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Post by jardiniere on Jan 27, 2024 13:33:23 GMT 1
I'm hoping to buy a large item worth over £300 from an individual in the UK. She needs to complete the customs declaration. I'm reading about having to pay 20% VAT plus maybe an additional fee for customs clearance. Does anyone have experience in this area who could advise me? As the value is more than £39 it can't be classed as a gift.
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exile
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Post by exile on Jan 27, 2024 14:39:19 GMT 1
Yes you almost certainly will have to pay the 20% VAT due, plus - depending on what the item is* - import duty, plus a handing fee.
Most of the items I have bought have been sent Parcelforce tracked and arrive here with La Poste. Because the items have been bought over the internet, my email address is included in the commercial invoice and most of the time I get an email from La Poste's customs clearance to pay on line (VAT plus €3) or pay at the door (VAT plus €8)*** I am not entirely sure if those agency fees are fixed or are on a sliding scale. La Poste offer the possibility to reject the goods.
I have received goods via other couriers** and their fees are higher.
You will often find that the VAT is rounded up to the next €; the next 5 € or even the next 10 €.
* Most items these days are duty free but not all and depending on how the item is described it may get charged with duty where none is due because of a mistake in the declaration. Best if you can get the HS customs code included in the invoice/declaration.
** UPS and DHL. UPS overcharged me because the seller kindly declared the value in Euros and they kindly converted to new Euros by applying the pound to Euro exchange rate. I never did get recompense. Anecdotally DHL have been known to deliver goods and then make a retrospective demand for payment.
*** With all the scams around it is important to check that the email actually comes from La Poste and that the site you are linked to is actually La Poste's payment page. In every case I have dealt with the email indicates the seller, which a scammer would be unlikely to know. I still carefully check the addresses though.
PS the £39 gift disappeared some time ago. The Douannes site is quite clear that VAT is due from the first Euro. However I have received goods and there has been no VAT demand. I suspect but cannot prove that it depends on which airport the goods arrive at with Paris being hot, hot, hot on collecting fees. Of course we have no control over that.
If you need more information let me know.
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Post by lapourtaider on Jan 27, 2024 14:42:09 GMT 1
Personally I just wouldn't go there. I know that doesn't help, but is there no way you could collect it? It would be within your limit if stopped of other goods allowed to be bought back into France.
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Post by houpla on Jan 27, 2024 14:47:23 GMT 1
This is a long shot, jardinière, but you could try contacting Jon Davis at Safe Hands Haulage. He's on the dreaded Facebook He runs a wonderful, reliable delivery service to and from the UK, and although he's based here in 47, he might be willing to drop something off to you on the way down. You could have your item delivered to his warehouse in UK and then he'd take it from there, including all necessary paperwork.
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Post by jardiniere on Jan 27, 2024 16:17:27 GMT 1
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Post by houpla on Jan 27, 2024 22:07:09 GMT 1
Quite! I'm relying on Jon to bring me some Miracle-Gro seeing as Amazon are now demanding €128/kg. I need minimum 15kgs a year! I just hope the idiots who voted leave are suffering worse consequences!
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mysty
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Post by mysty on Jan 28, 2024 9:07:06 GMT 1
Buying goods and having them transported to France. Unless someone is putting them in the back of the car and not declaring them which happens you pay tax and charges whether it is the post office DHL or independent transport companies.
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Post by lapourtaider on Jan 28, 2024 9:22:16 GMT 1
Buying goods and having them transported to France. Unless someone is putting them in the back of the car and not declaring them which happens you pay tax and charges whether it is the post office DHL or independent transport companies. You may carry other goods up to a value of €300 per traveller or €430 for travellers by air and sea. Some EU countries apply a lower limit of €150 for travellers under 15. From europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/carry/alcohol-tobacco-cash/index_en.htm
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mysty
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Post by mysty on Jan 28, 2024 9:41:31 GMT 1
Buying goods and having them transported to France. Unless someone is putting them in the back of the car and not declaring them which happens you pay tax and charges whether it is the post office DHL or independent transport companies. But Jardiniere is talking about getting it sent over, if she is single she sounds like a good catch if she has 300 to spend 🥳
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Post by iolar on Mar 18, 2024 10:50:13 GMT 1
I stopped buying vinyl from the UK via discogs because unless the seller can supply an IOSS no. you will get hammered for import duties + Customs handling fee. I also bought an LP via a company called DIG, same thing they couldn't be bothered to set up an IOSS - so no more business from me.
A lot of sellers in the UK charge rip-off postage for foreign orders, so I used to get stuff sent to my wife's niece and she would post it on , not any more.
Covid was a great excuse to ramp up shipping costs which of course have never come back down.
Big Business doesn't use air freight, it uses sea freight, takes longer but at a fraction of the price by air.
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Nifty
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Post by Nifty on Mar 18, 2024 11:03:00 GMT 1
Quite! I'm relying on Jon to bring me some Miracle-Gro seeing as Amazon are now demanding €128/kg. I need minimum 15kgs a year! I just hope the idiots who voted leave are suffering worse consequences! They haven’t got the capacity to realise what the consequences are unless they are the bankers at the top of the tree.
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Aardvark
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Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
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Post by Aardvark on Mar 18, 2024 11:12:17 GMT 1
I have had to severely limit my purchases from Discogs since they started charging their sellers a percentage of the shipping charges on top of their usual fees. This has caused many sellers to go to other selling sources (ebay, etc.) or to jack up their item prices by 10% to compensate. I still buy the odd item through Discogs but only from UK-based sellers to be delivered to the UK address of a friend who brings my items over when they visit.
My other option is a site called CD&LP, based in France. France to France delivery is still fairly sensible but sellers from almost any other EU country appear to be on the "get rich quick" bandwagon re: shipping charges.
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exile
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Post by exile on Mar 18, 2024 12:50:27 GMT 1
perhaps you have not seen the cost of international shipping Aardvark. I had to guide a UK buyer complaining about extortionate shipping cost. I pointed him to the La Poste prices where 1kg was going to cost 20€. Before we moved, German international postage was similar to French. That may now be out of date of course.
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Post by jardiniere on Mar 18, 2024 14:13:26 GMT 1
An update on my shipping problem. I didn't go ahead with the purchase as VAT plus possible import charges made it too expensive. That turned out ok as I later found the same item for £100 less. It's being brought over this weekend by someone on their way to a second home in the Dordogne. Lucky me.
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Post by woolybanana on Mar 18, 2024 16:06:06 GMT 1
Just out of interest, I had to order a missing part from a clip together Airfix model for my grandson, from UK; the Belgian post and customs managed to ask €22 for a tiny bit of plastic with no value. Needless to say the package stayed with the post office and the part was picked up in UK.
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