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?

Customs duties have always been changed on items coming into the UK EU was exempt from that and now it isn't. One of the many, many things overlooked by people who voted to leave. There's a helpline to enquire and specific goods from specific countries according to this: www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

@StephenBelafonte

You - and people like you - are the reason that I - and people like me - voted Brexit.

Waa!!!! boohoo!!!!! my art costs more now!!!!

Turkey? Xmas?

I think that people are forgetting that many countries have trade agreements with the EU. Not with the UK.
For example. Israel produces much of our avocados. Israel will have a trade agreement in place to supply avocados to EU countries.
We have left the EU. Unless the UK managed to make a separate deal with Israel to supply avocados then we may not get many, if any avocados. I believe we are trading directly with Israel on this issue.
But there are many products from around the world that had a deal with the EU but not directly with UK. So, previously we would have received these products via the EU, but not now. Hence all of these costs.
It's unfair but we voted for it.

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

It is a shame for small businesses selling on UK platforms.
I was shopping on Amazon FR it wasn't the same I didn't even check out.
I will not pay import charges from the UK unfortunately DP's job is not so lucky, they're restructuring orders to come from Holland.

I’ll only buy local if it’s what I want at a competitive price. Local doesn’t necessarily equate to good or desirable

Ok, I haven’t fully read all the comments, but this point here is (as explained by HMRC today) is that when we were part of the EU, we benefitted from the trade agreements that they had with eg. Russia or anywhere else. Now we do not. We have nothing with the vast majority of countries. Many people will soon wake up to the fact that when they order from abroad, they will be hit by similar charges / on top of any delivery charges they have paid upfront.

When you buy something on Etsy or EBay or whatever / you find the item you want. You are not too concerned (in most cases) as to whether it’s coming from abroad or within the UL. You decide if you are prepared to pay the delivery (or not); you pay upfront and the next thing you will hear is when DPD or whoever are delivering the item.

What you do not expect is, having paid a delivery charge upfront, to then have some “surprise” charge levied at the border.

So you are faced with either having to pay, or lose the delivery charge you have already paid in good faith.

This us the reality of Brexit. What a waste of time and money. Millions of personal deliveries being bounced back from the border - unfair on the customer and the sender.

I thought we lived in a global economy. It seems not.

Buy British

Hth

@Hope4theBestPlan4theWorst

Is this thread for real?? My £3k of "foreign art" Ffs I think as a nation we all have bigger fish to fry to be perfectly frank and everyone knew this would happen months ago so why order stuff if you are going to be unwilling to pay the additional charges???

Well done on knowing what was going to be in our EU deal before either us or the EU did.

thought we lived in a global economy. It seems not

Posters did talk about us becoming insular little islanders

I thought they were talking bollocks, but judging from some of these posts they were spot on

Buy British

Hth

Can you source everything you need from Britain.

Shop local. Better for the planet innit

I guess brexiteers wouldn't buy from our of the UK so this wouldn't bother them.

@StephenBelafonte

You - and people like you - are the reason that I - and people like me - voted Brexit.

Waa!!!! boohoo!!!!! my art costs more now!!!!

By people like you are you meaning jealous povos who can't afford to buy anything from out the UK?

No doubt lots of brexiteers will simply say

You are welcome

It’s hardly the norm for people to be able to purchase £3.5k worth of art

There is no agreement between the EU and Russia other than WTO terms, there was supposed to be something set up a few years back, but due to the situation in the Ukraine etc these never happened. Ergo the tax you paid if it came from Russia would be the same as it was before.

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

And as for this “buy local” - well, fine if it’s vegetables or something, but as if anyone buys art or furniture or a whole host of other things, simply because they are “local.”

I sincerely hope Amazon have got some arrangement in place? They will have to add the tax into the price upfront because, In the majority of cases, people simply will not pay unexpected border taxes. The amount of extra admin must be crazy.

ParcelForce told me today that they already have mountains of goods that people are refusing to pay the unexpected import taxes on. It sits there for 21 days and is then returned to sender. You have to hope it’s not damaged in transit on the way back because apparently ParcelForce “can’t be sure” who would be liable for loss or damages in this scenario. All they do is refer you to HMRC and frankly, I get more sense out of my cat. They know nothing. They just give you links to various sections of GOV.U.K. website - none of which answer your specific question. Then the website you ordered through refuse to intervene as “they are just a marketplace.” You feel bad having to refuse goods that individuals abroad have taken time and effort to pack and dispatch carefully. You feel particularly bad letting small businesses abroad down, or individual artists / craftspeople to whom this is a lot of money (it’s a lot of money to me)! So basically, the whole thing is an utter shambles - far more than I think most people have envisaged.

Regardless of how you feel about someone buying art, the point is valid. I have been having trouble getting hold of some medical supplies for the same reason, without which life is incredibly difficult. Also a number of random items such as books (from an American independent publisher) and art markers (again, from America). This will be affecting many businesses and if you follow any businesses on social media you will see quite a bit of talk about this as their customers have been complaining not realising the reason behind it.

Summary of the rules here:

www.theguardian.com/money/2021/jan/21/eu-website-purchases-the-import-charges-uk-customers-have-to-pay

I don't mind paying taxes and can at least roughly allocate it to the purchase of it might apply, but I do resent the high charges by the delivery firms/Royal Mail.

I agree - the jealousy is ridiculous.

YANBU OP

Dear lord OP. I can’t work out if this is a wind up or not. It reminds me of the ‘Who will serve our coffee at Pret’ moment. Some remainers have not learnt a single thing over the last 4 years.

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!

.

@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?

My thoughts are with you at this difficult time.

Hope you don't get charged too much import tax on your almost £5000 worth of European artwork.

Bless...... Your life sounds so incredibly tough.

Maybe you can set up a gofundme page. I am sure 1000s of people who have lost their job, and are depending on food banks to eat, and universal credit to help pay to keep their house warm, and are on the cusp of getting their homes re-possessed will be rushing to donate.

Take care.... You poor lamb.