[Closed] Sodding import duty

EU countries aren’t obliged to remove the native VAT charge. Next time only buy from places that give you an ex VAT price.

(Works both ways. Planet X don’t remove VAT when selling to Europe, or didn’t.)

I think you can claim the Italian VAT back, just not sure it’s worth all the form filling/time.

this is a 4.7% item leading to about 8quid in duty?

4%, so about £6, but getting the paperwork correct is a moving target. And even when it’s correct, mistakes will happen. That’s cumbersome red tape for you. I have no idea what value it gives anyone, or why they voted to have it reintroduced.

It's the handling fees that piss me off, always have but of course it's worse now. Especially when they've done it wrong- it's pretty commonplace to be charged the wrong amount because someone's misread the label or confused the currency, so then you appeal, and it takes ages, and you have to argue every step of the way to overcome a mistake that you've literally paid them to make. And you can't do any of that in advance, you have to pay up for whatever random number they've picked and then just try and get it back.

Even using € and 4% it should only be £7.05. I'm guessing they're trying to get the vat as well, even though it was paid at the other end on the €132.83 for the cassette + €14.08 shipping

Go find a gammon - lots around - and smack them twice in face with cassette while shouting...you **** idiot; first smack is for voting brexit, second is for voting tory/johnson.

4% of £150 is about £6.

If they were trying to get VAT as well, it would be over £36 before fees are added on.

I have no idea what they’ve done, and you’ll probably struggle to find anyone at UPS who knows.

Packages are ping ponging back and forwards between the UK & EU countries all the time as mistakes are happening. The energy costs alone of that make me despair.

EDIT: oh, I see what you mean, VAT and duty charge on the value before the source country VAT was added, that is what they’ve doing, isn’t it. That’s right then. You need to pay UPS the amount they say, and then ask the shop/supplier to refund your the amount you paid them for VAT in their country. In future, do what Tom said.

I just received an Exo+ DHR2 29er tire and Onyx hub from the states in under a week with no duty. Forget Europe and go west.

Seems totally random what gets an additional customs charge or not. I had a £800 bike frame shipped from Germany (second hand) and no extra to pay. Other stuff of lower value I've had to stump up to the courier.

Erm

Smuggling, its a bit like shoplifting, sometimes you get caught sometimes you dont. But will that stop you?

Seems that UPS are worse than others ...

A recent order from Denmark and shipped by DHL incurred no extra payments (VAT inc at source)

A recent order from Sweeden and shipped via UPS incurred VAT handling, brokerage etc ... but the worse was the fact that despite shipping being free UPS also charged VAT on estimated shipping.

So on a order value of £146 I ended up having to pay UPS an extra £63.

#CaveatEmptor

Yeah - I'm getting that feeling.

Basically I'm in a loop of trying to contact Ridewill and get either:
A refund on the total, which they won't do as it needs to be sent back and I have to pay the extra for that to happen, which will then leave me out of pocket.

A refund on the VAT from Ridewill, but the item itself was 132.83 Euro before tax so theoretically below the £135 and even with the 14Euro postage should be below £135, so they won't.

Trying to get the fees cancelled by UPS, but they're cocks.

A brexit voting mate of mine cancelled his order for a Jeffsy after he became aware of the import fees and custom duties. Had to chuckle.

Waiting for a GX cassette too. Will be interesting to compare fees.

If stock gets worse between now and next year it may be just worth paying rather than face a summer off the bike.

I don't mind paying the tax (well, I do, but it's a cross us little people must bear), but I do mind being charged it twice and UPS being dicks.

I'll be refusing delivery.

UPS aren't being dicks, and neither is the shop- the shop you bought from hasn't applied for a UK VAT account through hmrc by the sound of it and are selling correctly - they aren't obliged to do this, if they took the vat off they'd have no way of reclaiming it.

So you've paid Italian vat and ups are charging for UK Vat as they should.

Recently tried to buy some parts (not for a bike) from Germany because that is where the European distribution hub is.

They cancelled my order because shipping to the UK wasn't worth the bother. They were nice about it though.

I know this is sounding crazy, but surely if you have ordered the bit you are needing it so just pay the handling charges and you then have it - still seems to be cheap compared to some UK prices and stock levels...not ideal, but this is how things are now when ordering outside the UK for bits.

My first question would be… where else can you get the part from now or in the near future?

My second question would be… do they have loads, if so please share so we can all buy them, because Zyro have none ‘till next year.

Well...bought it here - https://www.ridewill.it/p/en/sram-m002418078000-cassette-sprocket-gx-eagle-xg-1275-12-speed-10-50t-black/403587/ But be aware - charges etc!

