Buying from Ricardo.ch

[Michanglais]

 

I was wondering if anyone outside of Switzerland had had any success in buying from Ricardo.ch (it's like a kind of Swiss ebay)?

 

There are often HO re 460s that come up for sale that I would like to add to my collection but sellers seem to limit postage to Switzerland and payment in cash (!) or by bank transfer (despite the site itself accepting members worldwide).

 

Maybe a shop/friend in Switzerland who would be willing to make the purchase and postage to the EU for a small fee?

 

And while I'm here, just in case anyone's got one they're wishing to part with, I'm 'desperately' (mustn't take these things too seriously!) looking for an re 460 in the experimental 'new' livery tried out a number of years ago. Maybe I should start a 'wants' thread? Is that allowed?

 

Happy weekend all!

Michael

 

 

[DIW]

10 hours ago, Michanglais said:

 

Maybe I should start a 'wants' thread? Is that allowed?

 

Try here !

[icn]

On 17/09/2022 at 12:38, Michanglais said:

There are often HO re 460s that come up for sale that I would like to add to my collection but sellers seem to limit postage to Switzerland and payment in cash (!) or by bank transfer (despite the site itself accepting members worldwide).

 

Ricardo is a very Swiss centric site (and conversely ebay is not much used here). You may have some luck if you ask nicely, but I suspect many will not be willing given the higher costs and complications and risks. Also be aware that international postage is unfortunately rather expensive in comparison to elsewhere (they got rid of the "economy" rates this year), and there's the issue of customs which again adds more risks (some buyers refuse to pay).

 

Oh, and officially Ricardo only list bank transfer and cash on collection as payment method - I suspect sellers won't want to resort to e.g. Paypal because that's more risk and hassle for them, and who knows what Ricardo would do in case of a dispute when not using the official payment methods:

https://help.ricardo.ch/hc/de/articles/115000386349-Wie-kann-ich-einen-gekauften-Artikel-bezahlen-

[jjb1970]

In Asia there are quite a few shopping agents who facilitate foreigners buying things from local e-commerce platforms. You pay them, they buy the product and they post to you. It sounds a bit convoluted but I've used some of the Japanese and Chinese services and never had a problem. Is there anything like that for Switzerland?

[MOB FAN]

I live in the US and bank transfers always stymied me. Ungodly expensive to do at local banks, as the US isn’t set up to do them. 
Found PayPal’s Zoom which allows me to make bank transfers for a reasonable fee.

 

I’ve also found many Swiss, and other European and British, sellers reluctant to ship to the US.

[Samedan]

It’s frustrating, as there are so many fine models made exclusively for the Swiss market, which are very expensive to buy new. I’ve never tried this Ricardo site and it sounds as if it’s not really a practical proposition from the U.K. I’m not really very into buying off eBay for that matter.

I don’t know if you are on Facebook? There is a fairly new group called U.K. HO Scale Buying and Selling. It’s not highly active, as it’s membership still isn’t huge, but new members would help. Obviously it covers all European modelling, not just Swiss. You buy privately so it carries some potential risk, but I got onto it through a trusted source and have bought successfully from an established modeller. Items are also occasionally offered via the Swiss Railways Society and Swiss Model Railways groups on FB. 

[Michanglais]

On 27/09/2022 at 14:37, Samedan said:

It’s frustrating, as there are so many fine models made exclusively for the Swiss market, which are very expensive to buy new. I’ve never tried this Ricardo site and it sounds as if it’s not really a practical proposition from the U.K. I’m not really very into buying off eBay for that matter.

I don’t know if you are on Facebook? There is a fairly new group called U.K. HO Scale Buying and Selling. It’s not highly active, as it’s membership still isn’t huge, but new members would help. Obviously it covers all European modelling, not just Swiss. You buy privately so it carries some potential risk, but I got onto it through a trusted source and have bought successfully from an established modeller. Items are also occasionally offered via the Swiss Railways Society and Swiss Model Railways groups on FB. 

 

I'm actually based in France so, post Brexit, I've got VAT and import duties to deal with when buying from the UK. Thanks for the suggestion, tho. I might join anyway for updates and the like. 

 

Yes, the Ricardo site is most annoying. The Swiss are still very much into cash and bank transfer purchases. There seems to be a general distrust of services like PayPal, even credit cards. I don't know why they allow international buyers to join - maybe they intend on expanding - fingers crossed!

 

[Gordonwis]

On 27/09/2022 at 13:37, Samedan said:

It’s frustrating, as there are so many fine models made exclusively for the Swiss market, which are very expensive to buy new. I’ve never tried this Ricardo site and it sounds as if it’s not really a practical proposition from the U.K. I’m not really very into buying off eBay for that matter.

I don’t know if you are on Facebook? There is a fairly new group called U.K. HO Scale Buying and Selling. It’s not highly active, as it’s membership still isn’t huge, but new members would help. Obviously it covers all European modelling, not just Swiss. You buy privately so it carries some potential risk, but I got onto it through a trusted source and have bought successfully from an established modeller. Items are also occasionally offered via the Swiss Railways Society and Swiss Model Railways groups on FB. 

