or the norm for PCB imports.

What is worse is that the invoice says these are *estimated* amounts and
I may later get an invoice if the actual amounts differ.

So, a word of warning to UK users of ExpressPCB - watch out for import
duties!

Cheers

IOan

P.S. The PCBs are great. Thanks Phil for the details of the PCB socket
dimensions - they fit the PCB just right.