Anyone got a parcel stuck at a border recently?

Technically you are right that duty would be due but the tariff is set at zero if it’s covered by the FTA.

Im not an expert and I guess it can get complicated if the goods were not actually produced in the EU or components are produced elsewhere.
 
I ordered my stuff last autumn. The model Asphalte use is to make what they can sell and they offer discounts on 'pre-orders'. And yes, I guess my head was in the sand, as it didn't occur to me, back in September, that come 1st January I'd more than likely be getting charged extra duties. However, now I've read more about it, the extras are significantly higher than I would have imagined.

It sounds like people are being charged VAT twice which shouldn’t be happening.
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The T-Shirts I ordered were under £135, so as I understand it Asphalte should be charging me VAT at point of sale and then sorting it out themselves regarding HMRC. However, the shoes and jacket were over £135 and there was no mention of the price on their website being exc VAT and something I'll be hit for when I received them - so potentially a double whammy.
 
413x said:
Waiting 3 to 4x as long as I did back in the good old days of the EU.

Thinking about cancelling an order as no idea about the customs on it

I order as much from the EU as I do from the UK.
If you include beyond the UK.. I place more international orders than UK.
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my m.2 which is only just a year old, I will need to send to samsung RMA in holland, wonder how long will take.
 
It's weird, I live in Ireland and getting deliveries here is awful. Amazon Prime is taking on average around 7-14 days to ship anything as most of it comes from UK warehouses, and most sellers are now simply not shipping to Ireland at all, because of the customs complexity, it's a bit of a nightmare. I've actually gone back to shopping the old way - going to retail parks to get stuff I need, which isn't ideal right now.

Then - I ordered something from the US via the cheap FedEx - it arrived in 3 frigging days!!
 
Tephnos said:
Man I hate this. Welcome to the Brexit, sir.
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I don’t think the VAT changes are strictly related to brexit and is more about reflecting the way people shop now. I think Australia already doing it this way and I think the EU will be later this year. It’s one of those do it once now, rather than changing the rules for a second time later. Think about all the stuff coming in from outside the EU (e.g. direct from China).

They’ll be much less friction on this once all the other EU sellers have sorted themselves out as they will need to later this year.

You have always had the option to import stuff from outside the EU with taxes pre paid so it just goes straight through the boarder. It’s really just down to the arrangements the retailer has put in place to do it. It’s often referred to as a ‘landed price’ and the retailers sorts out the fees and duties etc with the carrier up front.

Done it loads of times and the retailers website just does it all automatically. You pay the retailer once, the product turns up a few days later with no extortionate additional fee that the carrier has added for the privilege of clearing it through customs (no issues with paying the tax actually due).

The real issue is that it’s more complex for the few small businesses that don’t want the hassle or are unwilling to pay for the relevant software to do it all for them.
 
I suppose one result of all this is some people will start looking to buy more home-grown products, in order to avoid all the hassle.
 
I’ve got a load of stuff from Aquatuning stuck in Germany.
The tracking info says that the package is delayed due to a Brexit related disruption. I’m sure Aquatuning charged the UK 20 percent vat, so hopefully I won’t be charged again.
I’ve also ordered a Noctua NF-A12x25 from Germany as nowhere seems to have them, not even the official Noctua shop, so hopefully that will be okay.
The bits I’ve bought from Ali Express and Banggood have come from China without any hassle.
 
Before I never really took notice of where I was ordering from in regards to Europe. Now I notice how much I made use of the EU perks.

Feels like such a backwards step.

Just throwing up all these ridiculous walls to trade, travel and integration
 
Just checked the tracking on my package again. Had to pay £63 in charges. £11 to UPS and the rest on government charges, but not VAT. the price of the bits delivered was within a fiver of Overclockers, but Aquatuning had them in stock. Next time I’ll be waiting until somewhere in the UK has got it in stock.

Just done a quick calculation, and it’s about an extra 18 percent on top of the price I paid with the UK vat included.
 
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There is a big piece on the bbc about this today, looks like people are getting caught out by the origins of goods rules.

Where the stuff is made is what determines whether duty is payable on goods over £135. A few examples of people ordering clothing coming to over £135 from EU sellers and being charged. It’s likely the clothing was made in Asia and has a tariff on it, probably paid a tariff to get it into the EU too.

Looks like as a general rule, if you don’t know the origins of what your buying, keep it to below £135 to avoid paying additional duty.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
There is a big piece on the bbc about this today, looks like people are getting caught out by the origins of goods rules.

Where the stuff is made is what determines whether duty is payable on goods over £135. A few examples of people ordering clothing coming to over £135 from EU sellers and being charged. It’s likely the clothing was made in Asia and has a tariff on it, probably paid a tariff to get it into the EU too.