I had one on order from BikeInn but that was ordered over 2 months ago and the delivery date kept getting pushed back, then on Sunday morning cancelled it after seeing them on Ridewill.

My previous 10-50 was new in July 2019 and has a good few thousand miles on it. Luckily managed to obtain a barely used one from a mate at a decent "mate's rates" literally 3 hours after ordering the RW one. This is now on the bike and takes a new chain no bother.

Ultimately it'll still be about £180-190 if I pay UPS. Guess I can always sell it on.

A brexit voting mate of mine

Sorry. Does not compute.

As an aside, I recently bought a new set of wheels from fitwheels.eu. Apart from having nothing but praise for their service one thing to note is that they were (...are) UK VAT registered, which meant that my wheels arrived in no time with UK duty already covered. I'm surprised that there aren't more overseas companies doing this or following TradeInn's model of having UK distribution to allow them continue doing frictionless trade with us and the rest of the gammons.

Because it costs them time and money, and the UK is only a small share of their customer base. More will get around to it longer term, but right now, dealing with Brexit is waaaay down some companies to do list. But, we have segmented ourselves out of the market. This will mean that spares and parts will be more difficult and more expensive to source, even after the pandemic induced supply issues are long gone. That is that reality for UK based people now.

^^ I hear you on that. I don't know about anyone else, but for the past few months it's always been in the back of my mind that if I stack and break a componant (a derailleur, a brake lever etc) it won't just be the cost of replacing it that I have to worry about. A crash (and a broken componant) could see that bike out of service for weeks until I can source a part. I don't see that concern going away for a while yet.

Why didn't you cancel the order if it was that quick getting your mate's? Pay for it and sell it on as I'm sure someone will be keen on it...

Didn't see anything obvious on the website to do that and it was a Sunday

Am I missing something, price advertised is Ex-Vat? Perhaps they have changed the website since you ordered or did it add it during check out?

Value with tax over the £135 threshold so duty applies (I believe that is the rule, same as how Vat is handled), though there could be ambiguity over whether the £135 value is inc or ex Vat

The threshold doesn’t work that way. Below £135 VAT must be collected at source, above that it can be collected at source or paid for on delivery (or if the hoops haven’t been jumped through, both). ALL imports now attract UK VAT, there is no small value exception from VAT anymore, it has been done away with. Duty similarly can’t be avoided for small value items, it must be paid unless rules of origin are declared and correct.

I have a small online business that has been temporarily closed for 16 months. About 10% of sales were to EU. Now looking to reopen but EU VAT is a nightmare now we’ve Brexited and so can only offer sales to UK for now as I don’t have the volume to justify the expense and hassle. Thanks Boris and all the retards who voted for him!

Duty should be 4%
I paid 146.92Euro inc. shipping. That's £126.11. That's less than £135.

VAT at that end is 29.38Euro

The threshold doesn’t work that way. Below £135 VAT must be collected at source, above that it can be collected at source

This is what happened. And UPS are trying to claim it's because the total is >£135 after already being taxed once

Anyone able to confirm and link to a source about the £135 threshold being inc or ex vat? I had assumed inc Vat, though on review not all too clear...

Reading gov website says £135 value, does that mean excluding VAT? So with VAT having to be collected from source below the threshold, is the threshold inc VAT having to be collected at source effectively £162? Or was I correct with £135 inc Vat limit?

after already being taxed once

When you say "taxed once", how does the courier know that UK VAT has been paid to HRMC?
That's down to the paperwork supplied. More is required than proof you paid 20% extra to someone. It's hard to get right, and is often ignored even what it is. It's a mess. Even worse for exports to multiple countries. Expensive, time consuming, wasteful barriers to trade.

When I rang UPS they seemed to know that 29.38Euro in tax had been paid, so I assume they have a copy of the invoice I have.

Italian standard VAT looks to be 22%, so is plausible the shop collected Vat for HMRC

The £135 figure is ex-vat. In Gov speak, 'Value' is the cost of the goods, before duties and taxes are added.

£113.84 is to value before shipping, VAT and duty.
Are UPS skinning me?
If they are, are they trying this on with everyone?
Is their ~£12 handling fee the new PPI?

Is their ~£12 handling fee the new PPI?

No. In a lot of cases PPI was a scam, this is a charge for a service that UPS are supplying.

According to a mate of mine who is quite high up in UPS, they have a warehouse with ~90,000 packages that the recipient has refused to pay the duty on and the sender won't pay to return. UPS has already paid that duty so expect to see pallets of unknown boxes for sale soon.