ebay purchases : VAT

As requested by Vic, in a recent thread:

My ‘eyepiece tube to C-mount’ adapter tubes arrived safely today

They were handled in China by ‘ORANGE CONNEX’ and in the UK by Royal Mail’s RM 24 service.

It appears that system is running exactly as it should.

MichaelG.

I should have another datum in a week or two. Not worried about VAT and handling charges, but more than a bit miffed that it's easier to order stainless steel toolwrap for heat treating from California than the UK.

Sounds good Michael.

Not strictly engineering, but I ordered some PSU cables from Corsair, they arrived through my door two days later and I was surprised to see they had been shipped airmail from the Netherlands. Nothing on the website to indicate this, and there was nothing to pay. Total value was below £15.

Rob

Edit - apologies, didn't realise the thread was strictly for Ebay purchases.

Edited By Grindstone Cowboy on 20/01/2021 13:42:51

.

No problem, Rob

... It’s the general arrangement for ‘imports’ that is of most interest, whether via ebay or elsewhere.

MichaelG.

A €375 purchase from UK via eBay cost we slightly north of €130 euro in extra charges "Customs&Taxes"

Unlikely to be doing that again.

Just FYI.

Frank C.

Isn't it a case that vat is not applicable to exported items which are then taxed on import at the rate applying to the importing country? Whether that's collected at the point of sale or at delivery is a different matter. That gov has finally got itself sorted to block the loophole of folk getting away without paying vat and customs duties from non EU shouldn't be such an issue (you were tax evading before)... albeit adding to end user cost. The fact that the delivery company adds a handling fee is a necessary evil (particularly on small purchases) and of course there's the extra paperwork for export to europe that didn't exist before Brexit.

pgk

Am I right in thinking that if I buy an item at less than the threshold of £137 via ebay from China there will only be VAT to pay, and that will be collected by ebay. The postman will not be standing at my doorstep demanding more money for import duty and handling charge.

Doug

Now the system is being tightened up it should level the playing field for uk based sellers who have had to contend with widespread tax evasion undercutting the honest sellers. It may be well worth looking at uk suppliers as most things can be found here. I recently bought some parts for the ELS by James Clough in the USA via his eBay listing, the cost near doubled by the time it had been through the proper process of tax and handling. I accept that that is how the system works and sucked up the financial hit for something unique that I wanted. If we now start to adjust to paying the proper price for things directly imported then we may find shopping in the uk is the best solution with full consumer protection thrown in for free.

Mike

And don't forget when you come back from abroad and they want a list of anything over 100 quid or whatever

one phrase in the box

"personal effects"

And open everything so its useless, crack the top of that whisky bottle and take the cellophane off the cigarettes

Edited By Frances IoM on 26/01/2021 11:56:10

Has anyone looked at the bottom part of a spirit bottle label, I noticed that there was a series of small cuts in the label. Sensing that it could be used for checking it's origin I cut a small piece off the bottom of the label just in case.

AFAIK nothing has changed if importing goods from countries not in the EU, there has always been the opportunity for customs control to add import duty and VAT + a collection charge by the delivering company.

When I was VAT registered it was the case that if exporting to a non EU country the goods could be Zero rated so no VAT collected.
Likewise if buying from an EU member country goods could be imported to the UK Zero rated provided the importer's VAT registration details were provided to the seller.

If now buying goods from an EU member country we are having to pay additional VAT on a selling price that in most cases already includes VAT collected by the country where the sale is made, in some cases this 21%.

So from the above it is clear goods from PRC will still cost less, even with 20% added and collected by eBay, than goods from the EU countries.

Emgee

Yes, this is what should happen. On the eBay website it should say somewhere that the listed price includes VAT.

This thread was originally started by Michael for folks to hopefully confirm this is actually happening.

Suppliers are playing catchup.

Larger EU based companies are now typically showing prices excluding local VAT which is added at the checkout for goods valued under £350. You should not be charged double VAT.

Goods over £350 you have to pay VAT, import duty and courier's collection fee on receipt.

Someone recently complained they were struggling to sell s/h on eBay as buyers were saying the price was nearly the new online price form Europe (as the latter was being quoted ex-vat).

I've noticed one price for something I bought from Germany last year has dropped from £89 to £75 which is a little less than 20%...

It's rather like when we went metric and everyone rounded up...

Neil

I’ve ordered a collet Chuck for £7.54 from PRC but it’s not due to land here until next month. WSS what happens, fingers crossed!

You mean 15/16th" became 1"

There are two different issues here:

• The VAT collection system has changed to make it harder for UK customers to avoid paying tax when buying from abroad, and,
• Leaving the European Union means the new border adds steps and charges, some of which are themselves liable to VAT.

So two sets of changes impacting UK imports and exports at the same time. It's confusing!

Whilst the effect on imports is of most interest to UK forum members there is the other side of the coin. Members living in Europe may be interested in the following advice I noticed buying carbon fibre this week from Easy Composites. It's clearer than most I've read and gives a costed example. I think the advice generally explains the uncertainty causing a certain amount of bother to business with the EU at the moment. But there is light at the end of the tunnel - this company is confident they can reduce the cost and inconvenience in future. The original is here, but because the advice is likely to change I've copied what it says today, 2 Feb 2021:

Basic message - don't assume the whole system is permanently wrecked if buying from the UK (or Europe) causes aggro during early 2021. The possibility of unexpected 'brokerage charges' is my main concern. Things should straighten out in due course.

We live in interesting times!

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 02/02/2021 17:43:02

Thanks for sharing that, Dave ... it's useful and written in reasonably plain English.

The only thing I might add is that we should see it as no surprise

This general arrangement was scheduled for 'Europe' from July 2021, and Brexit just made the UK an 'early adopter'

MichaelG.

Well the collet Chuck I ordered just popped through the letterbox. No additional charges and it arrived in seven days!