THANKS A LOT BREXITEERS (and good luck when you order items from abroad)!

[customchaos]

I recently bought some art through an online website (think, a bit like Etsy, but not that one). So the item was £400, plus £140 delivery, which I did think it was a lot, but it was being shipped from Russia. Anyway, two weeks later, I get an email from the website company, to tell me the item is being held at the depot and I am required to contact Parcelforce to pay a customs tax. I phoned up and the tax is to the tune of £140. For an item costing £400! Apparently this is the new post-Brexit norm. Just to get what you have ordered over the border!

I’ve also ordered more art from Bulgaria which is apparently in its way now and I’m really worried as this was more expensive (just under £3000). Does this mean I going to be charged another ridiculous amount as customs tax?

I’ve been on to HMRC today and they are no help, beyond saying “yes this is because of Brexit,” “No we’re not sure if you’ve been charged the right amount or why,” and “You will need to pay first and them make a claim if you think you’ve been overcharged.”

So basically, is this the end of ordering from abroad? What madness is this?

*unfortunate not unfortunately

GCAcademic
Yes, exactly... thanks. 🙄

I have been aware of import charges (and the additional handling fees etc) since I got a nasty sting on some cards purchased from the USA about 8 years ago! Therefore, when we left the EU it was obvious in my eyes that we would now face import charges from more countries.

I would think you have been living under a rock to not be aware of import fees, it has been all over the news-your ignorance of these things doesn't mean that it is wrong or out to get you! Just pay the fees, learn a lesson and factor import charges into your purchases in the future.

I’m not a Brexiteer but the thought that it’s going to encourage people to make and buy products locally within the U.K. is great.

All well and lovely, but lots of things that are made here, require parts from abroad.

For some countries it has always been this bad. Anyone who has ordered anything expensive from Japan or Australia for eg (or was sent these items as gifts) gets hit with VAT, Customs Duty, VAT on Customs Duty and a handling charge. Ouch.
But still... on the upside, in so much as Brexit has exacerbated these problems - it also means we're rolling out our vaccine programme at lightning speed compared with Europe.

but lots of things that are made here, require parts from abroad.

also, as is often the case, the raw materials to manufacture any parts made in the UK will have to be imported...

I doubt Brexiteers will understand or care. Yo them, you are part of the ‘liberal elite’.

Never mind that people are now struggling to get their medicine from abroad or ex-pats in Spain (mostly the elderly) are now struggling to get health cover.

Noooooo. It is far more important that we have the sovereignty to throw out al our fish and let businesses fail.

@Mummyoflittledragon

Your post is factually incorrect re Covid.

The WHO (World Health Organisation) delayed in sounding the Global alarm. Their EC (Emergency Committee)met on 23 January and members were equally divided as to whether the event constituted a PHEIC*, as several members considered that there was still not enough information for it, given its restrictive and binary nature (only PHEIC or no PHEIC can be determined; there is no intermediate level of warning).
*Public Health Emergency of International Concern

It is disingenuous to blame the UK government for any delays in addressing the problem of Covid.

The timeline I refer to can be accessed on the WHO website.

Please stop spreading misinformation.

@Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow

I’m very confused - when did Russia join the EU?

I think most of us are wondering this. Russia isn't in the Customs Union so you'd always have needed to pay VAT on arrival (rather than in the country of origin). That's what the bulk of the cost is here, VAT.

This thread is ridiculous and so is this bloody stupid situation we find ourselves in. Quite why many people are happy we now have to pay extra taxes on things we order abroad I can't fathom and from previous experience it doesn't always make sense. I ordered something before Christmas from the US, cost was $24, I understood I may have some duty to pay, it arrived and the duty was £21. How? No one could tell me but I had to pay it because I wanted the item. If there were a system in place where the tax was paid upfront at the time of buying it would be better (obviously still not great) but how can it no ok for people to order and then have no idea what the charge will be?

It's depressing and for those people who say buy British - you can't always find what you want here. These new taxes will mean that many people now won't buy what they want from abroad but I won't buy something I don't want from the UK either. Surely this will have a terrible impact on UK businesses who traded abroad? I honestly can't see why anyone would be happy about this at all.

Just to take a random example:

Thank goodness we were out of the EU to sort out own COVID-19 vaccine out.

I voted Remain, btw. Slightly embarrassed that I did now. I do very much sympathise with the poster from NI -- that does sound unreasonable.

As to your specific issues, OP, it sounds like you can afford the duty, which, as many people have said, have always applied to countries outside of the EU. Just put it down to experience and account for it in the future. There are only two things certain in life: death and taxes :-)

Read the room op. You can’t get your art????Seriously?

It's all very well encouraging Brits to buy British (relatively small market) but people are forgetting that this works both ways. All the thousands of Brits living in EU countries such as France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany etc will no longer be "ordering from home" and EU countries who previously ordered products from the UK (absolutely massive market) will now be switching to suppliers on their side of the channel. The UK is missing out on millions and millions pounds worth of trade. And yet people are happy about that apparently .

