Beware of ordering anything from European companies post Brexit - a heads up

[Feedingthebirds1]

It will cost you more than you think, and that bargain will turn out to be very expensive.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55734277

Whether customs charges are levied is variable depending on whether the company has managed to quickly adapt to the unreasonable timescales and lack of information available. I ordered something from Benetton recently and thought I was going to get hit with charges as it came from Italy and there was no evidence UK vat had been charged. But it made it though just fine. I'm not so hopeful for some earrings I bought from a small retailer in Spain though.

Is there a place i can put in the cost of something I'm ordering online to see what it would additional cost me?

I saw an Instagrammer i follow this morning put a link to a lovely jumper she was wearing, but its an Irish company. Its just over €50, so not sure what on top of the delivery fee it will cost me. This is annoying, its a small brand and I'd rather give my money to people like that, but its only the big brands that are going to set up in the UK to avoid this mess of our own making.

Keepinkeepinon I ordered from vans just after Xmas and it took about 10 days but did arrive via ups so hopefully your parcel will be ok? I don’t know where it came from.

This sounds like an absolute fuckup but can we please point the finger where it belongs: at a Prime Minister who put our trading future on the line because he couldn't handle his own party, and secondly at a campaign where there was a disgraceful lack of information and debate on both sides.
Whatever I think of the outcome (remainer if it's not clear) I think the real disgrace is the way voters were left to muddle through. Fo the most part, I think they did their best.

The company I work for planned for a no deal Brexit. We are delivering to customers with duties already paid by us. We are holding our goods in a bonded warehouse in the EU, other large companies are likely to have done the same or will likely follow suit. I can understand how smaller companies are having issues but really all larger companies should have been well aware of the Brexit implications.

@NiceGerbil

A lot of Amazon stuff seems to come from Europe I think? Anyone know if the same will apply?

I ordered 2 nightshirts separately at a cost of about £18 each which were Prime and come from Europe, I could tell by the tracking, I didn't pay anything extra, maybe they were too low price or it was included. They were the Amazon brand called Iris and Lily

I live in Ireland and bought an item from mandmdirect.ie on 1st jan. I didn’t realise It was a Uk based company, and that I was transferred from a ..ie site to a co.uk site until I’d completed the purchase (currently trying to ‘buy local). No sign of my purchase. I’ve sent a few emails and I was told DPD stopped all deliveries from UK to Ireland from 1st to 13th jan when they resumed. Still no sign of my goods. Mandmdirect promised they would be here by 22nd but I can’t track past early jan e when they arrived at a depot / port somewhere in Uk. I cant afford to order from UK any more as things stand.

This issue is one of the reasons I voted Remain (and would again).

It would probably work out less expensive to do flight and ferry shopping trips to/from UK/Ireland in the future - just as people used to do on New York weekend trips (when the pound dollar rate was roughly 2-1)

It would probably work out less expensive to do flight and ferry shopping trips to/from UK/Ireland in the future - just as people used to do on New York weekend trips (when the pound dollar rate was roughly 2-1)

That was pre the internet though. Now people will shop either only in the UK or only from Europe.

Thismustbelove

My age was peeking out

If I found some lovely things in Ireland, I'd still make the effort to call around the stores, ask them to put them aside, and do a day/weekend trip over.

We'll have to see what flight prices are like in the future however.

It's not just the fees though.

Ordered two weeks ago from m&s, all duties to be paid by them. They've shipped it in THREE packages (without pointing this out to me or giving me chance to cancel the order) which means three lots of dicking about with DHL, sending them copies of my ID and forwarding my order confirmations to them....even though they already have that info from the supplier. One package has arrived, the other two will come next weekend. So 4 weeks start to finish.

Probably won't order from the UK again which is a shame as some things are just done so much more nicely in UK stores. In normal times we'd plan in a shopping trip when we're over, but that seems unlikely to happen any time soon.

There's a choice of 2 ways to ship stuff out of and into the UK now.
DDP delivery with duty paid.
DDU delivery with duty unpaid.

DDP the seller has paid it for you (lots are doing this to not lose customers, not sure how long for though)

DDU means the end customer is hit with all the extra charges. As per annoyed woman on BBC news.

