Stung with custom charges

Tyke121

Forum GOD!
I honestly don't understand why folk get annoyed with paying customs. It's a risk you take and you should always expect to pay it. Even the royal mail handling fee I have no quarms with, yeah it is steep, for what is likely a trivial and simple operation, but again it is be expected...
:)
Cant say I'm annoyed really just wish I'd ordered two separate orders ,One knot made all the difference between free and having to pay lol
 

CobraX

Forum GOD!
Well, it's going to get worse, because the "no additional fees" rule for packages with a value of less than €22 is going away in the near future, so that means always having to pay VAT on packages that come from outside of the EU. Some sources say this will go into effect on the 1st of January 2021, others say it'll happen on the 1st of July 2021.
"Furthermore, the new rules remove an exemption for consignments from outside the EU worth less than €22. Around 150 million small consignments are imported free of VAT, and the current system is open to abuse. Whilst EU businesses have to apply VAT regardless of the value of the goods sold, imported goods benefit from the exemption and are often undervalued in order to do so."
 

sɐǝɹpu∀

riverrun
I like the way Amazon US do it.
They charge you VAT at checkout and hand it over to the British taxman.
I know exactly what I have to pay and Royal Mail don't get their ransom fee.
I'm happy, the taxman is happy and I don't care about Royal Mail.

Drawback: You're never "lucky" and don't pay any VAT or ransom at all. But that's OK.
 

Tyke121

Forum GOD!
I like the way Amazon US do it.
They charge you VAT at checkout and hand it over to the British taxman.
I know exactly what I have to pay and Royal Mail don't get their ransom fee.
I'm happy, the taxman is happy and I don't care about Royal Mail.

Drawback: You're never "lucky" and don't pay any VAT or ransom at all. But that's OK.
Definitely a fair way
 

SeanC

Forum GOD!
Well, it's going to get worse, because the "no additional fees" rule for packages with a value of less than €22 is going away in the near future, so that means always having to pay VAT on packages that come from outside of the EU. Some sources say this will go into effect on the 1st of January 2021, others say it'll happen on the 1st of July 2021.
"Furthermore, the new rules remove an exemption for consignments from outside the EU worth less than €22. Around 150 million small consignments are imported free of VAT, and the current system is open to abuse. Whilst EU businesses have to apply VAT regardless of the value of the goods sold, imported goods benefit from the exemption and are often undervalued in order to do so."
It's like they have been reading what we talk about here...

This is not good news
, especially when coupled with disproportionate (when compared to the amount of VAT) collection charges. In fact you could argue that it runs against rational economics as in a lot of instances the cost of collection exceeds the VAT liability.

I suspect that the UK will implement as it's pre-Brexit legislation (most of which is being retained) and we have already implemented similar with Channel Islands shipments

Only workaround I can think of is labelling packages as VAT exempt items e.g. kids clothes and medical equipment in the UK
 

SeanC

Forum GOD!
I like the way Amazon US do it.
They charge you VAT at checkout and hand it over to the British taxman.
I know exactly what I have to pay and Royal Mail don't get their ransom fee.
I'm happy, the taxman is happy and I don't care about Royal Mail.

Drawback: You're never "lucky" and don't pay any VAT or ransom at all. But that's OK.
Definitely better than the disproportionate RM ransom fee. I wonder if smaller businesses could implement it though?
 
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pimple8

Forum GOD!
I honestly don't understand why folk get annoyed with paying customs. It's a risk you take and you should always expect to pay it. Even the royal mail handling fee I have no quarms with, yeah it is steep, for what is likely a trivial and simple operation, but again it is be expected...
:)
Just because you can expect it doesn't mean you can't be againt it.

Taxation is theft! :)

I am ok with customs on items that are imported compared to bought locally but for exact products. I. E. If I order Gillette foam in can from US and same is available in stores all around my country. I am ok with taxation of those, you're protecting the domestic market.
But artisan soaps are not sold in my country ffs, give me the option to buy locally and I won't order from the US.

What really ticks me off is the handling fee. My last order was valued at 16 USD. The taxman didn't velieve that and opened the package to check. All good. No vat or customs but handling fee applied. So I am paying for my package to be opened and have to say in it. Screw that. It should be their job, they're paid for it, I am giving tips on top of it...
 

CobraX

Forum GOD!
I don't have a donkey that shits money, so I order from Maggard Razors because they're cheaper. Temporarily completely switched to UK shops though because of the extreme long delivery times from Maggard Razors due to COVID-19.
 

Zwilling

Kamisori shaver
Definitely better than the disproportionate RM ransom fee. I wonder if smaller businesses could implement it though?
Given the new EU-wide rules, and the huge expected increase in volume in taxable small imports in the UK, I wouldn't be surprised if either Royal Mail will automate the process in conjunction with HMRC or an outside provider will provide a useful add-on service for small companies to use to resemble what Amazon already do. This is in the interest of businesses that want to retain custom, so I think something will likely emerge in the next year or so. But who knows.
 

SeanC

Forum GOD!
Given the new EU-wide rules, and the huge expected increase in volume in taxable small imports in the UK, I wouldn't be surprised if either Royal Mail will automate the process in conjunction with HMRC or an outside provider will provide a useful add-on service for small companies to use to resemble what Amazon already do. This is in the interest of businesses that want to retain custom, so I think something will likely emerge in the next year or so. But who knows.
Trying to get many thousands of overseas sellers to tie into a unified system, potentially different for each destination, is likely to very difficult

The process can already be automated to fair degree if the CN21 information is captured in a bar code on the postage label. Some postal services e.g. USPS can already do this. If this was expanded to include an email address, so payment requests could be made and settled online, manual handling could be significantly reduced. In these instances it would not be unreasonable to expect the handling fee to be reduced to say £2.

Another concern is whether RM Langley can handle the volumes requiring processing which I suspect will increase hugely
 

daveinsweethome

Forum GOD!
My order of 3 shaving knots has arrived from Ap co shave from Canada and mr Customs man or woman! Has managed to find it ,I was tempted to place two orders for the same 1 order but didnt .Shipping is around 8 pound but will cost 14 pound to retrieve my order from the post office ,Guess I'd have saved 6 pound ,Not a lot but it's not far off the price of another knot from them ,Hey ho ,Lesdon learned
just paid $27.30 for 8 ounces to Canada. then $35.25 for a couple of pounds. regretfully no more sales to my Canadian friends.
 

SeanC

Forum GOD!
Traders in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Channel Islands currently have the opportunity to collect UK VAT at source and so avoid the RM ransom fee. Likewise it works too for multinationals with a UK presence e.g. eBay and Amazon
 
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