UK Members

Its a complete mess. I went to the post office a few weeks back and you are right, they weren't posting anything at all to the EU. I then went a week later and it was back to normal.

As luck would have it my girlfriend has to post something tomorrow so I will get her to ask and see if Royal Mail knows. If not then its back to the drawing board.

If it’s going to the EU anything over £20 will attract VAT on the item and the shipping amount in the country it arrives in. Over £135 it will attract a customs fee on top of VAT. This VAT and customs fees are entirely the importers responsibility though, it’s nothing to do with you, from your side you have to declare the true value to protect you from a claim If it’s lost/damaged in the post.

That said if you’re posting to Ireland let’s just say that An Post are so mentally busy that I’ve not been charged customs on anything since COVID began regardless of what has been declared on the package...
 
If it’s going to the EU anything over £20 will attract VAT on the item and the shipping amount in the country it arrives in. Over £135 it will attract a customs fee on top of VAT. This VAT and customs fees are entirely the importers responsibility though, it’s nothing to do with you, from your side you have to declare the true value to protect you from a claim If it’s lost/damaged in the post.

That said if you’re posting to Ireland let’s just say that An Post are so mentally busy that I’ve not been charged customs on anything since COVID began regardless of what has been declared on the package...

Are those the new rules, or has it changed with Brexit? It's weird as that looks like what it was for importing to the UK pre-brexit, but with a £15 limit before attracting VAT instead of £20. It's changed for getting any goods into the UK.

Getting goods into the UK now, for purchases, they have gotten rid of the lower threshold, so VAT is chargeable on any amount. If it's below £135 the VAT must be charged at the point of sale, so will not be collected coming in to the country. Over £135 VAT & Customs charges operate in the same way as pre-brexit. For gifts, I'm not entirely sure, the £39 Vat exception limit is still in place (I think), but I don really know what happens if it's over £39, probably payable by the recipient as it was pre-brexit.
 
Are those the new rules, or has it changed with Brexit? It's weird as that looks like what it was for importing to the UK pre-brexit, but with a £15 limit before attracting VAT instead of £20. It's changed for getting any goods into the UK.

Getting goods into the UK now, for purchases, they have gotten rid of the lower threshold, so VAT is chargeable on any amount. If it's below £135 the VAT must be charged at the point of sale, so will not be collected coming in to the country. Over £135 VAT & Customs charges operate in the same way as pre-brexit. For gifts, I'm not entirely sure, the £39 Vat exception limit is still in place (I think), but I don really know what happens if it's over £39, probably payable by the recipient as it was pre-brexit.

They are the same, that’s the EU import rules. The U.K. used to be bound by them. Just obviously before 1 Jan U.K. was inside the EU so if another EU country bought from the U.K. the buyer paid U.K. VAT and because within the customs union no other charges. I don’t know about £15 though, the EU set number is €22 which is £20.

It’s all changing on 1 July though, that limit is going and VAT is due on all parcels into the EU of all prices but the customs is going up a little bit.
 
There's a thread on it here. Not really read much of it, but I think it has folk who have experience in post 1 January ebay/Discogs sales.

Whole thing is a mess to be honest. I never really bought much from the EU in the past, and I'm even less likely to do it now. It will be interesting to see if a rethink is required by the Government post Covid...

 
There's a thread on it here. Not really read much of it, but I think it has folk who have experience in post 1 January ebay/Discogs sales.

Whole thing is a mess to be honest. I never really bought much from the EU in the past, and I'm even less likely to do it now. It will be interesting to see if a rethink is required by the Government post Covid...


It has the potential to affect me hugely. I’ve bought large amounts from the U.K. in the past and that’s likely going to have to change. Most U.K. record stores don’t seem to have been able yet to sell without VAT as they should to us and so you end up paying it twice. It’s not been an issue yet because local post is so overworked with COVID that customs seems to be being bypassed but once it starts being charged it’ll make me think twice. Kinda sad there’s good stores that I’ve been to that are just not going to get anything from me unless I happen to be over there and buy in person.
 
It has the potential to affect me hugely. I’ve bought large amounts from the U.K. in the past and that’s likely going to have to change. Most U.K. record stores don’t seem to have been able yet to sell without VAT as they should to us and so you end up paying it twice. It’s not been an issue yet because local post is so overworked with COVID that customs seems to be being bypassed but once it starts being charged it’ll make me think twice. Kinda sad there’s good stores that I’ve been to that are just not going to get anything from me unless I happen to be over there and buy in person.
Is there anything that stops you (post Covid) setting up a PO Box in NI and getting a train up there to collect stuff and avoid all this?

The whole thing is exactly what happens when a Government pissfarts about and leaves things to the last minute, as well as one that has no clue about what it's doing and the consequences of its decisions.
 
Is there anything that stops you (post Covid) setting up a PO Box in NI and getting a train up there to collect stuff and avoid all this?