We have not had to worry about this stuff before because WE WERE IN A FREE TRADE GROUP.
Now we are not. It is shit. Welcome to reality.
The 'scaremongering' in the referendum campaign? Well it was facts.

I read an article yesterday that mentioned something I hadn't fully taken in until now - there's an extra layer of complication with the "rules of origin" that determine where the items originated from, not where they are shipping from. So if you're buying shoes from a French brand based in France but they were made in India, then there is a tariff that wouldn't be charged for something that was fully made inside the UK and EU.

Atomt

It's why the Nissan car plant in Sunderland (if I remember correctly) is remaining open.

They've done some jiggery pokery to ensure that now 55% of the components are produced on site - and on an adjoining site.

Nothing to do with clothes, but similar principles.

I'm gutted. I buy most of my clothes from Esprit but it seems their warehouse is in Germany so I've just cancelled my most recent order.

Skechers ship from Belgium. They didn't charge me more for some boots I ordered so I presume they put measures in place.

How people didn't realise a change in our relationship with the EU and leaving the single market would have an impact I don't know. It was about the first thing I thought of. If you send gifts to the EU make sure they have a value less than £35 or they'll attract duty and customs charges too.

@soupdragon I've just received an order from Esprit but don't seem to have received any additional charges (although it did take longer than usual to arrive).

[quote sunlightbuttons]@soupdragon I've just received an order from Esprit but don't seem to have received any additional charges (although it did take longer than usual to arrive).[/quote]
Interesting.... their website talks about delays at customs etc but doesn't mention about charges at all. I don't know whether to take the risk or not as the charges seem ridiculously high.

How people didn't realise a change in our relationship with the EU and leaving the single market would have an impact I don't know.

In my case the fact that I ordered from a .co.uk website made me think there would be no charges. Maybe this is the case and the tax is already included...? I just don't know!

Interesting.... their website talks about delays at customs etc but doesn't mention about charges at all. I don't know whether to take the risk or not as the charges seem ridiculously high.

My understanding is you can just refuse delivery and then you don't have to pay the charges. That was my plan, but nobody has tried to charge me anything so far so perhaps they've put measures in place, like Skechers which someone mentioned above 🤷‍♀️

I think I was too hasty but annoyingly the promotional code isn't valid any more.

Hmm. The plot thickens. Even companies you THINK are in the EU actually often turn out to be in the UK.

I ordered something from Feelunique thinking it was EU, but it's been two weeks now and I checked - the company is actually based in London so I'm guessing the delays are down to brexit. Didnt notice much change in price though.

I will continue buying from the UK. Your brands are streets ahead of equivalents I can find here in the EU in terms of style and British prices are usually a little lower anyway. Paying VAT won't put me off 🤷‍♀️

Nice try, Farridge, but not subtle enough. 1/10.

What this thread demonstrates is just enmeshed with the EU we are in the UK. Brexit is not easy. It's the piss poorest idea anyone's had politically for along time. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot and then some.

This is exactly the kind of thing Brexiteers accused Remainers of over-playing/doommongering about. It's not until you hit some people where it hurts that they realise the impact. Even then they'll probably continue to blame the big bad EU.

There are multiple issues:

For delays it’s a combination of Covid and Brexit border controls

The new method of handling import charges (over or under £135) is not Brexit related.

Import charges now becoming due from EU suppliers is Brexit related as we are no longer members, but pre Brexit we paid local VAT rates applicable to the EU country and post Brexit we pay UK VAT rates

For goods worth up to £135 the overseas seller is to register with HMRC, charge UK VAT at point of sale, declare all the details on the package and pay HMRC on a quarterly basis
(With EU purchases the tax implications on the price only changes a little to take into account any difference between their local VAT and UK VAT - in practice the price of goods and the price of postage may have changed)

For goods over £135 the overseas retailer just charges you their basic goods price & postage (either excluding VAT or they pocket the extra as they are exporting)
On arrival at the border it is evaluated for VAT and whether or not import duty applies
You get a bill for 20% VAT plus any import duty, plus a handling charge for the carrier administering and storing the package.
This is how imports from the wider world have always happened, but while we were in the EU the ‘border’ did not exist

www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021