A little bit of advice needed please.

[Model Builder 4]

When purchasing anything from outside the UK that has a value of over £135 including shipping you will get charged import tax when it enters the country, the value of this is dependent on the cost of the item you've purchased plus the shipping company usually adds a few quid for their trouble and handling fees.
Aliexpress charges these fees and add the tax at the checkout stage of their store so you know what you'll be paying as it does not incur the import tax when entering the country as this is then taken up with Aliexpress, hope this helps

Cheers, Lee.

[Tiger6]

Do Aliexpress automatically charge the VAT over £135? I don't think Ebay or Amazon do?

My understanding was that the specific retailers that the Govt had identified as large scale market places (i.e. Aliexpress, Ebay, Amazon) were only obliged to collect VAT on items up to £135, anything over that would have to be assesed and collected at the border (because of the extra import duty charges).

Additionally - if your goods are coming via one of the big couriers like DHL, UPS, FedEx, etc. (as opposed to postal services like USPS, Royal Mail, etc. because their costs are covered by international treaty) then the shipping fees can be quite extortionate, as they are the ones who will be doing the customs inspection and clearance, plus the tax assesment and collection on behalf of the local Govt.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Sorry to slide off the topic a bit, Ratrace.
Tiger6 wrote "if your goods are coming via one of the big couriers...fees can be quite extortionate." The phrase I have always heard (here in the US) is "fees can be quite exorbitant." But your version, with "extortionate" is excellent! I like it so much better.
Now back to Ratrace getting a Panther (and a few more at the same time to combine shipping costs. )