TheHut.com ship from Jersey or UK?

Basq

Quick question.. ordered some electronics from TheHut.com.

Does anyone know if they ship from Jersey or the UK? If you've recieved something from them and you have the envelope nearby, please do check.

As if it's Jersey, it's liable to customs, right? Please give me good news!

jor el

The Hut are the same crowd as Sendit.com, I believe, who send mainly from Jersey.

You'll be unlucky to be hit for customs though, also depends on the value.

spadder

From the UK- you will have paid vat, so no customs charge.
From jersey- not sure, check your invoice to see if they charged you vat

Basq

jor el wrote: »

The Hut are the same crowd as Sendit.com, I believe, who send mainly from Jersey.

Yeah, thought so alright!

jor el wrote: »

You'll be unlucky to be hit for customs though, also depends on the value.

Product is £264 (or €312) after a discount I used, but £292 (or €345) at full price.

Assume they'll put the product's full price on the receipt. Balls.. good chunk of customs on that I'd imagine.

spadder wrote:

From jersey- not sure, check your invoice to see if they charged you vat

Nope, doesn't look like it!

Basq

Am half tempted to cancel the product to be honest..

Product sells here for roughly €400... but if I get charged for customs, I've worked out it'd be close to €450 total.

The fact the product is expensive (and may be shipped special delivery) and it'll be delivered around Christmas means it's more likely to be liable for customs.

Basq

Ran this by my boss who runs a business.

He said Jersey can charge me VAT on a product if they haven't already.. but not customs. Is this correct?

Rang TheHut and said the price I paid included VAT of 17.5% anyways.

So apparently the only thing that can happen is they can charge me the difference between VAT rates (4%).. this sound right.

jor el

basquille wrote: »

Rang TheHut and said the price I paid included VAT of 17.5% anyways.

So apparently the only thing that can happen is they can charge me the difference between VAT rates (4%).. this sound right.

If they have included VAT, which they might since they ship lots of items to the UK and may have come up with an arrangement with them, then you won't be liable for any VAT as it has been paid in the EU. Once VAT is paid, in any country, your country has no right to look for the difference between that and their rate.

Keep all communications though, and get a VAT inclusive invoice if you can, just in case they try to charge you anyway, seeing as it's coming from outside the EU and they might not know it has had the VAT paid already.

Basq

Cheers jor el.. you definitely seem to know your stuff alright.

Not too knowledgeable on this area to be honest. I knew that they were outside the EU so I assumed be liable for customs.. I never even thought of VAT but that's the first thing my boss thought of.

So we rang them and they told us the price is inclusive of VAT of 17.5%.. should I e-mail support and get them to e-mail me on a VAT inclusive invoice? Better to have it alright!

Cheers again mate.

Basq

Hmmmm.. just got an e-mail back from TheHut.com saying:

Our products or shipped out of Guernsey in the channel islands, Which means no tax will be charged.

Ehh?!

jor el

basquille wrote: »

So we rang them and they told us the price is inclusive of VAT of 17.5%.. should I e-mail support and get them to e-mail me on a VAT inclusive invoice? Better to have it alright!

I would do that. They should be able to give you it if they have paid VAT on it.

Basq

jor el wrote: »

I would do that. They should be able to give you it if they have paid VAT on it.

Will do that now so..

Cheers.

PS - any idea what they meant on the above reponse? Shouldn't make a difference that it's shipped from Guersney.. it means VAT was paid already I assume.

jor el

Guernsey and Jersey are pretty much the same. They are both tax havens, and generally speaking, anything you buy from there will not have VAT paid. The previous response would seem to suggest that VAT has not been paid on this. Given it's size, price, and delivery method, I'd say your chances of bveing hit for import duty is getting higher.

Unless they can confirm that it has VAT paid, and provide a VAT inclusive invoice, I'd consider canceling it.

Basq

jor el wrote: »

Unless they can confirm that it has VAT paid, and provide a VAT inclusive invoice, I'd consider canceling it.

Just did that:

I was on the phone to your helpline earlier and the customer service agent told me that prices on the website include VAT of 17.5% so can you confirm I have in fact already paid VAT on the product.

Will require a VAT inclusive invoice for order XXXXXX also.

Will let you know how I get on.

Basq

Was just reading through their terms & conditions..

11. Price and Payment

All prices are inclusive of VAT (where applicable) at the current rates and are correct at the time of entering the information onto the system. We reserve the right, however, to change prices at any time without notice to you. If your delivery address is outside of the United Kingdom and the Island of Jersey you may be subject to import duties and taxes, which are levied once a delivery reaches your country. Any such additional charges must be borne by you.

So they seem to be inclusive of VAT... but will I be liable for any further taxes?

jor el

Well, it does say "where applicable", which could mean anything. They must have some deal with revenue in the UK, the same as Play.com have, but outside the UK then, VAT and duties are not paid, and so the recipient would be liable. That's what it all seems to be adding up to, to me anyway.

Basq

I see.. definitely getting itchy feet on ordering it now somewhat!

Will let you know when I hear a response from them anyways.. might be worth asking around Bargain Alerts to see if anyone has recieved anything from TheHut.com recently (they could check the invoice sent with it to see if it included VAT).

Oral Slang

basquille wrote: »

I see.. definitely getting itchy feet on ordering it now somewhat!

Will let you know when I hear a response from them anyways.. might be worth asking around Bargain Alerts to see if anyone has recieved anything from TheHut.com recently (they could check the invoice sent with it to see if it included VAT).

Had a look at my most recent order from them. No invoice with it, just a sticker on the product which confirms the price of £8.11 & £0 vat! Hope that helps.

Basq

Cheers Oral Slang..

Just posted this in BA.. but guess I have my answer!

Thanks again!

Basq

jor el..

