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?

The twattery here is remarkable .
While you're all busy mocking the OP's art, we're collectively getting fucked, cos you know, this will affect all of us - expensive art or tat

Think of the time it takes to create artwork. I paint as a hobby and it can take me months to finish a painting. Obviously I work full-time but if you add up the hours I spend on a painting it would easily top £3k even on the min wage. Unfortunately my efforts are nowhere near good enough to sell!

@nancywhitehead

If it encourages people to buy local, I think it’s actually a positive.

Speaking as an artist myself who is heavily involved in my local (UK) art community, obviously it's nice when people do support local artists. But if someone is struggling to get a specific piece of art they want from abroad, I don't know how likely they actually are to find a UK substitute instead? They would probably just give up on buying it rather than think "oh, I'll find a UK version"... art doesn't really work like that.

A lot of people also actually don't know how to find local art that they like - your average consumer isn't usually well connected with their local art community and is more likely to look online. A lot of art trade happens online and involves sending work overseas. A lot of UK artists are also sending their work abroad so this will happen the other way round too and is much more likely damage UK artists than benefit them.

I think it's such a shame that all these restrictions are going to be imposed on us as a result of Brexit. It can only harm us and the choice we have available to us as consumers.

I hope you aren’t impacted too much

It’s hilarious/tragic on this post how little people understand art.

Our local art gallery does framing, greeting cards, etc. They support local artists. Thinking the OP maybe talking about investment art which is quite different

It’s hilarious/tragic on this post how little people understand art.

Yep, we revere commodities, but despise art. Welcome to the UK.

People that work in the arts: are struggling

OP: supports artists

MN: no

I hope people complaining are only buying essentials, own the cheapest cars and houses available and only live in cheap areas of the country. Nope, didn't think so.

Seeing people crowd on to tell OP not to buy a work of art from abroad but buy local is one of the worst examples of entrenched, myopic stupidity I have seen. It’s not like cheese or lamb FFS. If she’s buying a Russian icon, for example, do you really think that that can be knocked up by someone in the next village?

What did you expect,! Russia is not a European Country for starters.!

The OP knows that - our trade deal with Russia was an EU trade deal giving trading benefits. We no longer have the benefit of that trade deal so its full rate taxes. Not just on art but on everything where we have lost such deals including medical equipment, drugs, scientific devices, imports used in every aspect of life which can't simply be swapped out for the local variety of cheese.

You're all gonna have to pay more for stuff from Europe now. Shame.
Get over it.

We have already lost thousands of jobs as large companies quietly moved departments and facilities to other parts of Europe. Those jobs supported other jobs in their local economies. That will reduce the tax base which pays for the things you do care about.

But yes, when we urgently needed a part to fix a stairlift which was held up by the mess and also more expensive we told our relative not to complain that they were stuck in one room because we were now all hypothetically free and she could sit upstairs waving a little flag (which of course she could do anyway but hey...).

Yeah I mean why do we have to put up with this foreign art rubbish.

That Picasso - two eyes on one side of the head, we can do that we've got Peppa Pig, and then there's that Salvador Dali - can't even draw a bleeding clock straight, take at a look at Francis Bacon if that's your sort of thing, and don't even mention Edvard Munch - he makes me want to scream.

Yep, we revere commodities, but despise art. Welcome to the UK

Its one of the oddest things about the UK - the general contempt for creative arts and the people it employs.

Even if you don't value the content the money and jobs it generates is huge.

@adeleh

Seeing people crowd on to tell OP not to buy a work of art from abroad but buy local is one of the worst examples of entrenched, myopic stupidity I have seen. It’s not like cheese or lamb FFS. If she’s buying a Russian icon, for example, do you really think that that can be knocked up by someone in the next village?

Quite.

If the OP was posting about spending £3k on a foreign holiday would people:

a. Crowd on to tell her it was ridiculously extravagant
b. Tell her she should holiday in the UK instead

I doubt it. And you wouldn't even be left with an asset after buying a holiday!

@Miljea

Absolute nonsense. The situation isn’t chaotic mess at all - it’s only like this if you haven’t been bothered to do basic research into what’s actually required with import processes. Everything that I’ve stated has been available to read online for at least 6months - the .gov website even had a specific section about preparing to trade with the EU after the Brexit transition period ended, and making you aware of what was required! If someone is already ordering items from outside of the EU, they are all things that they should’ve been aware of regardless.

Granted HMRC wouldn’t be able to provide exact figures for an individual circumstance, and import fees aren’t applied until the goods actually arrive in the country - however, with some simple reading and research, you could get a pretty accurate idea of what’d be due in import fees - it isn’t “make it up as you go along”. It only appears this way if you don’t know how the system works.

The calculation formula for import duty and vat have been in place for many years, and remain the same now as they were 10yrs ago - the only change since Brexit is that they’re now applicable to all shipments coming in from EU nations, as well as outside destinations.

The point I’m trying to get across is that international trade has never been as simple as “click and buy” as you’re making out - the original post is really nothing to do with Brexit, it’s more “I’ve got to pay more than I was expecting to, because I haven’t done my research” - if people are naive enough to enter a contract of sale not knowing the full terms, then that’s on them.

You're all gonna have to pay more for stuff from Europe now. Shame.
Get over it.

This is the problem - you can not argue with this type of nonsense. They won the referendum and even though Brexit is demonstrably very damaging to the country as a whole and each of us financially - many of those who voted for it appear not to understand it still.

I have filed Brexit in the same mental category as the shit British weather - it makes everything worse and the only thing I can do is moan about it incessantly

It’s hilarious/tragic on this post how little people understand art.

Not really. I love art and have spent a fair bit on it because I can afford to, and I don't think it's wild OP has spent a few k on something, but for many it's just not reality that they have that sort of money to spend, and the industry can be inaccessible for many. I don't think it's that weird a lot of people feel the way they do about art, I think it's a shame though.

@diagold4u

Wow the amount of jealous people on here is astonishing!! Just because you wouldn't be able to afford art costing more than 3k doesn't mean you give someone that is able to a hard time!

Your posts are vile.

@Skyla2005

Let's all just buy British then problem solved ! Couldn't care less really. still benefits of leaving will far out way any minor inconveniences I'm sure !

Well, as long as 'you're sure', that's all the empirical evidence I, for one, needs....

Can you not find local art that you like as much? Unless you are buying Orthodox icons, surely there are talented artists to support closer to home?

Brexiteers don't give a fuck about anything. So no need to shout .... They're too busy partying it up and celebrating all this fucking soverignity that's cluttering up the place. Not mourning the loss of UK relevance and shopping choices. You see them a lot in their alternative reality. Where nothing bad happened.

@B33Fr33

"Brexiteers don't give a fuck about anything. So no need to shout .... They're too busy partying it up and celebrating all this fucking soverignity that's cluttering up the place. Not mourning the loss of UK relevance and shopping choices. You see them a lot in their alternative reality. Where nothing bad happened."

What are you talking about?

UK is more relevant than it's ever been as an independent nation and countries are queueing up to trade with us.

You really need to get a better lock-down hobby than Brexit-bashing.

Puts hand up to moan about paying duty on ski equipment from the EU :( I know I should be buying Scottish

Do the Scotts even make skis ?

@AnitaB888 I can't work out if you're being sarcastic or not

@WhenISnappedAndFarted

Err, no

That Picasso - two eyes on one side of the head, we can do that we've got Peppa Pig 👏 🙃
I suspect @Anitab888 is very serious.

Do the Scotts even make skis ?

There are skis made in the UK. They are quite pricy though.