Anyone bought anything from the EU over £135?

[woody1]

I ordered something from Germany at the beginning of the month. Because it was over £135, there will be VAT and import duties to pay.

The shipping partner over here is Parcelforce and, according to their tracking, it's been in the UK over a week "Awaiting Customs clearance".

I was expecting to be contacted somehow to pay the VAT and duty but haven't heard anything.

Anyone else experienced this?

[woody1]

TIP: if you can keep purchases below £135*, it's worth it, and probably even if you have to pay extra shipping to split orders. (Under £135, VAT is assumed to have been paid at PoS, so packages shouldn't get held up in Customs.)

* I think this is the total cost including shipping

[woody1]

BTW the £135 threshold applies to all countries, not just the EU. It's just that with the EU, the FTA means that most goods only attract UK VAT and not import duty.

Anything over £135 bought from USA, for example, will incur import duty as well as VAT.

I've ordered some jewellery over £135 from Australia, so I guess I'll find out shortly whether that's covered at all by the new FTA.

[ladymuck]

I ordered something from Germany at the beginning of the month. Because it was over £135, there will be VAT and import duties to pay.

The shipping partner over here is Parcelforce and, according to their tracking, it's been in the UK over a week "Awaiting Customs clearance".

I was expecting to be contacted somehow to pay the VAT and duty but haven't heard anything.

Anyone else experienced this?

Yeah, I've ordered stuff from overseas before and had to wait for customs processing. Seemed to have taken a good week to process and then you get a really dodgy looking notification to pay the duties etc due that looks like a phishing scam.

I've even been charged duty on posting home my own personal items that I couldn't fit into my case after three weeks in NZ. I had to pay it and the claim it back or else I wouldn't get my stuff delivered.

[woody1]

Yeah, I've ordered stuff from overseas before and had to wait for customs processing. Seemed to have taken a good week to process and then you get a really dodgy looking notification to pay the duties etc due that looks like a phishing scam.

Thanks. Obviously this time of year doesn't help either. The package from Germany has been stuck in Customs for 10 days. However, the one from Australia, which came by plane, cleared in under 4 hours. I guess that's probably down to the shear volume of parcels crossing the channel versus ones coming by air.

[cojak]

BTW the £135 threshold applies to all countries, not just the EU. It's just that with the EU, the FTA means that most goods only attract UK VAT and not import duty.

Anything over £135 bought from USA, for example, will incur import duty as well as VAT.

I've ordered some jewellery over £135 from Australia, so I guess I'll find out shortly whether that's covered at all by the new FTA.

Oh yes, a tent from the US that costs $250 over there will now set you back £370-£400.

[TestMangler]

Thanks. Obviously this time of year doesn't help either. The package from Germany has been stuck in Customs for 10 days. However, the one from Australia, which came by plane, cleared in under 4 hours. I guess that's probably down to the shear volume of parcels crossing the channel versus ones coming by air.

Look on it as just another benefit. Sure, it may cost more and take longer, but that is more than made up for by reduced immigration, control of our own borders and significantly cheaper goods and services available from UK farmers and manufacturers.

[woody1]

Look on it as just another benefit.

Perhaps some people have experienced benefits but for me everything is worse/harder/costlier.

Apart from the extra cost/hassle of buying stuff from Europe, I'm planning to retire in Spain at some point and that involves way more jumping through hoops than it used to do.

[woody1]

I've ordered some jewellery over £135 from Australia, so I guess I'll find out shortly whether that's covered at all by the new FTA.

Arrived today. Was sent last Wednesday from the Outback, so 6 days door-to-door not bad from the other side of the world.

Wasn't charged any VAT or import duties but I've read that you can receive an invoice from the courier separately in the post.

[woody1]

Parcel from Germany finally cleared after being stuck in Customs for 6 weeks! So far, I haven't even been asked to pay any VAT.

I'll certainly think twice about ordering anything over £135 from the EU again.