Import Tax

[click-00 10]

I bought a Amazon echo from a private seller off ebay for £30 and £3.48 delivery the sellers address  is Jersey united kingdom  I have received a card from Royal Mail saying  that it is at the sorting depo and I have to pay £16.31 custom fee to get this which I have done Should the seller have told me about this further cost ? I have bought CD/DVD from Jersey with no problem I suppose you live and learn.

[thecult 10]

20% vat on items over a certain about £15 I believe.

Also £8 handling fee from Royal mail (hostage negotiation fee as I call it). And just they charge the VAT on the item cost + postage cost + insurance so.

 

If the seller had declared the item was coming from Jersey then they have done all they to.

 

Items marked as gift have a slightly higher bar before VAT is added.

[click-00 10]

I contacted the seller who is a new seller on ebay and they say it cost them £15 to send it to me so someone is making  money along the way best to put the cost under £15 on the customs ticket

[L00b 441]

2 hours ago, click-00 said:

I contacted the seller who is a new seller on ebay and they say it cost them £15 to send it to me so someone is making  money along the way best to put the cost under £15 on the customs ticket

Jersey is not in the EU, so the custom/import procedure is followed by the delivery services, no different if you had bought the Echo from e.g. a US seller.

 

Ordinarily the custom charge is VAT at 20% applied to the declared value of the item (that's why items marked as 'gifts' i.e. zero value, attracts less duty - but then insurance won't pay out if it gets lost), to the freight cost and to the handling/admin fee for all that paperwork.

 

20% on £30 + £15 P&P (if the actual postage cost appears on the parcel, rather than 'what eBay says') is £9 (£54 total), without handling charge. But that's more than you paid.

 

Alternatively, if the charge was calculated on the £30+£3.48 P&P, then that gives you a handling charge of £8 [(30+3.48 + 8)x1.2]=£49.79 (which is your £30+3.48+£16.31)]. EDIT: per thecult's post above.

 

If the buyer really paid £15 P&P, then it looks like you're actually under-paying the applicable customs charge, you tax evader, you! 

 

Topically after yesterday's news...get ready for those custom charges on *anything* you buy from Europe from 1 Jan 2021.

Edited February 11, 2020 by L00b

[Vaati 11]

4 hours ago, click-00 said:

I contacted the seller who is a new seller on ebay and they say it cost them £15 to send it to me so someone is making  money along the way best to put the cost under £15 on the customs ticket

Which is false declration on an official document. The sender can end up in trouble for that.

[Baron99 794]

On a slight side note, if you are a regular buyer / seller on eBay & consider it a little bit of an earner, watch out for HMRC? 

 

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-2671967/Do-I-pay-tax-selling-eBay-I-auction-personal-items-going-Im-thinking-taking-seriously.html

[the_bloke 17]

1 hour ago, West 77 said:

Jersey was treated the same as all EU members regarding free trade when the UK was a member of the EU. I assume the customs fee has only been charged since 31st January this year when the UK officially left the EU and the transitional period doesn't apply for goods entering the UK mainland from the Channel Islands.

Goods from the Channel Islands have always been liable to VAT on importing to the UK mainland.

 

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Archive-Buyer-Central/Extra-Costs-When-Buying-from-Jersey/td-p/559342 - from 2013

[Justin Smith 10]

On ‎11‎/‎02‎/‎2020 at 12:06, L00b said:

Jersey is not in the EU, so the custom/import procedure is followed by the delivery services, no different if you had bought the Echo from e.g. a US seller.

 

Ordinarily the custom charge is VAT at 20% applied to the declared value of the item (that's why items marked as 'gifts' i.e. zero value, attracts less duty - but then insurance won't pay out if it gets lost), to the freight cost and to the handling/admin fee for all that paperwork.

 

20% on £30 + £15 P&P (if the actual postage cost appears on the parcel, rather than 'what eBay says') is £9 (£54 total), without handling charge. But that's more than you paid.

 

Alternatively, if the charge was calculated on the £30+£3.48 P&P, then that gives you a handling charge of £8 [(30+3.48 + 8)x1.2]=£49.79 (which is your £30+3.48+£16.31)]. EDIT: per thecult's post above.

 

If the buyer really paid £15 P&P, then it looks like you're actually under-paying the applicable customs charge, you tax evader, you! 

 

Topically after yesterday's news...get ready for those custom charges on *anything* you buy from Europe from 1 Jan 2021.

I think you've got that wrong , Leave assured us that would not happen, and, since they're in government now, they are in  a position to ensure it never does......

[melthebell 863]

4 hours ago, Justin Smith said:

they are in  a position to ensure it never does......

....or blame the EU

[L00b 441]

19 hours ago, Justin Smith said:

I think you've got that wrong , Leave assured us that would not happen, and, since they're in government now, they are in  a position to ensure it never does......

 

Leave was fronted by Mr Gove, the very same individual who fessed up on Monday that this will happen indeed. I understand that Mr Javid, also of the government, added an extra layer of fessing up this week as well. 

 

You're getting import duty on everything coming from the EU27 from 01.01.21: a tariff-free trade deal between the UK and the EU does not mean a custom charges-free setup like you have known for the past couple of decades under the Single Market. It just means you don't pay a tariff on this or that imported item: you still pay VAT on the item value (+shipping +handling fee) just like in the OP.

[Justin Smith 10]

On ‎13‎/‎02‎/‎2020 at 08:51, L00b said:

 

Leave was fronted by Mr Gove, the very same individual who fessed up on Monday that this will happen indeed. I understand that Mr Javid, also of the government, added an extra layer of fessing up this week as well. 

 

You're getting import duty on everything coming from the EU27 from 01.01.21: a tariff-free trade deal between the UK and the EU does not mean a custom charges-free setup like you have known for the past couple of decades under the Single Market. It just means you don't pay a tariff on this or that imported item: you still pay VAT on the item value (+shipping +handling fee) just like in the OP.

We're going over to Rotterdam on  a ferry cruise this month, we usually bring back a shed load of wine bought cheaply on the vessel, enough to more or less last for the next year ! I'm assuming we won't be able to do that next year, one more reason why I won't be "forgetting and uniting" like that proven liar and adulterer Boris Johnson wants us all to.

[melthebell 863]

4 hours ago, Justin Smith said:

We're going over to Rotterdam on  a ferry cruise this month, we usually bring back a shed load of wine bought cheaply on the vessel, enough to more or less last for the next year ! I'm assuming we won't be able to do that next year, one more reason why I won't be "forgetting and uniting" like that proven liar and adulterer Boris Johnson wants us all to.

Wow how do you carry 730 bottles of wine?