excise duty on ebay buys?

spoonbadger

hi all, ive been looking at an amp on ebay which would have to be shipped over from the US. so can anyone tell me if i would have to pay the vat/excise duties on an ebay purchase?thanks.

singloud

I'm guessing so.
I doubt ebay is exempt.

But I'm not sure mind.

Johnny Storm

approx 25% (if coming from outside the EU)

spoonbadger

ok, thanks guys. ill take this into consideration. btw, how much would if any would i have to pay on stuff being shipped from the EU?

singloud

Depends on size and weight. Around E15 within the EU is what I usually paid.

Most websites offer free shipping within the EU on mid-high priced orders.

spoonbadger

singloud wrote:

Depends on size and weight. Around E15 within the EU is what I usually paid.

Most websites offer free shipping within the EU on mid-high priced orders.

i better clarify, i meant would i have to pay any excise duty on something i buy from another EU country? or are they exempt?

Zapp Brannigan

EU countries are exempt because there's free-trade within Europe

spoonbadger

ok, thanks for the replies.

Niall0

if you get an amp from america wont you have power issues? If they mark it as a gift you shouldnt have to pay any excise duty i think.

Zapp Brannigan

Gifts are only exempt up to a certain value I think it's 40 dollars or something.

Niall0

ya that sounds anout right, not much use then . I got an mp3 player from the usa off ebay and i didnt have to pay an excise duty , do they only do a random check kinda think or is it standard to pay excise duty?

highlydebased

If its sent by regular mail your likely to get away with it

If its sent by DHL/UPS etc probably not. I remember getting a tshirt from America, it was delivered with no duty charged. Then I got a bill for €14 from DHL in duty

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

Not too sure about this, but if somthing is second hand, and given to you as a gift, you dont have to pay vat. If the amp is second hand - no vat.

Johnny Storm

Kolten Scrawny Horn wrote:

Not too sure about this, but if somthing is second hand, and given to you as a gift, you dont have to pay vat. If the amp is second hand - no vat.

If its coming from outside the EU they will charge you VAT and Duty. Second-hand makes NO difference. Gift only applies to items less than a certain very low value as mentioned above.
Having said that some items do slip through the net, but if I was a Customs "worker" I would focus on large, heavy packages and high-value items.

spoonbadger

woah! lots of good replies! thanks all but i dont know about getting it marked as a gift, most ebay sellers probably wouldnt agree. and customs would hardly believe that a 600 quid amp was a gift coming from america

Doctor J

No, marking it as a gift doesn't work in the real world. Beware of shipping it through DHL/UPS, etc, they add their own hefty surcharge for handling your customs fees which does't happen if you ship via USPS/AN Post.

feylya

Marking an item as Gift when you have purchased it is tax evasion which is illegal and as such, is against the charter of this forum.

buttersbrady

I bought a processor and cpu from America. €400. Great price. But I got charged €77 duty. :mad:It's crazy!

Doctor J

And you bumped a two year old thread on the musical instrument forum to tell us that, that's crazy too :pac: