European expats, post-Brexit, where are you buying your Christmas presents from this year if you previously bought from UK?

[Ultraopaque]

Are you going local? The trouble is, where I live, local retail tends to be either cheap and tacky, or massively expensive, with very little in between. Or just
X 3 the price that I paid for the same thing in UK.

Are you going to order from different countries? Maybe on-line department stores within Europe? Or Zalando maybe?

And if you normally send parcels to UK (which you can no longer do because of tax and customs charges) are you going for vouchers sourced within UK instead via Funky Pigeon or some such?

I must admit I am going to miss buying from sites like Not on the High Street or from other more unusual small artisan-type places in UK. There must be the equivalent here in Europe (low countries) but they seem harder to access somehow, even though I speak two local languages.

Or are you going back to the UK for a shopping trip and risking customs charges?

Any advice or tips would be much appreciated.

Maybe I should source everything from the Republic of Ireland?

Anyway, would love to know what others are doing!

Where possible still from where I always have. Most of the places I have always shopped from offer to pay the duty anyway.
Definitely not local. It's shite here.
Will probably order loads of stuff and get delivered to my cousin's and am planning to go over beginning of December anyway so will pick up then.

Yes Geamhradh I've had some stuff delivered to my sister in the UK and will pick it up at some point.

I haven't had much luck with shopping from my usual UK on-line sites though, even when the tax and duties are supposedly pre-paid at UK end, we have had to pay an extra costly charge at the door in order for the PO to relinquish the package, to cover customs and vat costs over here. For example we had to pay Euros 37 on a parcel that had goods (clothing) to the value of £120.

M&S are still shipping to EU countries - the prices in local currency also include any customs duties due so there is no extra bill

The British Corner Shop has moved part of their operation to the EU (Netherlands i think) so I will probably order any food items plus Cadburys and crackers from them

@Lunde

M&S are still shipping to EU countries - the prices in local currency also include any customs duties due so there is no extra bill

The British Corner Shop has moved part of their operation to the EU (Netherlands i think) so I will probably order any food items plus Cadburys and crackers from them

Yes, me too. Just waiting for BCS to hopefully start with their chilled stuff again. I mailed them and they said in due course. Fingers crossed.

Thanks Lunde that's great intel about The British Corner Shop! I thought I was going to have to make my own mincemeat this year!

M&S prices have shot up massively in my country. A man's pair of jeans that used to be around 36 pounds sterling, are now priced at around 120 Euros! Ridiculous!

If it helps at all, I got last year's mincemeat from Tesco.ie.

You can order from Tesco in Ireland and they will deliver to EU Inextremis? . I thought you had to have an Irish address to do this?

@Ultraopaque

Thanks Lunde that's great intel about The British Corner Shop! I thought I was going to have to make my own mincemeat this year!

M&S prices have shot up massively in my country. A man's pair of jeans that used to be around 36 pounds sterling, are now priced at around 120 Euros! Ridiculous!

Really - are you in a really high VAT country or are the jeans made outside the EU?

I got an M&S order yesterday that included jeans for DH from the big and tall range and I paid 289 SEK (Swedish Crowns) or about £24 for them

I only really buy from the U.K. for U.K. family presents now, most other stuff I buy locally. The only stuff I used to buy from Amazon.co.uk to send to Italy were some school books in English as slightly cheaper (esp when Sterling dived off a cliff), but now I just pay a bit extra from local Amazon to avoid the faff.

I buy clothes locally as there is a good choice where I live at all price points. No M&S but I’ve not bought clothing from there since the 80s anyway as everything is huge.
I’ve lost most of the nostalgia for British food except marmite and you can get most stuff from the Chinese supermarket anyway. I never bought anything else from uk sites that I can remember.

What does everyone buy?

We have some of the U.K. high street shops where I am - Primark, H&M, Zara, ZaraHome, JD Sports, FlyingTiger, and most shops in shopping malls are decent, plus good toy shops although toys here are more expensive.
We have Overseas supermarket which stocks Iceland, Tesco & Waitrose so good for little chocolate bits etc for the kids.
M&S deliver so usually get pjs and sometimes dressing gowns from there. Sometimes a Next delivery for the girls converse.

I'm also flying back for 3 days early December and have booked a case for the hold so will buy some bits when there if I still need presents.

I don't send presents to anyone in the U.K.

Lunde it is fairly high tax but it's the extra administrative and customs charges that are the problem. However, I have had a look at the M&S website again and the prices have gone back down again so either it was a site glitch when I last looked (early this year) or temporary while they sorted out the immediate post-Brexit confusion.

Mamato presumably you have to stick within your personal allowance on any goods you bring back in the hold? I'm not sure but I think it's about £250 isn't it?

Melassa yes we feel the same way about most British foods now and I think the quality of some M&S food have gone down in recent times, but I do like Marmite and my DH loves the occasional scotch egg.

Mainly I miss being able to buy small decorative items from the UK like certain makes of mugs and china, tableware, unusual presents from museum shops and specialist stationery shops. I know all of this can be sourced from within the EU but it's just so much more expensive.

Maybe it's only me that is finding this inconvenient though?

Actually yes, I’ve obviously not been to the U.K. for ages now due to Covid etc. but I was wondering how much stuff and what I would be allowed to bring back. Obviously no fresh food, and I’m not planning on buying a whole load of stuff, but I wondered on restrictions for personal allowances?

When my DD was tiny I used to buy a few “green” toiletries like sun cream, some baby bits as more choice and kids’ clothes from EBay U.K. (lower start pricing than locally) and I used to go up and collect it all from my parents, but I’d not done that for years even before Brexit, so I don’t miss it.

@Ultraopaque I got my DP to try a scotch egg when last in the U.K., he was a bit perturbed initially but loved it! I’d forgotten about scotch eggs, I never liked them myself but I do like a nice baked potato which you can’t find here but can’t buy off the internet either

Melassa Luckily we are OK here for baked potatoes, but they have only "arrived" relatively recently. Thank heavens as I couldn't live without them.

Maybe we should start a European-based scotch egg brand?

If you are in Sweden you can get fantastic Scotch Eggs, pies, sausages and roasts etc from Taylors and Jones the English/Irish butchers in Stockholm. We usually visit a couple of times a year and stock the freezer. They deliver to other cities as well.

I have recently bought Dunoon china from German Amazon

I have been happy with the customs service from M&S .... however I did get stung on a jar of Branston pickle that a dc wanted for a birthday gift. Ordered from Swedish Amazon but came from a uk supplier with a bill for £8 for one jar! 50p in duty and 7.50 in admin fee

If you put a case in the hold - Do they check hold luggage? Won't they just assume you are off on holiday?

@mamatoTails

If you put a case in the hold - Do they check hold luggage? Won't they just assume you are off on holiday?

You will still have to go through customs and declare it on arrival

Just to add the BCS will be adding some M&S food products
r1.dotdigital-pages.com/p/6LRO-7C6/ms-range-coming-soon

Oh that's good to know thank you Lunde

I wonder if they will add Waitrose products to their range as well?

[quote Lunde]Just to add the BCS will be adding some M&S food products
r1.dotdigital-pages.com/p/6LRO-7C6/ms-range-coming-soon[/quote]
Ooooh fab!
@Melassa, I was saying to dp on Sunday that we missed a huge business op down here in Puglia...a friend who goes to lots of restaurants tried out a new one on Saturday and her FB photo of the dish has hundreds of "wow!" "I must go there" "I need to try this" " you always find these amazing things first"
It was a baked potato. Bit of rucola on the side.
I googled and it's the speciality of this new place and people are coming from all over.

@Ultraopaque

Oh that's good to know thank you Lunde

I wonder if they will add Waitrose products to their range as well?

They've had a selection of Waitrose products for a few years now

@Ultraopaque

Oh that's good to know thank you Lunde

I wonder if they will add Waitrose products to their range as well?

Yes- loads of Waitrose- they are their unofficial partner I believe.

I'm afraid this isn't true. I've checked with them today and Waitrose products will not be featuring on the site now they have "partnered" with M&S.

Personally I wish they had partnered with Waitrose instead (much prefer their mincemeat) but never mind!

You can still buy Carr's table water biscuits on their site so that's one problem solved [

And it's still good to be able to buy some M&S products although I stand by my view that the quality of their food (and tea) has diminished IMH (alleged) O.

Sorry that post was addressed to Geamhradh about the British Corner Shop! The quote function didn't work there ... .

@UltraOpaque

I'm afraid this isn't true. I've checked with them today and Waitrose products will not be featuring on the site now they have "partnered" with M&S.

Personally I wish they had partnered with Waitrose instead (much prefer their mincemeat) but never mind!

You can still buy Carr's table water biscuits on their site so that's one problem solved [

And it's still good to be able to buy some M&S products although I stand by my view that the quality of their food (and tea) has diminished IMH (alleged) O.

Oh! Oh well, tbh Marks is just as good if not better IMO. I want my chilled products back though!