Looks like as a general rule, if you don’t know the origins of what your buying, keep it to below £135 to avoid paying additional duty.
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You have to pay VAT (if applicable) on it anyway, which is normally the bulk of any charges, additional tariff or not.
This will be most items as VAT free essential products are not the sort of thing people order outside the UK.

The £135 limit is just the up to that amount where VAT should be paid at point of sale requiring the selling company to register with the HMRC. Where this hasn't happened you'll get charge as normal for VAT and any applicable tariff.
So paying under £135 won't stop you paying the charges. Only gifts under £39 (inc P&P) are not charged in general. (and a few other specific instances)

Over that amount it's pretty much same as normal like you were ordering outside the EU last year, but the EU is now included.
 
Sasahara said:
You have to pay VAT (if applicable) on it anyway, which is normally the bulk of any charges, additional tariff or not.
This will be most items as VAT free essential products are not the sort of thing people order outside the UK.

The £135 limit is just the up to that amount where VAT should be paid at point of sale requiring the selling company to register with the HMRC. Where this hasn't happened you'll get charge as normal for VAT and any applicable tariff.
So paying under £135 won't stop you paying the charges. Only gifts under £39 (inc P&P) are not charged in general. (and a few other specific instances)

Over that amount it's pretty much same as normal like you were ordering outside the EU last year, but the EU is now included.
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Im pretty sure that’s what I just wrote. At no point did I mention avoiding VAT charges. £135 is the freehold for duty/tariffs hence why the threshold for prepaid VAT is £135. Anything below £135 should be fully pre paid and clear the border with no charges applied.

The point is that if you want to avoid any unforeseen charges because you don’t actually know where the goods were made then keep below £135.

At above £135 you ‘could’ be charged duty on top of VAT due at the boarder if it wasn’t pre paid and a fee from the carrier.

E.g. just because you bought it from the EU and we have an FTA doesn’t mean it’s not subject to tariffs if the goods were produced outside of the EU.
 
I don't think I'm going to take the risk I might cancel my order. The customs comes down to where its manufactured? Wtf. This is going to really change the way I shop. Quite disappointing.

I've asked for clarification from the organiser.
 
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413x said:
I don't think I'm going to take the risk I might cancel my order. The customs comes down to where its manufactured? Wtf. This is going to really change the way I shop. Quite disappointing.
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Did you vote brexit by any chance?

It’s basically to stop you getting around the tariffs. For example if we had an FTA with Mexico and Mexico had an FTA with the USA. If it wasn’t based on where things were actually made you could make something in the USA, export it to Mexico, then export it again to the U.K. and pay nothing and defeats the purpose.

For the clothing you mentioned, the seller probably already paid a tariff to get them into the EU from Asia if they were made there and you’ll have to pay another one when you import them here. I haven’t looked but I can’t imagine there isn’t tariffs on clothing which aren’t covered by a trade agreement as we have our own textile industry here. In the past it would have been paid once and built into the retail price. I’m not sure what the rules are of the goods are reexported, the seller might be able to reclaim the tariff but I would expect them to pass that on to you on a coat and trainers.

But yes, less rights and higher costs are of course project fear... oh wait.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
It’s basically to stop you getting around the tariffs. For example if we had an FTA with Mexico and Mexico had an FTA with the USA. If it wasn’t based on where things were actually made you could make something in the USA, export it to Mexico, then export it again to the U.K. and pay nothing and defeats the purpose.

But yes, less rights and higher costs are of course project fear... oh wait.
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I'm going to be trying to split orders to get under the 135 limit for sure. The biggest issue is no knowing.
You just don't know what you are going to be paying.
Is it the ticket price of 200? Is vat going to be added? Is customs going to be added? Is a handling fee going to be added?

Is this item 200 or 300?
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Im pretty sure that’s what I just wrote. At no point did I mention avoiding VAT charges. £135 is the freehold for duty/tariffs hence why the threshold for prepaid VAT is £135. Anything below £135 should be fully pre paid and clear the border with no charges applied.

The point is that if you want to avoid any unforeseen charges because you don’t actually know where the goods were made then keep below £135.

At above £135 you ‘could’ be charged duty on top of VAT due at the boarder if it wasn’t pre paid and a fee from the carrier.

E.g. just because you bought it from the EU and we have an FTA doesn’t mean it’s not subject to tariffs if the goods were produced outside of the EU.
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I've seen the same BBC article and they were charged VAT which the buyers weren't expecting. The origin of goods tariff was only applicable on one of the examples and even on that the bulk of the charge was VAT.
They were getting caught out by VAT or VAT was being added before they purchased the item and they didn't like the additional cost.

You didn't mention VAT at all, that was the point I was making. :)
 
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