I'm thinking it's a bit random. I use Royal Mail and Correos only. I have been in contact with HMRC over the years and they admit that it isn't possible to check every box. A few yrs ago I was thinking of importing some stuff on a regular basis for personal use. Their advice was to obtain an import licence to avoid any sort of duties or keep the number of boxes down to a reasonable amount. They once confiscated 12 bottles of Gin, despite VAT being paid. They sent me a letter asking if I wanted to pay duty and have the bottles sent to me, but here's the problem, they only correspond via letters and give you three weeks from when the letter was written. So if it's written Monday and posted out later in the week via the slowest paid. You reply and when it's read, the three weeks have gone and so have your bottles. I then contacted HMRC again and the advice was to only order 6 bottles at a time as we never stop those.
When filling in the customs declaration form as used for a sold item that might be nos, you and the customer need to have an agreement, also keeping a photographic record will help enormously when making a claim as does market trends. Filling in a form as used and claiming nos prices is asking to be called fraud, you have to be careful and smart.
My parcels to and from Spain currently run at 2/month and values range from £15<£200 all items individually described and values noted and marked as gifts with VAT paid locally at time of purchase. So far no issues at either end since the Covid lockdown at Barajas airport ended mid January. These parcels truly are gifts, as it's the only way my partner and I can treat each other until travel returns to normal. I lost any legal status to travel to Spain due to Brexit, hence the wait since last summer when the world shut down
When filling in the customs declaration form as used for a sold item that might be nos, you and the customer need to have an agreement, also keeping a photographic record will help enormously when making a claim as does market trends. Filling in a form as used and claiming nos prices is asking to be called fraud, you have to be careful and smart.
My parcels to and from Spain currently run at 2/month and values range from £15<£200 all items individually described and values noted and marked as gifts with VAT paid locally at time of purchase. So far no issues at either end since the Covid lockdown at Barajas airport ended mid January. These parcels truly are gifts, as it's the only way my partner and I can treat each other until travel returns to normal. I lost any legal status to travel to Spain due to Brexit, hence the wait since last summer when the world shut down