 

I joined Ricardo, but found the same frustrations as already mentioned.

 

I still try and sell my Swiss N stuff via ebay, even though it feels as though I am no longer reaching as many buyers as I used to. I dislike the Facebook selling option as everything is 'public'. At least ebay - with its supposed flaws - gives some sense of privacy.

[Michanglais]

5 hours ago, Gordonwis said:

 

I joined Ricardo, but found the same frustrations as already mentioned.

 

I still try and sell my Swiss N stuff via ebay, even though it feels as though I am no longer reaching as many buyers as I used to. I dislike the Facebook selling option as everything is 'public'. At least ebay - with its supposed flaws - gives some sense of privacy.

 

Given my proximity to Switzerland, maybe I should get a PO Box there that we could all share for Ricardo purchases! 

 

Don't mention ebay to me today!!! For some god foresaken reason, when purchases are made from France on ebay.co.uk they pre-apply the VAT that the French authorities then charge when the goods arrive in France. I think France is the only EU State this double-taxation system is used for. Ebay have in place a system for situations of double-taxation so that you can claim back what they've charged you... I'm not finding it very user-friendly. It's only £30.00 but it's the principle of the thing. No more ebay.co.uk for me.

 

The next fun VAT situation is for an item I just bought from Hatton's. They're now VAT registered in France so the VAT that they charged on my purchase is supposed to go to the French tax authorities and therefore I shouldn't be charged French VAT when my purchase arrives (supposedly there will be documentation...). I'm so looking forward to seeing how that one works out!

 

 

 

[irishmail]

1 hour ago, Michanglais said:

 

Given my proximity to Switzerland, maybe I should get a PO Box there that we could all share for Ricardo purchases! 

 

Don't mention ebay to me today!!! For some god foresaken reason, when purchases are made from France on ebay.co.uk they pre-apply the VAT that the French authorities then charge when the goods arrive in France. I think France is the only EU State this double-taxation system is used for. Ebay have in place a system for situations of double-taxation so that you can claim back what they've charged you... I'm not finding it very user-friendly. It's only £30.00 but it's the principle of the thing. No more ebay.co.uk for me.

 

The next fun VAT situation is for an item I just bought from Hatton's. They're now VAT registered in France so the VAT that they charged on my purchase is supposed to go to the French tax authorities and therefore I shouldn't be charged French VAT when my purchase arrives (supposedly there will be documentation...). I'm so looking forward to seeing how that one works out!

 

 

 

Your Hattons order should be ok, I have had quite a few orders to Ireland from Hattons, I have had five stopped for customs charges!   What I did was contact hattons and they advised to pay the charges and email them the recipt and they would refund it. 

The last time I had an issue was back in May when Anpost (Irish Post) said they could not read/scan the label!  When the package arrived all labelling was correct.  With An Post if seems if an Item does not scan first time then they just assume that it is not labelled correctly. 

Edited September 29, 2022 by irishmail

[Samedan]

I don’t know how many of you regularly look at Rails of Sheffield’s eBay site? I’m on their regular customer mailing list and their 20% off coupon offer has just ended. But there’ll be another one along in due course.

I was sorely tempted to take advantage of it, as they appear to have had a recent influx of mainly Roco and HAG HO locos and stock, possibly from a single large collection that’s come their way? The rolling stock appears to be mainly non-Swiss, though a lot of the wagons are container types and therefore relevant, but there are numerous Swiss locos from both brands. I find their normal asking prices for used models are certainly not bargain basement, but the quality of these models is generally described as good - excellent. 

[Frutigen]

Something to bear in mind when doing an international bank transfer payment from the UK is that the receiving bank will charge the recipient a handling fee, which they deduct from your payment. Swiss and German dealers, in particular, insist on receiving payment in full and will email to tell you that you’re about €12 short and they won’t sent your item unless they get the balance. 
 

In the old days when you had to go to the bank and fill in a form it was possible to tick a box that said you would pay the recipient’s fees as well as your own bank charges, but my bank tells me this is no longer an option. I now just overpay by €15 to avoid the hassle this can cause. 

 

I know this might not apply to @Michanglais but UK based buyers might want to be aware of it. 
 

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Frutigen

[icn]

On 29/09/2022 at 16:42, Michanglais said:

Don't mention ebay to me today!!! For some god foresaken reason, when purchases are made from France on ebay.co.uk they pre-apply the VAT that the French authorities then charge when the goods arrive in France. I think France is the only EU State this double-taxation system is used for. Ebay have in place a system for situations of double-taxation so that you can claim back what they've charged you... I'm not finding it very user-friendly. It's only £30.00 but it's the principle of the thing. No more ebay.co.uk for me.

