US Shopping - supplements - Customs

As many of you know with the Dollar value being so low  - shopping in the USA is a bargain!

As many of you in the UK may have noticed - almost any product on e.i. Amazon cost the same in pound sterling as in US dollars - meaning a price difference of about 30 percent!

I am not very well off and have to be frugal - but I still want to get the best products and supplements I can afford - buying stuff here in Denmark is incredibly expensive! ad at least 30 percent to the UK prices - so I often buy things in UK - even with shipping costs - I still save a considerable amount of money.

I visit friends and family every year in USA - and I always carry about 60 pounds of weight in stuff extra home with me (I bring an empty suitcase - I wear old clothes and shoes on the way over there and ditch them over there - and wear brand new ones on the way home) . Shoes are a steal in the US - Often they have sales - 2 for the price of one (how often do we see that over here in Europe?) - and the price of one pair is already more than half than I would pay over here! So needless to say I buy at least 4-6 pairs of new shoes every time I go for about 1/3 of the price I would have paid over here. I simply don't understand how a pair of shoes can cost 45 dollars in USA when I have to pay 120-140 dollars for the same pair over here (I sound like a male version of Imelda marcos - don't I?). And don't even get me started on clothes ....  It is hard to find clothes of the rack over here - and even I could fit into them at the first place - they would cost 2-3 times as much as I pay over here - At least I will be able to get something on sales over here when I loose weight ... I feel robbed everytime I shop at an online store for "Big guys" - seems like the cost of clothing size 3-4 xl is at least twice as much as clothes for normal sized persons ....

Oh and supplements!!!! Skincare products .... stuff for the medicine cabinet - how people are able to live without stuff like Neosporin, The good Sudafed - when you got a cold - Melatonin - antifungal cream and sprays (I use them preventive after going to a public pool and shared showers) - desinfectant sprays - handsanitizers with aloe and Vit E (has really come in HANDY during this H1N1 epidemic) the list goes on and on ...

Now that I am preparing for WLS I try to find some products and stuff like SF Jell-o gelatin and pudding , SF popsicles, Benefiber, Metamucil, and good Vit. supplements, laxatives, are hard to find and expensive to get over here.

Friends and family in the US are allowed to send products worh less than 70 dollars as a gift

So I often rely on them for shipping stuff - (all medications - even over the counter is however ilegal to import - even supplements like melatonin ...

If I shop anything online in the US and have it shipped over here this is what it will cost me:

100 US dollars worth of products - 20 dollars shipping = 120 dollars

Danish Postal office tax handling fee = 30 dollars

Taxes - 35 percent (of 120 dollars - They even tax the shipping costs!!!!) =  42 dollars

Meaning it costs me ( 20 + 30 + 42 ) 92 dollars to import 100 dollars worth of products from USA!!! Forget about it!!! Much cheaper to order stuff - have it shipped to friends in the US and have them ship it here - as a gift ...

Oh and buying for 20 dollars in the US still cost a 30 dollar Postal office tax handling fee ...

What are the UK Rules for importing stuff from the USA?

Some protein-supplements are reasonable priced in the UK - even shipping to mainland Europe is affordable from this company:

monstersupplements.com/store/frontpage-lang-1.html

This online UK shop also have some nice products suitable for post-op eating : (more than 900
low carb, sugar free, low glycemic products :

www.avidlite.co.uk/index.html

Now I just need to find a good European Online shop to buy suitable - chewable/liquid/sublinual Vitamins and calciums.

Any recommendations for good online shops for products suitable for post op WLS living?

It totally annoys me that I can´t find nectar protein ....

Hello!!

Thank you SO Much for this post!!! I am going to go study up a bit. I REALLY miss some stuff from home!

Oh-and Calcium Citrate chewables-I have found some here in the UK that I LIKE!!! Here is the name:

Nutraceutical Sciences Institute (I obtained via Ebay.co.uk)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Calcium-Citrate-120-Chewable-Tablets_W 0QQitemZ260494369054QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Health_Beauty_Vita mins_Supplements?ha****em3ca6aca11e

1,000 mg per serving-bottles of 120 tablets with Vitamin D3 and Mag . Vanilla Orange flavour. I LOVE them! It took me all this time to find some. I found NO chewables at any of the local shops.

Another find via Ebay.co.uk. Chocolate Protein Pudding. Now-some folks cannot stand the stuff..but I like it and it is filling when I need to feel like I have eaten something healthy but yummy.

Name:

CNP ProDessert Chocolate.


Now if I could just get my Centrum chewables once again! WEEP! I cannot find shop ONE in the UK that has a chewable vitamin which isn't for a teething infant! Argh!

Try Ebay-seriously..it has been a huge help to me.


Thanks again and I will keep adding to this thread and hopefully the others will too!!

VERY helpful!!

Hugs,
Therese

I find this an interesting thread. having returned from the US at the end of October, we were amazed by how much more expensive everything was there than on previous visits. The pound has actually dropped in value against the dollar!!

In Nov 08 it was $1.68 to the £, in Oct 09 it is $I.64 to the £.   We have seen the $ being almost $2 to the £ in the past. So the pound is buying fewer dollars, not more.

I had planned to buy a good winter coat in the US but in the event it was almost the same price as over here in the UK for the ones I liked so I didn't bother.

For post-wls vits, i recommend good old Boots the Chemist! I use their effervescent range (letting everything go flat before I drink it).

Kate