Discussion of March 2018 Update

Thanks

Tennessee so materials

Our expectation is that it arrives in up to 6 weeks given typical shipper and customs performance. So, basically, same as US. (The team worked hard to try to make it that way!)

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Thanks as always @dan Itā€™s been an exciting month for all of us

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Iā€™d be interested to know how/when you make payment for customs when it gets here (UK) and how much too, if you donā€™t mind. Thanks in advance.

Hi @tracey_grundy. Iā€™ve just got my Pro into the UK and paid Ā£737.06 in duty, VAT and brokerage fees. UPS sent me an automated email with a link to pay online after I received shipping notification, but it didnā€™t work. I called them up and they said I could pay over the phone when it got to the UK. So on the morning of my delivery at 8am when their offices opened I did just that by card.

They say they accept cash, but I had a problem trying to get the proofgrade materials when we didnā€™t have the right change (they didnā€™t tell us in advance the cost so only found out when the driver turned up with the pack and an invoice) and had to pay Ā£31.72 for the free :wink: proofgrade materials.

Overall it was pretty smooth sailing.

p.s. your amount may be different as this was based on the HMRC exchange rates set for March and less if you got a basic model.

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Do you have any idea why the free proofgrade cost you anything at all since it was indeed a gift from Glowforge?

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Good Point, it never occurred to me. But it is valid. It would appear to be the way it is shipped/invoicedā€¦

My only experience of this has been where the source declares its value. If theyā€™ve put an invoice / value on the paperwork (even for insurance purposes) then they sting you for it. But, since we didnā€™t pay for it, it should be taxable is my understanding.

As @bkressley says itā€™s down to the way itā€™s been shipped to us. I started a separate support and problems thread about this, but no answer from Glowforge so far Iā€™m afraid.

Long and short is they shipped the Proofgrade as a separate consignment, which means, as far as we can figure, that we pay VAT and a separate brokerage fee on the declared cost of shipping and further more an amount that Customs deem the proofgrade to be worth.

Thereā€™s some further unanswered confusion as the invoice sent with the proofgrade has 2 codes, one of which says that Glowforge will pay for all duty, taxes and charges relating to the delivery.

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Hi, any update from GF about your free proofgrade items and paying tax on them?

I took some other peopleā€™s advice to sign up to
https://www.ups.com/gb/en/services/tracking/mychoice.page
It generally has information on the app before you even get an email about it. Iā€™ve requested a change of delivery day which is helpful and got SMS alets.

Iā€™ve paid customs for my separate Inventables and proofgrade materials (Ā£29.16) very easy online - even paypal. Just awaiting for my Glowforge basic invoice which I expect tomorrow probably (I expect it is ~Ā£600 odd, Iā€™ll let you know), getting it delivered on friday.

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I emailed support for clarification. At least one UK person has not paid any fees or duty on their proograde materials while now we know some have.

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Ā£463.53 for GF basic to UK for the main parcel today, so thatā€™s less than expected :slight_smile: let me know if you have any other questions

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Thanks guys. Any info before we receive our Pro in Northumberland (UK) is greatly appreciated. Had a nice surprise with the date also moving from 6th April to 30th March so fingers crossed it doesnā€™t change back. Been a very long 2.5 yearsā€¦

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only just learned that Glowforge does not use metric measurements? Have you left the house recently? The whole world is metric (including the US Pentagon), except the US and Liberia. The Axis of Inches is very short these days. You of all people still use the system of the people whose tea you threw into Boston Harbour! Itā€™s not called the Imperial system for nothing.

Works ok as long as you buy rough timber from Home Depot, but for precision work the metric system is indispensible. Instead of weird fractions, you just move decimal points (or commas) to change units; weights and liquids use the same measurements (1 litre equals 1000cc, equals 1 kilogram, etc ā€“ and, by the way; water freezes at 0 degrees and boils at 100!).

I do hope a metric UI is imminent, or else the machine is useless for us here in Old Europe. Unless, of course, your clever president has imposed a tariff on the use of this system. But he probably doesnā€™t know it exists.

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thatā€™s just to keep up the tradition of breaking every forecast and promise up to now. I have only been waiting 2 and a half years. I simply donā€˜t listen anymore. If a machine turns up, Iā€™ll be surprised, even happily so. If not, itā€™ll be another Kickstarter fail. Some you win, some you lose.

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This morning my car said it was nine below. Iā€™m thinking, itā€™s not that cold and the weather forecast couldnā€™t have been that wrong. Then I noticed it had somehow switched itself to Celsius. Probably because they put buttons on the steering wheel. Stupid buttons.

You are aware we only do it to irritate the rest of the world? That we occasionally bounce a spaceship off the Martian atmosphere is just the price we pay.

Look at it this way, when they eliminate the NHS to pay for Brexit having to divide by 25.4 will keep your mind agile. Youā€™ll be lucky if it isnā€™t taxed as a benefit. :wink: Also, as I recall Dan said a SI option in the GFUI is on its way.

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I know. But I am still surprised about how unaware US businesses are about the rest of the world. If you design a product for the whole world, you should consider what they use abroad, meaning everywhere else. No wonder US exports arenā€™t what they could be. Just like the World Series isnā€™t one, the rest of us arenā€™t out there, but you are back there.

I use a duodecimal system every day (typesetting), but thatā€™s because as a mechanical system it offers divisions of 2, 3, 4, and 6. But I would never build a new product based on the Imperial system alone. Itā€™s not only arrogant, itā€™s counterproductive. If I had known this (and I didnā€™t even consider it), I would have never ordered a Glowforge. Too late ā€“ after waiting for almost 3 years, I may as well have it and use it as a paperweight or aquarium.

Just wanted to update and say that my shipping email date moved from March 15th to today (7th) and I just received my email a few hours ago.

Hope you get yours soon, Erik.

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BTW: Iā€™m in Germany, not the UK. No NHS here and no Brexit either. The Brits are emulating you by being insular.

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