Another question for you..

Was just thinking about this and if they did sent out the item and I was asked to pay VAT when it arrived, when would they want it on delivery of the item and if so, could I reject the item?

Would they give the laptop to me first or would I need to pay it before I got the laptop? Cos is there anything stopping me rejecting it on arrival.. and asking them to return it to sender and get a refund from TheHut.com. I mean if it does not include VAT on the price I paid, it's somewhat bought under false pretenses as their site does not either way.

I'm pretty sure you can reject an item if there's customs due on it (although Fedex have been sneaky by sending you out a customs due notification a week or two after delivering the product into your hand).

Basq

Got an e-mail back them saying this:

I can assure you the VAT of 17.5% is included in the price that you see on our site.

So I replied with this:

Many thanks for the reassurance.

But the problem remains that I have no invoice with proof that I have indeed paid this VAT. The order on the website says nothing about VAT. And I have recieved items from TheHut.com before and the invoice included with the item never indicated VAT.. it just had the product ordered and a total.

I know I have paid VAT but the Irish Revenue service will see no indication of that on the invoice. So when the product is inspected on arrival into the country, the Irish Revenue will inevitably charge me VAT of 21% (a good chunk of money given the product's price) as there's no evidence I've paid it. I have no proof to say otherwise bar our e-mail conversation which I don't think will hold up!

Do you see my dilemma? This is why I need an invoice to indicate VAT is inclusive in the price I paid.

Any thoughts jor el?

jor el

On the first point, yes, you can refuse an item if there is tax due. If you refuse to pay, then they won't deliver it to you and it'll be returned to the sender.

If it comes with a VAT payment request, you could say that it has had VAT paid already, and then you'd need to produce evidence of this, for customs and excise to inspect. That's where you'll definitely need a proper invoice.

There may well be a VAT invoice on the package, there probably should be one either on the outside or inside of the parcel. If that's there, then you should be OK.

If there isn't any VAT invoice, and it's delivered by a courier like FedEx, they may deliver it without asking for VAT, but then bill you weeks later. Again, you'll need some sort of confirmation from The Hut that the VAT was already paid.

You're kind of in limbo without that. They have confirmed that UK VAT is included, so I don't see their issue with giving you an invoice, unless it'll be with the package, but they should be able to tell you this anyway.

Basq

Once again jor el.. you're a mine of information!

Hopefully TheHut will get back to me with a response of what exactly I can do if the situation arises.

Basq

Well.. shag it!

It does say that the VAT is included in the price on the site, but like you said customs wont be able to see that.

I completly understand your dilemma, Unfortunatly we are un able to have the VAT printed on our invoices and this is a problem that will remain.

Please accept our apologies involving this matter.

Should I let it be sent, and appeal or reject it if it does arrive with a VAT payment request?

EDIT: Will I give revenue a call in the afternoon and run it by them?

rubadub

All prices are inclusive of VAT (where applicable) at the current rates and are correct at the time of entering the information onto the system. We reserve the right, however, to change prices at any time without notice to you. If your delivery address is outside of the United Kingdom and the Island of Jersey you may be subject to import duties and taxes, which are levied once a delivery reaches your country. Any such additional charges must be borne by you.

I would have thought they might only pay UK vat when shipping to the UK, to overcome the problem of being stung by UK customs. Since it is a duty free place I would have thought they would just charge you extra and pay no VAT outside the UK. Otherwise it would have been in their interest to say

If your delivery address is outside of the United Kingdom and the Island of Jersey EU you may be subject to import duties and taxes, which are levied once a delivery reaches your country.

If they were in the UK and paying UK VAT then AFAIK what I just said above (re EU) should be the case (or am I missing something?)

But since they are not in the UK is it somehow different? e.g. if they really could get away with this, then the likes of these companies could just choose the EU country with the lowest VAT rate for all their particular items, then claim they have paid EU VAT and so it should be free to be sent within the EU.

If you are liable for duty coming into Ireland, then they should really be offering you a discount for orders outside the UK, since why are they paying the UK vat if they do not have to?

Basq

Looks like good news:

I have managed to get invoices with the VAT which has been paid clearly visable, For your current outstanding orders.

Can you please confirm wheather you would like us to send them to you by fax or post?

Now just to find a fax number.. would prefer that to posting them.

jor el

If they put the VAT invoice in the parcel, that would cover you, as customs would likely open it up and look for one. However, getting it in print, by FAX, beforehand would be nice, for piece of mind if nothing else.

A lot of copy shops and printers do fax services.

rubadub

You can get fax through email, I guess it comes in as a jpeg of the page.
http://www.efax.com/en/intl/product/page/homePage?CMP=OTC-ie (have not used them, but see a free trial)

http://www.google.com/search?complete=1&hl=en&q=recive+fax+online&aq=f&oq=

I still do not understand though, are they actually part of the UK or are they a VAT free "entity". i.e. could any business outside the EU simply pay the lowest VAT, (e.g. say france had 1% on dvds), so the company just pays french VAT and ships to the EU and you can produce a fax to show they did indeed pay EU VAT?

Basq

Have a fax in the reception in the building i'm in so i'm using that..

Haven't got one for the NC10 yet.. but they faxed through one for Little Big Planet a few weeks ago (which I've already recieved but ah well!) which looks like this (confidential details omitted obviously):



Sorry, it's somewhat hard to make out as no scanner nearby. Used camera-phone but you can clearly see they've differentiated price with the VAT paid on it.

Will let ye know when I recieve one for the NC10.

Basq

TheHut.com have just told me:

Unfortunatly we can not fax you the invoice untill that item has been despatched to you.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Should I take their word for it? They told me they have VAT inclusive invoices, and they sent for the one for LBP anyways (which was despatched a few weeks ago.. so that would make sense).