The whole thing is exactly what happens when a Government pissfarts about and leaves things to the last minute, as well as one that has no clue about what it's doing and the consequences of its decisions.

The difficulty is that the North has a completely different arrangement with the EU to Great Britain. They’re still in the customs Union, but not in the EU, so as not to violate the Good Friday agreement. There is an effective customs border down the Irish Sea. The North is in a very isolated position to be honest. Yet another example of how much of a mess this whole process is.

It’s going to take a lot of time confusion mistakes and court cases before any of us really understand our way out of that mess, it’s just all up in the air.
 
The difficulty is that the North has a completely different arrangement with the EU to Great Britain. They’re still in the customs Union, but not in the EU, so as not to violate the Good Friday agreement. There is an effective customs border down the Irish Sea. The North is in a very isolated position to be honest. Yet another example of how much of a mess this whole process is.

It’s going to take a lot of time confusion mistakes and court cases before any of us really understand our way out of that mess, it’s just all up in the air.
Yeah, the whole thing is bonkers. Yet another reason to leave!
 
The difficulty is that the North has a completely different arrangement with the EU to Great Britain. They’re still in the customs Union, but not in the EU, so as not to violate the Good Friday agreement. There is an effective customs border down the Irish Sea. The North is in a very isolated position to be honest. Yet another example of how much of a mess this whole process is.

It’s going to take a lot of time confusion mistakes and court cases before any of us really understand our way out of that mess, it’s just all up in the air.


And the covid vaccine war has started now ....article 16.....

Just when you thought the world couldn’t get any more fecked up
 
And the covid vaccine war has started now ....article 16.....

Just when you thought the world couldn’t get any more fecked up
I know. Its like the EU sat there and thought... 'how can we best enable the heed the balls in Britain who think the union is a terrible idea... I know....'.

This is going to be shit isn't it.
 
I know. Its like the EU sat there and thought... 'how can we best enable the heed the balls in Britain who think the union is a terrible idea... I know....'.

This is going to be shit isn't it.

Never to mind that after 4 years of “we won’t accept a hard border in Ireland” and after less than one month the absolute ****s go and create it themselves.

Edit: ooooh we censors here, I’ve never seen that before.
 
I know. Its like the EU sat there and thought... 'how can we best enable the heed the balls in Britain who think the union is a terrible idea... I know....'.

This is going to be shit isn't it.
I think the EU have been outflanked by the U.K. with pre ordered vaccines ..and are embarrassed..this is the retaliation...so we had one benefit of being independent... now the payback !

Should have come here for pre ordering tips ...
 
I think the EU have been outflanked by the U.K. with pre ordered vaccines ..and are embarrassed..this is the retaliation...so we had one benefit of being independent... now the payback !

Should have come here for pre ordering tips ...
Yeah. I tend to think the UK vaccine strategy is more an accident than intent given, well, every single other decision they've made since the EU referendum but one country having a system in place hardly seems justification for an epic tantrum and implimentation of the single thing they spent 4 years saying had to be avoided at all costs... In the first month.

It's enabled the hardliners and probably pissed off the moderates. Good work EU
 
Just got an update on my New Year's let's spend loads of money & try & save on import chargesfrom Acoustic sounds order. Basically they put the order on hold until they can figure out how to sell to the UK. (Unlike Music Direct who shipped without charging VAT but managed to dink all the sleeves).

I think we are back to square one, as Fedex seem to have upped there costs at point of sale, it was over $50 to ship 4 LP's.

"Effective 1 January, 2021, the UK significantly changed its VAT rules. Sellers from other countries, including the US, are now required to charge and remit a 20% Value Added Tax on orders valued at £135 or less. At the current exchange rate, this is about $185 USD. Your above referenced order falls in this category and is subject to sales VAT instead of import VAT as before.

We must collect this tax and remit it to the UK's Revenue and Customs Service on orders under £135. We have been advised that failure to do so will result in delays at Customs and possible refusal of the parcel and return to the US.

If you would like to add any item(s) to your order to bring it above the £135 threshold, we can ship your order without collecting VAT from you. If so, please respond to this email with your additions. Please hit reply to send an email to our help desk rather than call us. This will help us ensure that your additions will be properly associated with your existing order. Then we will contact you with an updated cost for your shipment.

If you do not want to add items to your order, we will hold it. We are working to program VAT collection capability into our Order Management and Shipping systems and to set up registration and payments to UK Customs. Once we accomplish these tasks, we will ship your order promptly."
 
I'm waiting on this too. I've a £120ish order with elusive disc that's been sitting there since June and they contacted me last week to say it's almost ready to go. Just waiting on the inevitable... 'sorry la. Need another 20 percent off you' now.
 
I'm waiting on this too. I've a £120ish order with elusive disc that's been sitting there since June and they contacted me last week to say it's almost ready to go. Just waiting on the inevitable... 'sorry la. Need another 20 percent off you' now.

you might be alright, it supposed to have changed only for purchases made this year.
 
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