Did Brexit kill AlieExpress?

Hades · 4 Jan 2021 at 11:24

While this will push up prices for the buyers, it appears to be making a more level playing field and collecting the right amount of tax. I don't have a problem with it if I've understood this correctly.

jpaul · 4 Jan 2021 at 11:40

B@Th*nG said:
So if I buy a tshirt for £12 from abroad i have to deal with getting charged by royal fail and the tax man? benefits of brexit eh.. sigh.

looks that way https://www.superdeluxeedition.com/...for-physical-music-fans-in-the-uk-and-the-eu/

Another thing to point out is that something called the ‘Low Value Consignment Relief’ has been scrapped. This had previously meant no VAT was due on consignments of goods valued at £15 or less. So now, if you buy something worth less than £15, the European store you buy from is legally obliged to add and collect the VAT.

royal mail site seeems to be wrong https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7208/~/help-with-paying-customs-fees
do you feel lucky - £8 processing fee if you get it wrong

v0n · 4 Jan 2021 at 11:56

Lol, so the rest of Europe is still drop shipping their Chinese fake goods free of charge an we VAT them? So much for the "Taiwan of Europe" scenario. Thank you Farage.

pc-guy · 4 Jan 2021 at 12:10

Hagar said:
They are not paying over the odds. It levels the playing field a bit between a UK based company and a Chinese internet based company.

Agreed!

Aliexpress sellers exploit weak EU entry points for tax evasions and then able to sell knock offs at elevated prices to make massive margins and yet still appear compelling for British consumers.

totally agree. Although I do feel UK prices will also rise due to demand for one and lack of competition for another.

maybe it is the for the better that we pay for quality goods down the line and our manufacturing sector reaps the reward.

but I guess, brands can always outsource manufacturing back to China to make killing again. So instead of Chinese firms ripping us off, it will be our neighbours.

Roadrunner_668 · 4 Jan 2021 at 12:14

its all a cycle, there will always be a way

Em3bbs · 4 Jan 2021 at 12:44

v0n said:
Lol, so the rest of Europe is still drop shipping their Chinese fake goods free of charge an we VAT them? So much for the "Taiwan of Europe" scenario. Thank you Farage.

Interesting how your opinion of using EU low taxation countries to minimise liabilities plus lack of VAT suddenly differs:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/forums/posts/31722085/

v0n said:
Come on, don't stretch it - there is literally no difference between Tesco delivering third party products to your door and Amazon delivering third party products to your door, bar secondary service that allows you to walk into your local Tesco warehouse and pick products on your own. Yet one is pretending to be Luxemburg company with no tax footprint in UK and randomly doesn't issue VAT invoices to their customers.

What is AliExpress' tax footprint in the UK like?

bUt BrExIt

cainer · 4 Jan 2021 at 12:47

B@Th*nG said:
So if I buy a tshirt for £12 from abroad i have to deal with getting charged by royal fail and the tax man? benefits of brexit eh.. sigh.

The EU is also scrapping their low value tax exemption of 22 Euros in July this year so it was probably going to happen brexit or not

Roadrunner_668 · 4 Jan 2021 at 13:16

interesting to note

Psycho Sonny · 4 Jan 2021 at 13:28

Jokester said:
Not unless China has left the EU as well?

(it’s Covid related transport issues)

AliExpress has huge warehouses across Europe.

So they used those to ship to the UK.

Spain, Poland, Russia, USA and I believe now France all have AliExpress hubs.

So they got around the extra charges somehow (labelling as gifts or free samples, low values, etc) but now if an item is in Spain it's harder to get into the UK without any fees.

Brexit is going to cause the price of everything to go up.

I would buy whatever you want sooner rather than later.

something daft already!! · 4 Jan 2021 at 13:32

I have never bought from Ali Express and don't ever plan to. Cheap, nasty and probably dangerous tat.

Puzzled · 4 Jan 2021 at 13:34

If this kills off some of the cheap chinese tat sellers on ebay / amazon etc then its not a completely bad thing. Buying simple electronics is so much harder now as the market is flooded with chinese rubbish that doesn't meet UK regs and is potentially dangerous.

Minusorange · 4 Jan 2021 at 13:36

something daft already!! said:
I have never bought from Ali Express and don't ever plan to. Cheap, nasty and probably dangerous tat.

Username is apt, how do you know they're cheap nasty and dangerous if you've never owned anything from there ?

builder22 · 4 Jan 2021 at 13:38

just discovered bigclivedotcom Youtube channel few days ago...been binge watching...there's some seriously interesting (dodgy) stuff even on Ebay never mind AliExpress

something daft already!! · 4 Jan 2021 at 13:38

Minusorange said:
Username is apt, how do you know they're cheap nasty and dangerous if you've never owned anything from there ?

I have friends who have with disastrous results.

Surveyor · 4 Jan 2021 at 13:39

Psycho Sonny said:
AliExpress has huge warehouses across Europe.

So they used those to ship to the UK.

Spain, Poland, Russia, USA and I believe now France all have AliExpress hubs.

So they got around the extra charges somehow (labelling as gifts or free samples, low values, etc) but now if an item is in Spain it's harder to get into the UK without any fees.

Brexit is going to cause the price of everything to go up.

I would buy whatever you want sooner rather than later.

Does AliExpress have any warehouses/hubs or is it the businesses who sell through AliExpress who have them?

touch · 4 Jan 2021 at 13:46

Psycho Sonny said:
AliExpress has huge warehouses across Europe.

So they used those to ship to the UK.

Spain, Poland, Russia, USA and I believe now France all have AliExpress hubs.

So they got around the extra charges somehow (labelling as gifts or free samples, low values, etc) but now if an item is in Spain it's harder to get into the UK without any fees.

Brexit is going to cause the price of everything to go up.

I would buy whatever you want sooner rather than later.

I've no idea how their tax is done but most of the time if you select an item to be dispatched from one of those warehouses the price is higher so I'd guess they might be paying some extra tax on it.

Minusorange · 4 Jan 2021 at 13:46

something daft already!! said:
I have friends who have with disastrous results.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying there's not garbage and stuff with questionable safety on there but of the hundreds of stuff I've bought over the past 4 years from precision mechanical to electronics I've not had a single issue apart from getting fewer crocodile clips than I ordered which I was refunded for. But I always sort my search by order amounts and then check the reviews first before buying and don't mind paying more for something that has been ordered & reviewed by a lot of people than something which looks identical, costs less but has no orders/reviews

Psycho Sonny · 4 Jan 2021 at 13:59

Surveyor said:
Does AliExpress have any warehouses/hubs or is it the businesses who sell through AliExpress who have them?

No idea but when i order off them I can usually pick a few different countries as options for the item but I do tend to only order from the large brands not just anyone.

The point is that it's not always coming directly from China. There are warehouses across Europe.

Psycho Sonny · 4 Jan 2021 at 14:01

touch said:
I've no idea how their tax is done but most of the time if you select an item to be dispatched from one of those warehouses the price is higher so I'd guess they might be paying some extra tax on it.

Sometimes it's lower when there are deals on.

But usually higher but look at shipping costs too. Sometimes they aren't included

chroniclard · 4 Jan 2021 at 14:18