@Benjispruce2

Read the room op. You can’t get your art????Seriously?

Read the thread. The fact that it’s art is neither here nor there. Unless you think that buying anything is a luxury.

@Marinaloves

This thread is funny as fuck

The jealously

FYI 3.5 k on art is literally fuck all. You wouldn’t get anything decent for that

. Price isn't always an indication of quality or artistic merit. Sometimes a high price is set just to convince mugs that they are getting something 'good'. And prices often include very high gallery mark-ups. If you buy directly from the artist the costs are much lower. I have some beautiful original pieces and have never paid £3500.

It's normal to pay extra VAT, transport costs and customs tax for anything ordered from any part of the world....and surely if the OP is used to buying stuff from other countries (especially expensive art pieces, which can't be the norm for most of us, surely!) they would know this already.

The only place we didn't pay these costs is the EU because of the trade agreements...although that was never the case with places like Iceland and Norway as they never were in the EU. Obviously with BREXIT, our orders from the EU countries now revert to non-member costs.

I just find it surprising that anyone didn't understand this, whether a Leaver or Remainer in their voting.

@Piccalino3

This thread is ridiculous and so is this bloody stupid situation we find ourselves in. Quite why many people are happy we now have to pay extra taxes on things we order abroad I can't fathom and from previous experience it doesn't always make sense. I ordered something before Christmas from the US, cost was $24, I understood I may have some duty to pay, it arrived and the duty was £21. How? No one could tell me but I had to pay it because I wanted the item. If there were a system in place where the tax was paid upfront at the time of buying it would be better (obviously still not great) but how can it no ok for people to order and then have no idea what the charge will be?

It's depressing and for those people who say buy British - you can't always find what you want here. These new taxes will mean that many people now won't buy what they want from abroad but I won't buy something I don't want from the UK either. Surely this will have a terrible impact on UK businesses who traded abroad? I honestly can't see why anyone would be happy about this at all.

There is a a system in place where taxes are paid upfront. I regularly buy beauty products from an American company that does exactly that. However it's up to the vendor to arrange that.

@Sackofspuds - you know that's not true right?

@Benjispruce2

Read the room op. You can’t get your art????Seriously?

What's the matter with you?

Why shouldn't people buy art?

Maybe the OP should have substituted "scented candles" or "steam mops" or "heated throws" or whatever is on the current MN list of acceptable things to spend her money on.

Some very, very, very narrow minded people on here.

OP isn't the one incapable of reading the room.

@Crystal90567

Buy British

Hth

Great answer. I'll look for British-grown bananas and lemons from now on.

Peccalino3 You do now get charged VAT at the point of sale on goods totalling less than £135. This started on 1st January and is nothing to do with Brexit; the EU will be doing the same but they've delayed. VAT is now added to the invoice by the retailer, or the marketplace on which they sell, like Etsy. This is good because it means that you know the true cost upfront and also avoid paying the rip-off handling fee to Royal Mail or whoever at this end; however, it also means that you can't get lucky and avoid the fees because your parcel slipped through the net at customs. And of course it's bad that import fees now apply to all purchases from overseas, including from EU countries.

Above £135 and the goods will incur customs duty, and HMRC still charge for that and the VAT when the goods arrive in the UK. So if I buy an item worth £134 from a non-UK Etsy shop I will pay more at the point of sale than for an item worth £136, because in the first scenario I will pay the VAT as I buy the item, and in the second I will just pay for the item plus postage and will be charged the import fees separately when it's been through customs.

It's all very well encouraging Brits to buy British (relatively small market) but people are forgetting that this works both ways. All the thousands of Brits living in EU countries such as France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany etc will no longer be "ordering from home"

That's us to a T..

In the past and as Brits in Europe we've happily and easily ordered a fair percentage of our household items from UK sources but post 31st Dec the whole landscape as changed.

Since then in general prices have been loaded up with extra fees/charges to the extent that we now tend look elsewhere within the EU. Also many suppliers in the UK that we have used in the past have decided it is no longer worth trading across the channel.

Elsewhere many of the "woman/man with a van" type companies who used to carry goods ex-Uk to mainland Europe have had to take on local agents at a cost, often several hundred pounds/euros to handle the paperwork...

End result is I suspect many Brits living in the EU wanting to support UK industry have found it's simply becoming a PITA from a paperwork/delay POV and often also prohibitively expensive to do so.

But of course everybody knew what they were voting for..right?

@Benjispruce2

Read the room op. You can’t get your art????Seriously?

It could be the OP's business, rather than an expensive hobby.

However, I am a bit at the notion that Russia is or has ever been in the EU and therefore the import taxes are because of Brexit.

Bulgaria is a different issue obviously. But yes, Brexit has increased the costs of ordering from the EU. Is there where remain voters say "we told you so"?

Wow you have some really big problems in your life.

@Shrivelled

I’m not a Brexiteer but the thought that it’s going to encourage people to make and buy products locally within the U.K. is great.

How long do you think that will take?

Do you know anything about patents? Raw materials? Who makes production machinery? or who operates it?

You people live in cloud cuckoo land.