Someone is making a mistake here. This is not supposed to be a double taxation system - it's supposed to be that the seller charges the VAT (or in this case: Ebay on behalf of the seller), put's a sticker on the package and enters a special number in the electronic customs declaration, and customs in the destination country sees that VAT has already been paid. And it's nothing to do with France, it's EU-wide. UK has a similar system, and there's also a more limited version for Switzerland.

 

So you should try to figure out who is doing it wrong: did the seller not read the instructions, or are French customs being lazy? You might be able to check by looking for an IOSS number and IOSS logo on the package - but that's not the most important part - the most important part is that the sender must do an electronic customs registration when preparing the postage label. You should maybe ask your seller if they followed these instructions. If they didn't bother with the electronic part, then customs won't see the prepayment.

[Michanglais]

1 hour ago, icn said:

Someone is making a mistake here. This is not supposed to be a double taxation system - it's supposed to be that the seller charges the VAT (or in this case: Ebay on behalf of the seller), put's a sticker on the package and enters a special number in the electronic customs declaration, and customs in the destination country sees that VAT has already been paid. And it's nothing to do with France, it's EU-wide. UK has a similar system, and there's also a more limited version for Switzerland.

 

So you should try to figure out who is doing it wrong: did the seller not read the instructions, or are French customs being lazy? You might be able to check by looking for an IOSS number and IOSS logo on the package - but that's not the most important part - the most important part is that the sender must do an electronic customs registration when preparing the postage label. You should maybe ask your seller if they followed these instructions. If they didn't bother with the electronic part, then customs won't see the prepayment.

 

In this case, ebay added the VAT automatically but the vendor used their own labelling, with a standard hand-filled label, so there was nothing to indicate that the VAT had been already paid - the vendor simply indicated the total amount they received from me. I've left things open with the vendor for the time being but have contacted the French postal service requesting a proper invoice indicating 'VAT paid' and 'customs fees'. The current receipt I have from the post office simply states 'All duties paid'. Ebay will not accept this, claiming that the amount indicated could be customs fees only and does not include VAT. If I can get the French post office to provide me with the right documentation, ebay will reimburse me the VAT amount it added. Of course, that doesn't take into account the fact that, as far as I can tell, the shop didn't deduct UK VAT. So, that could mean I'm paying 3 VATs - UK VAT, ebay VAT and French VAT... I shan't buy outside the EU on ebay anymore and will make sure UK VAT has been deducted from any direct purchases I may make from UK-based shops. Lesson learned but I've got my head round the system now. 

 

Actually, I believe there is a lower VAT rate for second-hand items but good luck getting customs to get their heads around that...

 

 

[icn]

15 minutes ago, Michanglais said:

 

In this case, ebay added the VAT automatically but the vendor used their own labelling, with a standard hand-filled label, so there was nothing to indicate that the VAT had been already paid - the vendor simply indicated the total amount they received from me. I've left things open with the vendor for the time being but have contacted the French postal service requesting a proper invoice indicating 'VAT paid' and 'customs fees'. The current receipt I have from the post office simply states 'All duties paid'. Ebay will not accept this, claiming that the amount indicated could be customs fees only and does not include VAT. If I can get the French post office to provide me with the right documentation, ebay will reimburse me the VAT amount it added. Of course, that doesn't take into account the fact that, as far as I can tell, the shop didn't deduct UK VAT. So, that could mean I'm paying 3 VATs - UK VAT, ebay VAT and French VAT... I shan't buy outside the EU on ebay anymore and will make sure UK VAT has been deducted from any direct purchases I may make from UK-based shops. Lesson learned but I've got my head round the system now.

That would be an automatic 1 star review for the seller from me. It might not help you but it helps other buyers beware - and gives the seller an incentive to fix their practices. And enough similar reviews might prompt Ebay to step in and give the seller a talking to.

 

(Where I live, the customs receipt includes a link to the full customs calculations, but I don't know how things work in France. They must have this available somewhere, but perhaps not easily available?)

[Michanglais]

6 minutes ago, icn said:

That would be an automatic 1 star review for the seller from me. It might not help you but it helps other buyers beware - and gives the seller an incentive to fix their practices. And enough similar reviews might prompt Ebay to step in and give the seller a talking to.

 

(Where I live, the customs receipt includes a link to the full customs calculations, but I don't know how things work in France. They must have this available somewhere, but perhaps not easily available?)

 

1 star indeed. The UK VAT issue probably arose because I bought the item from ebay.co.uk with the seller only advertising as selling within the UK - I made a special request for the item to be posted to the EU. It probably never even occurred to them (as it didn't to me) that UK VAT would still be included.

 

As you say, the French authorities absolutely must have a record of what part of the amount I paid was VAT and what was customs fees. However, as it is the post office that collects any sums due at the time of delivery, and they don't distinguish, I'd probably have to get in touch with the French tax office to find out what was what and with the French love for red tape, for the sum of money involved it's just simply not worth the hassle. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the French tax office charged a fee to release the information...