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Ebay and Brexit. NOT a Brexit debate.


Colin_McLeod
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To save on aggregated postage costs, (and the overoptimistic postage charges that some sellers try it on with),  most of my eBay purchases, private and trade, go to my daughters address in England, she holds onto them until a decent sized package can be made up, and then I purchase, from Ryman usually, some Really Useful Boxes, (unavailable over here), and she makes a parcel up and sends them to me.

Does anybody know where I stand with all the new arrangements please?

 

Mike.

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2 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

Does anybody know where I stand with all the new arrangements please?

 Now that you have gone public..... :)

 

Strictly speaking the UK VAT has already been paid but customs might be interested. 

 

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39 minutes ago, Colin_McLeod said:

 Now that you have gone public..... :)

 

Strictly speaking the UK VAT has already been paid but customs might be interested. 

 

 

Precisely, who knows.

I'm assuming, never a good idea, the courier company might want a paperwork/declaration of some sort, if of course anybody will be doing this sort of thing next year.

There will be a test flight in January, interesting times await!

 

Mike.

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4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

I'm assuming, never a good idea, the courier company might want a paperwork/declaration of some sort, if of course anybody will be doing this sort of thing next year.

 

It will be the same paperwork as would be needed currently to send outside the EU. If posting, a CN22 or CN23 will need to be attached.

 

All of the systems already exist, they just haven't been used for shipping to the EU.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I noticed this morning that eBay listings for non UK sellers now include the message that 20% VAT will be charged for these purchases. If the value is under £135 then the VAT is collected by eBay, over £135 you are at the mercy of HMRC. I do notice that books and magazines appear to be exempt as they should be, being zero rated, although there might be VAT on the postage. The 20% VAT also applies to goods already in this country but the seller is non UK registered.

eBay's information is here

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/paying-items/paying-tax-ebay-purchases?id=4771&st=2&pos=2&query=Paying tax on eBay purchases&intent=tax

 

Brian

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The thing that concerns me here is that if I purchase something from the US, Ebay puts the 20% VAT on top (if applicable) but what happens when the package reaches the UK?  Am I going to get stung again by the Royal Mail also charging me the tax plus their exorbitant "Processing Fee" as well?

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34 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

The thing that concerns me here is that if I purchase something from the US, Ebay puts the 20% VAT on top (if applicable)

This doesn’t sound right. Could you be confusing VAT with import duty?

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11 hours ago, LimboBrit said:

This doesn’t sound right. Could you be confusing VAT with import duty?

It is correct. It is the new HMRC VAT rules now that we have left the EU. Overseas (commercial) sellers are supposed to register for UK VAT and apply it for all consignments below £135. When the sale is through a "marketplace" such as Amazon and eBay then the "marketplace" is responsible.

 

The paperwork with the package should show that it is VAT paid. Duty and handling fees are another matter.

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Buying from the US through eBay (not that I have tried direct purchases) has been very expensive for some time now.  The shipping cost is often more than the cost of the model and then you have the tax and handling at the UK end.  The Global Shipping Programme just added these in at the US end.  

 

Darius

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13 hours ago, John M Upton said:

So we could get hit twice plus Royal Mail's ransom demand handling fee?  I think that is the end for any overseas purchases for a while now.


no, you pay it to eBay, the seller then prints out the address label from eBay which will include a unique qr style barcode. On arrival in the uk the Royal Mail scan the qr code to authenticate and send it on its merry way.

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It does seem to look like we will lose out on auctions based in the EU.

 

If I have to pay an extra 20% on my bid I am not likely to bid as high as an EU bidder that does not have to pay it.

 

As an example I have been after some Xmas wagons produced by Minitrix so am watching this listing. Doesn't seem a level playing field now.  Hey ho.

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3 hours ago, Jonboy said:


no, you pay it to eBay, the seller then prints out the address label from eBay which will include a unique qr style barcode. On arrival in the uk the Royal Mail scan the qr code to authenticate and send it on its merry way.

 

I'm loving your your confidence in Royal Mail!

 

Mike.

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But if a sender in the US or elsewhere just puts the usual written address label on the package and takes it down the post office (as many will as the Ebay postage system is expensive and a utter faff) then not only will Ebay have extracted VAT from you, the Royal Mail will clobber you as well.

 

This is going to be a mess...

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On behalf of the SLS I sell our in house produced new books, UK VAT on books is zero rate. Do we need to do anything with regard to any overseas sales other than add P&P. We don’t currently use e-bay. I had assumed not before seeing this thread, now I am not sure.

 

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People have been complaining for years that overseas ebay sellers have an advantage over ebay UK sellers when it comes to tax.. it seems the govt just levelled the playing field.

 

20% on everything in bound.

 

You may have not noticed, but the UK just ended Duty free refunds too.. so those foreign tourists who flock to London, shopping in the west end in January, filling out the VAT refund and presenting it at the airport on departure is a thing of the past too...

 

That will hit Londons shops, restaurants and hotels quite hard, as it just presented a 20% price hike, unless the £ drops further. London was quite attractive for overseas shopping, especially with Mid-East and Asia.


Whats missing however, is a mechanism to recover tax paid on ebay purchases in the local country of purchase...  so from Germany your paying German VAT, UK VAT and potential to be hit by the Royal Mail too...

 

(but if were not giving VAT back to overseas customers, its easy to see why they wouldnt for us).
 

 

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18 hours ago, adb968008 said:

You may have not noticed, but the UK just ended Duty free refunds too.. so those foreign tourists who flock to London, shopping in the west end in January, filling out the VAT refund and presenting it at the airport on departure is a thing of the past too...

Similarly we will get clobbered from German VAT, plus UK VAT, plus Post Office or DHL collection charge.   This is significant for our household as my wife is German and we receive a lot of goods from Germany, not only model trains, but other items including sauces, vinegars and tinned foods which are not otherwise available here.   Some of the foodstuffs would be zero rated, while others would be classed as luxury foods.

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8 minutes ago, cessna152towser said:

Similarly we will get clobbered from German VAT, plus UK VAT, plus Post Office or DHL collection charge.   This is significant for our household as my wife is German and we receive a lot of goods from Germany, not only model trains, but other items including sauces, vinegars and tinned foods which are not otherwise available here.   Some of the foodstuffs would be zero rated, while others would be classed as luxury foods.

No. You will get charged UK VAT, but not German VAT. (so 1% more). You then don't have the post office collection fee as they don't have to collect the VAT as it will be done by the seller.

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3 hours ago, Talltim said:

No. You will get charged UK VAT, but not German VAT. (so 1% more). You then don't have the post office collection fee as they don't have to collect the VAT as it will be done by the seller.

Agreed in so far as purchases direct from retailers are concerned (provided they are still willing to sell to UK).

Much of the stuff we receive is bought over the counter in German shops by my step-daughter, who then sends them by DHL.   

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39 minutes ago, cessna152towser said:

Agreed in so far as purchases direct from retailers are concerned (provided they are still willing to sell to UK).

Much of the stuff we receive is bought over the counter in German shops by my step-daughter, who then sends them by DHL.   

 

In which case surely such parcels are personal gifts from one family member to another and remain outside these new rules.

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3 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

In which case surely such parcels are personal gifts from one family member to another and remain outside these new rules.

One can but hope.

The Withdrawal Agreement covering EU Citizens in UK and vice versa specifies that family gifts would be customs exempt, but says nothing about VAT.

 

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On 05/01/2021 at 15:47, cessna152towser said:

but not German VAT.

But as far as I understand, only if the German (or other EU) trader has a VAT registration as an exporter which permits VAT free exports otherwise they have to charge it? Anyone know different?

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