Buying shoes from EU (Thinks) - any experiences

[WobblyLondoner]

I’m considering buying some pricey shoes from a German store called Thinks. But the VAT situation post Brexit sounds really complicated so I’m worried it will take ages, be complicated (the shop takes off the VAT and then I need to pay it to HMRC?) and I might end up paying even more. Does anyone have any experience of doing this?

The shoes cost £175. I’ve looked to see if there are any UK stockists selling them and there aren’t.

Bloody Brexit :(

Only the other way round, you'll have to pay VAT, duties and an admin fee to the courier. It can add up to quite a lot compared to the price paid for the item.

By the looks of it they do deliver duties paid under £135 where everything is prepaid so your best option is to either find a discount code or wait for the sales for it to drop to under £135 at which point it'll be a painless process. Keep in mind that if you order (over £135 scenario) and you make a return you'll have to request the VAT and duties back with HRMC as well.

I recently bought shoes from Denmark £160, they went through customs but I didn’t have to pay VAT. Sometimes they don’t bother on smaller packages. The shops don’t pay it if it’s over £135 - it’s down to the customer through customs.

It’s not too complicated. Normally what happens is the local courier will ask you to pay the duty charge and you have to pay them usually via their online portal. I think parcelforce ask for payment on receipt.

so you may not end up being charged but simple enough if you do. You need decide if the shoes are worth it.

Thanks both. I think I’m going to give this a miss.

Shoes are more expensive in DE than UK, so they're not likely to be much higher quality than Clarks. You could check if they're sold in any other countries and go shopping on holiday

Thanks, I didn’t know that about German shoes. No holidays abroad this year I’m afraid so that’s not an option.

I bought a pair of Thinks in Bavaria and absolutely love them. Extremely comfortable for sandals, but this was 5 years ago. No idea about them now.

I bought shoes from Velasca (Italian; they do have a shop in London, but they don't ship to-from there). Price on the UK site already included VAT. Prices were the same number on the UK site in GBP as they were in the EU site in EUR, despite GBP-EUR rate not being 1:1, so more expensive to the UK than to anywhere in the EU. I had to return one pair.

Returning was a faff, but free. They did it through Fedex, but you had to get them to arrange it and send you paperwork to sign to give to the courier. That included one about VAT: 0 as returned merchandise, not something being sold.

Amazon stock some Think! shoes

I've got 3 pairs of think! sandels and love them. I find them more comfortable than Birkenstocks. Ordered from abroad last year and all went smoothly.
Rogersons in the UK stock them if that helps