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?

Nothing to do with brexit. It was always like that importing something over certain value into UK.

I voted to leave but I take exception to being called a BREXITEER. However, YOU’RE WELCOME.

@Beautiful3

We have always had to pay import tax on goods from non European countries. So you would have had to pay it from Russia, even if we were still in the EU. However the second item coming from Bulgaria, will carry a customs tax because we're no longer in Europe. Its calculated on a set percent on the value paid.

Won't it have VAT as well?

Someone I know got some motorbike gear from an EU website, and they had to pay VAT + customs duty + handling fee.

It still worked out cheaper than buying it in the UK though.

My heart bleeds

As a person you voted for Brexit, you're welcome.

Oh and this is pathetic.

In 2016 I was living and working in the EU as was my right at the time. Yet people in my position were NOT allowed to vote in the Referendum despite being British and deeply impacted by the decision. More than a million UK citizens' voices were not heard. Many of these are retired UK citizens in Spain who now struggle to get health care, as a PP said. I was working in Europe then but like many others always intended returning to UK before retirement, which I have done.

So to the statement "Poor hard done by Remoaners, beaten in a democratic referendum by those nasty Brexiteers. Boo hoo." I dispute that the referendum was democratic. And yes I did cry when the result was announced.

And my parcels to and from my friends in the EU are stuck God-knows-where.

This was one of many reasons I voted Remain and was one of the first things I thought of when the referendum was concerned. There are some collectables I often buy from France - nothing very expensive - postage was minimal and very quick before Brexit, scarcely different from within the UK. All that's gone now .

Oh be quiet you clearly have the money to pay for it if you're spending that much on a luxury.
Maybe you should of researched this before buying? I mean it has been all over the Internet and newspapers for weeks now.

I don't live in an EU country but this is quite the norm for us. Order from anywhere out the country and you are liable for duties. First learnt that hard lesson when I ordered books for my DC from Amazon.

It is hit and miss though. If you order and delivery is arranged through courier you might get away with not having to pay customs. If you order and it arrives via normal post, you're going to get charged for it as they won't release the goods until you have. So I always cater in doubling the price of the item just incase, then arrange courier delivery to the door, and some times you get away with it, but some times you don't. I say it depends who is on duty in customs that day as its that random.

It does encourage us to buy more local items though.

Sorry* for this OP, what a horrible surprise. But thank you for the head's up. This could apply to many, many goods and I will be aware of this when ordering online.

*I voted remain, so I'm not saying sorry for my voting actions by the way!

I certainly dont understand why anyone would buy anything from Russia. Its a dictatorship that has just imprisoned the opposition leader after they failed trying to assassinate him. And not so long since they deployed chemical weapons in the UK

You better not use any energy then? UK imports '000s of tonnes of oil and liquid gas from Russia, we also import electricity from the EU's energy market, which uses even more Russian oil/gas.

Maybe we can now make our own?

I can get your upset as it's a shock but now you know, people must have realised that when Brexit happens import charges would have been more than likely. I order items from Australia and always pay a border fee, I would expect it from other countries too.

If you want the items from abroad, then be prepared to pay a border charge.

@jasjas1973 one of the reasons to argue for the measures that support climate change such as more renewable energy is so that we depend less on supplies from Russia and other countries that violate basic standards of democracy and human rights.

Back to the question- duty on art is not nice, but the impact of Brexit is far more significant on the arts and culture in general, such as musicians and theatre productions touring in Europe.

@customchaos

There are companies such as Saatchi Art, Etsy and Artfinder - to name just a few. How will these companies stay in business. People go on and search for art they like. They don’t care if the artist happens to be in Russia or Reading, fgs!

As I said, you are either happy to pay the delivery charge as stated at the time if purchase, or you or not. This is the system people are used to. Ever in my life have I been charged unforeseen customs tax - regardless of where in the world items have been shipped from.

I have more items ordered from the US, Israel and India due in the next week or so. I’ve asked HMRC what I’m likely to be charged for goods from these countries and they say they are unable to tell me as they simply don’t know until it arrives!

I wonder if they genuinely don't know until they see the exporter's valuation of the item? Duty and taxes are a percentage, so they need to know the value.

A friend exports to the EU, and he's now having to put the value on everything he sends.

In 2016 I was living and working in the EU as was my right at the time. Yet people in my position were NOT allowed to vote in the Referendum despite being British and deeply impacted by the decision. More than a million UK citizens' voices were not heard. This is wrong, I was living and working in Asia and I voted in the referendum, as did my DH and all the other UK subjects did too, except those who had been away for more than 15 years.

[quote AnitaB888]@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.[/quote]
Not disingenuous at all. Nor spreading misinformation.

It would appear you see half the WHO believing a pandemic wasn’t coming as justification for triggering Brexit, whereas I saw at the time and indeed still see triggering Brexit, when half did believe a pandemic was coming, to be a reckless, point scoring act.

I’ll not bother to start on my feelings on 31st Dec.

@LadyTiredWinterBottom2

Errr, as Russia is most certainly not in the EU, l fail to see what Brexit has got to do with you being charged tax on your art.

However poor you, must he awful.

The same could have happened pre brexit, and often did, for imports from countries outside the EU, especially USA, China, etc. It's nothing to do with Brexit. Russia isn't in the EU!

It's depressing and for those people who say buy British - you can't always find what you want here.

The people of the UK will be just fine if you cant buy art from Russia post Brexit. Noone has sympathy with privileged people complaining about rich peoples taxes.

@Bilgepumper

I voted to leave but I take exception to being called a BREXITEER. However, YOU’RE WELCOME.

😂😂😂😂

I wonder how many of the posters being snarky about the purchase of £3k's worth of art will happily spend a similar amount on a holiday?

People can spend their money on whatever they like, and I'd far rather have a painting that will give me years of pleasure than 2 weeks in the Maldives or wherever.

1st world problems... you ok hun?

@peak2021 My point was the pp was stating that no one should be buying from Russia, not realising how much energy we buy from them and other vile regimes, not least the Saudis, who we also supply with weapons :(

We will always need fossil fuel imports, regardless of which cars we drive or how many wind farms we have.

Yes Brexit makes us smaller and less significant as a country, why Bojo/Frost didn't negotiate better visa free access for all workers including musicians, i'll never understand.

I have been buying art from artfinder from Russia since the pandemic and my last piece was purchased after Brexit. On artfinder you are told the cost of transport before you buy the painting so its surprising to me that you were not aware of the transport costs before your purchased these items.
Re the tax - having bought pieces from Russia before Brexit - I am aware that even then customs charge was something like £20 admin and about 20 percent in tax on top of the painting before Brexit. So I always email the artist to make sure they only put the value of the painting on the customs form ie not the value plus the postage I had already paid - just the value of the painting. Do you know how much the artist wrote the painting was for?

I didn't support Brexit but if a result is that people are "forced" to support UK artists maybe it's not as bad as I thought.

@LakieLady

I wonder how many of the posters being snarky about the purchase of £3k's worth of art will happily spend a similar amount on a holiday?

People can spend their money on whatever they like, and I'd far rather have a painting that will give me years of pleasure than 2 weeks in the Maldives or wherever.

100% this.

£3000 is not a fortune to spend on art. Posters here have no idea what other things the OP may not spend money on in order to buy art.