Buying abroad....import into the uk.....?

[Tootyred]

Hi guys and girls.

Im wanting to buy a part in Germany and have it sent to the uk.

From what i understand, import duty is 0 on anything below £135.00 which must include postage, ins etc.

Thats fine....it would be well below that.

However, im a bit confused over vat. I read that its due on all imports (few exceptions) with no lower limit......unless the seller abroad is registered with hmrc for uk vat.? Is that correct....and if so how would you know?

Anybody doing this who can shed a bit if light.

Cheers

 

[27motorhead]

I have no light to shed from a technicality POV, but I can provide some real world insight.

I have bought from Germany, Italy, France and Netherlands via this site, all since Brexit.

Max purchase was probably €90. I paid via PayPal in the agreed Euros amount. All sellers were private individuals (not businesses)

Every item always seem arrive fast with no additional fees payable.

Happy days.

 

[pwebb]

your assumptions are correct, however, in practice, neither the customs and excise in UK nor their equivalents in each country abroad can possibly cope with the enormous volumes of parcels being sent, so it is pretty random what and when they may choose to examine and decide whether any duty is due on it or not - essentially, as long as you are not buying obviously super expensive items ( DSLR camera, short throw projection TVs and home theatre projectors being good examples) then they are unlikely to select your bag of bike bits for scrutiny. Also avoid sellers that place parts of your multiple item order into separate packages but send them at the same time - as this is very easy for the automated parcel sorting systems to spot and flag ( for the same reason don't submit multiple one item orders to try to game the system).
Border forces are more focused on the obvious tax dodging by huge firms like TEMU who are sending 6x 747 cargo planes per day into Belgium from China (this is literally millions of items per day) - this is much more of a concern for EU countries than shipments to UK from Europe is to our tax authorities. I have had no issues lately with items from Velo Base in France and I also use the BikeInn people in Holland. Individual Ebay vendors in Germany like the excellent Kult_MTB people similarly not an obvious target. I also had a larger value shipment ( in a huge bulky box) shipped from Hungary by DHL last month and again that sailed through, and was delivered very quickly too, interestingly, that shipment sent email updates showing successful clearance at all the borders along the way - so I know it was examined.
I think you would be very unlucky to have a parcel stopped and the VAT is only going to be 20% plus a handling fee - i.e. not the end of the world. The few border force people inspecting parcels are going to be looking for high value items coming in from China IMHO
Good luck!

 

[pwebb]

I have no light to shed from a technicality POV, but I can provide some real world insight.

I have bought from Germany, Italy, France and Netherlands via this site, all since Brexit.

Max purchase was probably €90. I paid via PayPal in the agreed Euros amount. All sellers were private individuals (not businesses)

Every item always seem arrive fast with no additional fees payable.

Happy days.

I concur , but also be aware that all sorts of police forces are routinely examining the paypal transactions that Google/Paypal provides access to, avoid using obviously duplicitous descriptions for any transactions ( some people were raided by a SWAT team after they jokingly described their F&F payments to each other as being for firearms etc!)

 

[paddlingpool]

VAT added to it if it is over £39, plus the postage, plus about £12 admin fee

 

[27motorhead]

VAT added to it if it is over £39, plus the postage, plus about £12 admin fee

I've been lucky then? Haven't paid attention to what the seller has declared on the parcels, I just know they arrive safe (normally always tracked) and haven't had to pay any extra (so far!)

 

[Betsy]

your assumptions are correct, however, in practice, neither the customs and excise in UK nor their equivalents in each country abroad can possibly cope with the enormous volumes of parcels being sent, so it is pretty random what and when they may choose to examine and decide whether any duty is due on it or not - essentially, as long as you are not buying obviously super expensive items ( DSLR camera, short throw projection TVs and home theatre projectors being good examples) then they are unlikely to select your bag of bike bits for scrutiny.

It’s not random, every parcel passes through customs as it hits the UK border, it’s no different to high volume traffic passing through our domestic postal service everyday.

Packages are only opened if deemed suspicious.

Charges are applied to the declared value of the package, meaning you can avoid border charges if the declared value is falsified.. but if the goods go missing or are damaged in transit, the insurance only covers ‘declared value’

Here is a rundown of UK border charges.

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

 

[d8mok]

last item I had from mainland Europe was a frame at £120. I thought it would escape charges but I didn’t realise it included postage costs so by the time it was landed with me it owed me almost £300 !

 

[Betsy]

Yep, I hate paying VAT on shipping charges.. I also hate paying VAT on secondhand goods from abroad..

If the goods are new, the seller will / should remove their domestic VAT charges because it will be applied at the UK border therefore avoiding the double VAT situation which we saw during the early days of br**it but secondhand goods have already had the VAT paid at point of sale, then VAT is applied again at the UK border... double VAT