[woodcote]

Found a couple of cars I'd been after for ages on 'special offer' from a vendor in Australia...

Made the purchase 5 April... no extra VAT demanded at checkout...

The cars were posted via Australia Post 'Tracked Airmail under 2kg' on 6 April - and I received a notification email from Australia Post...

8 April - notified by Royal Mail (email and SMS) that a package was on its way from Slot Shop in Australia...

21 April, 3:56pm - email from Australia Post entitled 'Your delivery has landed', with the blurb "Once it’s cleared customs (if required), it’ll be on board with the local carrier. We’ll send one more notification when the delivery has been made."

21 April, 7:37pm - email and SMS from Royal Mail to say said parcel had cleared customs and entering the Royal Mail network for delivery...

22 April, 8:45am - parcel delivered (and nice chat with the postman about the cat, the weather and Australia). Emails and SMS received from Royal Mail and Australia Post confirming delivery.

So that was quicker delivery from Australia than continental Europe at the moment. No VAT, no import charges - despite the cars being valued clearly on the CN23 customs form at £70 the pair and postage taking that up another £20.

I have never (so far) been charged any VAT or important charges on purchases from former colonies where Queen Elizabeth II is still head of state. Is that the logic behind HMRC charges, I wonder?

[Bon_Slott]

If you mix that with German bureaucracy and the high amount of shipments at the moment, you need a lot of stamina to stay sane... 

If anyone needs mail-templates of biblical proportions for German customs or the international German post office: I’ve become kind of an expert in this matter...    

Or on second thought... don’t want to do that  again soon! 

[CMOTD]

I have never (so far) been charged any VAT or important charges on purchases from former colonies where Queen Elizabeth II is still head of state. Is that the logic behind HMRC charges, I wonder?

It is largely a matter of luck whether you cop VAT or not. The sheer volume of mail means that customs/Royal Mail are unable to check all purchases, much as the latter would like to add an endless stream of £8 'handling' fees to their coffers. Purchases over £100 are far more likely to be scrutinised than stuff marginally over the £15 VAT exemption limit.

The Commonwealth is not exempt, I have often paid VAT on purchases from both Australia and Canada. I have usually struck lucky with parcels from the USA though and have only ever had one delivery caught for VAT.

[OXO cube]

struggled to get stuff from USA post brexit 
alot of american companies no longer offer UK delivery online 
Professor Motor came to the rescue 
great service and a £50+ 'no hassle' quick delivery .... recommended

kev 

just need a PG tyre source now 

[CMOTD]

What has Brexit got to do with purchases from the USA? Nothing has changed in that respect, the rules are exactly the same as they were before. A majority of USA firms have never shipped outside their own country.

[Anthony B]

Brian - it just brought all the issues more into view - I too have seen a huge increase to those that will no longer supply outside of their countries.


For me I am having mixed success - at least 50% of parcels from UK I am getting hit with 24 euros post office fees, plus VAT and then Duty depending on value . I now will no longer buy from UK if value is over 20 euros which make a big impact on what I can get. I respect people choices on value declaration - but that opens up the decision making process that I have to make   on whether to buy  

What I miss hugely are Halfords rattle can paints!!! And Penelope pitlane chassis!!

[964rh]

Would you still get stung for fees if it was sent by an individual rather than a company?

[Anthony B]

Sadly yes.

Last week 2 parcels from UK - both dealers but both 'prrivate' - one came and I paid and one came and I didnt .


What gets my goat is not the duty and vat - is the post office charges for the 'privaledge' of them doing unnecessary documents........

[woodcote]

I thought I'd risk a purchase from Portugal to see if I'd get stung for VAT + handling charges. The car I bought wasn't available in the UK and even with the extra £20 that could be charged, was worth it...

• Paid for Tuesday evening
  
• Posted from Portugal via 'Expres' airmail Wednesday morning
  
• Delivered first thing this morning (Friday) by Royal Mail
  

The CN22 customs form is clearly marked with a value of 55 Euros and as merchandise... but Royal Mail and HMRC let it sail through.

Was I lucky? Are things changing? I guess I'll have to buy again, just to find out

Great service too. The vendor was Papponni Toys & Hobbies via their eBay store.

[tatter06]

I thought I'd risk a purchase from Portugal to see if I'd get stung for VAT + handling charges. The car I bought wasn't available in the UK and even with the extra £20 that could be charged, was worth it...

• Paid for Tuesday evening
  
• Posted from Portugal via 'Expres' airmail Wednesday morning
  
• Delivered first thing this morning (Friday) by Royal Mail
  

The CN22 customs form is clearly marked with a value of 55 Euros and as merchandise... but Royal Mail and HMRC let it sail through.

Was I lucky? Are things changing? I guess I'll have to buy again, just to find out

Great service too. The vendor was Papponni Toys & Hobbies via their eBay store.

If you bought via eBay they collected the VAT and papponi got the amount minus 20%. This should be the same for all marketplaces. Recently I have bought from:

Evotec spain
Papponi portugal (eBay)
Ministry of hobby spain
Shapeways Netherlands


Everything worked as expected, all purchases under £135 so vat collected at point of sale and no import duty or handling charges.

If postage is cheap enough it makes more sense to make several £135 purchases than one big purchase.