I seen many horror stories about people having to pay VAT and import duties. And yet I've not had any demands. Plus the retailers don't seem to know as most will send. But I've had a few refuse to sell!! Is it a mess?? Can we go back to the EU please
Whats going on with the mail
- Thread starter tintin40
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I've sent a few parcels to Spain and USA, as long as you fill out the paperwork correctly, it should be ok. I've also just received a 12kg parcel from Spain full of wines, special foods etc valued at €180 and postage costs of €56, marked as a gift, 7 days travel time door to door. No customs charges.
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While searching for an XT front hub, I found some NOS Deore LX hubsets that (IMO) were still at a reasonable price. Despite them being in the UK, I decided to pull the trigger on them.
The seller shipped them on March 29th. The shipment started its customs clearance in Brussels on April 1st. Today is the 7th ...
If an item doesn't clear customs within 12 hours, it's usually an indication that they're going to send me a letter asking for more info so they can calculate the charges.
So it looks like I'm screwed. The horror stories are true.
Those 2 hubsets + shipping cost me £163, which translates to 190.85€
My customs calculator is churning out the following numbers :
- 32.28€ import taxes
- 53.61€ VAT
- 32€ "formality charges"
- 15€ handling charges for Bpost
That's 132.89€ (£113.82 right now) in customs and handling charges, or 69.8% extra.
The seller shipped them on March 29th. The shipment started its customs clearance in Brussels on April 1st. Today is the 7th ...
If an item doesn't clear customs within 12 hours, it's usually an indication that they're going to send me a letter asking for more info so they can calculate the charges.
So it looks like I'm screwed. The horror stories are true.
Those 2 hubsets + shipping cost me £163, which translates to 190.85€
My customs calculator is churning out the following numbers :
- 32.28€ import taxes
- 53.61€ VAT
- 32€ "formality charges"
- 15€ handling charges for Bpost
That's 132.89€ (£113.82 right now) in customs and handling charges, or 69.8% extra.
I take it the sender didn't fill in the customs forms then? Marking as a gift and also Used in the description helps.
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That would invalidate any insurance the sender has and iirc out (UK) explicitly ignores gift at least coming in. (there are a few exemptions and the cost is less than 40quid)I take it the sender didn't fill in the customs forms then? Marking as a gift and also Used in the description helps.
But VAT forms...
No idea what the EU rules in are though.
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I'm assuming it wasn't a gift as it would be classed as commercial if coming in to the UK (if implementing into UK rules, it's probably not occasional, e.g anniversary/birthday) and it wasn't used as it was NOS.Marking as gift or used with value does not invalidate the insurance. The parcel I just received from Spain marked as gift valued at €180 was delivered OK. The one I just sent to Spain valued at £125 gift is out for delivery after Customs clearance.
So if you're missrepresenting it and you ned to claim, is it worth the risk ?
You did use the insurance, that wouldn't stop it being delivered, but My Herpes would probably tell you to F-off on any grounds ;-)
gift for into UK only works for £39 and under anyway, so gift at €130 is irrelevant as far as I read.
£135 is the import duty limit so you where below that, but VAT will have been paid at some point.
Gift/used is still subject to the same paperwork VAT/Taxes etc anyway if over £39 iirc.
It's why AliExpress has got 20% more expensive ;-)
https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/giftshttps://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty
It'll be interesting to see what the EU's limits are.
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just noticed, if it's marked gift and over £39 then technically you should pay the delivery company the 20%VAT as that isn't in the £135 limit.
I wonder if that will ever be applied to anyone.
I wonder if that will ever be applied to anyone.
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No idea TBH. The seller is a professional, so I assume they want everything done in accordance with all rules and regulations.
Depends on the country. I went in-depth for Belgium on page 2 of this thread. First a post with a breakdown of how they calculate the costs, then another post with some examples of different shipment values.
Funnily enough, in that first post I mentioned that I completely stopped buying from UK sellers. I made an exception for this one package, and it looks like I will pay a price for that.
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Ah, I'll have a look, probably skim. Read it at the time
I assumed a market union would follow the same rules for imports if they use the Euro.
Shows how much our media explained things, to busy kissing the USA to talk about our neighbours.
I assumed a market union would follow the same rules for imports if they use the Euro.
Shows how much our media explained things, to busy kissing the USA to talk about our neighbours.
