hobby online selling

MarkY91

I am looking to buy 5 android boxes from alibaba to both test the product and to see how well they sell.

How much VAT will I have to pay if they come to 200 euro including shipping?

Can I even do this? Would customs destroy them? I don't know about the legalities but I'm aware that counterfeit football jerseys can be destroyed so I'm a little worried.

This is just s small hobby thing to make a few quid from, nothing as big as you guys on other threads here who seem to be doing great.

ironclaw

Depends on your postal carrier. Customs sometimes hold the package until you supply an invoice and they calculate the duty due, once paid they will send the package to you. Others, like UPS, collect the duties when they arrive. FedEx, usually send you an invoice a few days after the parcel arrives. Sometimes, you never get charged.

Roughly speaking, its about 20% plus an admin charge. As an example, a $200 order of mine recently attracted about €42 in import duties by UPS, most of which is their admin fee. An Post is about a €7 admin fee plus the charges. On your order, if stopped, I'd imagine you would be looking at €30 to €50 in charges if you got hit with a high rate.

You are free to import and resell as much stuff as you like. I did it on a similar scale when I was in college. You should be declaring and paying tax on the earnings (Of course, this is a topic of much debate but if you are being 'above board' then you should be doing so.)

ironclaw

Depends on your postal carrier. Customs sometimes hold the package until you supply an invoice and they calculate the duty due, once paid they will send the package to you. Others, like UPS, collect the duties when they arrive. FedEx, usually send you an invoice a few days after the parcel arrives. Sometimes, you never get charged.

Roughly speaking, its about 20% plus an admin charge. As an example, a $200 order of mine recently attracted about €42 in import duties by UPS, most of which is their admin fee. An Post is about a €7 admin fee plus the charges. On your order, if stopped, I'd imagine you would be looking at €30 to €50 in charges if you got hit with a high rate.

You are free to import and resell as much stuff as you like. I did it on a similar scale when I was in college. You should be declaring and paying tax on the earnings (Of course, this is a topic of much debate but if you are being 'above board' then you should be doing so.)

MarkY91

ironclaw wrote: »

Depends on your postal carrier. Customs sometimes hold the package until you supply an invoice and they calculate the duty due, once paid they will send the package to you. Others, like UPS, collect the duties when they arrive. FedEx, usually send you an invoice a few days after the parcel arrives. Sometimes, you never get charged.

Roughly speaking, its about 20% plus an admin charge. As an example, a $200 order of mine recently attracted about €42 in import duties by UPS, most of which is their admin fee. An Post is about a €7 admin fee plus the charges. On your order, if stopped, I'd imagine you would be looking at €30 to €50 in charges if you got hit with a high rate.

You are free to import and resell as much stuff as you like. I did it on a similar scale when I was in college. You should be declaring and paying tax on the earnings (Of course, this is a topic of much debate but if you are being 'above board' then you should be doing so.)

They carried at 41 euro customs charge even though the shipping was 40 dollars and the supplier marked the 5 boxes as 10 dollars each. So I expected cheaper customs charge but kits fine.

Should I be paying tax on earnings even as an adverts/fb sell groups seller?

MarkY91

It was delivered using DHL by the way. 4 days from Hong Kong to Dublin..impressive

ironclaw

MarkY91 wrote: »

They carried at 41 euro customs charge even though the shipping was 40 dollars and the supplier marked the 5 boxes as 10 dollars each. So I expected cheaper customs charge but kits fine.

Should I be paying tax on earnings even as an adverts/fb sell groups seller?

Custom charges do not necessarily relate to the invoice. Customs have full power to charge what they believe the consignment is worth, it's up to you to prove otherwise. Once is over the threshold of €22 (I think) then you are looking at least €30 in charges by the time you add the taxes and fees.

All money you earn is taxable, regardless of where or how you obtained it. If someone handed you €100 for having a chat with them on the street, then you should be declaring it. (Extreme example but if one was 'by the book' then you would be) You're unlikely to attract enough attention to warrant investigation by Revenue but the fee's and fines for being audited far exceed any benefit by trying to circumvent paying income tax.

VincePP

MarkY91 wrote: »

They carried at 41 euro customs charge even though the shipping was 40 dollars and the supplier marked the 5 boxes as 10 dollars each. So I expected cheaper customs charge but kits fine.

Should I be paying tax on earnings even as an adverts/fb sell groups seller?

In the first post you said value was about €200 - here you say they were $10 each.

It looks possible that you or the shipper decided to put a false value on the shipment and revenue spotted it.

A word of warning - revenue have one of the best IT systems and unusual for gov agency its all linked up. My guess is a little note has been added to your file and anything you import will be flagged.

Chinese guys will always suggest they put a lower value. My suggestion is always tell them to put full value.

MarkY91

VincePP wrote: »

In the first post you said value was about €200 - here you say they were $10 each.

It looks possible that you or the shipper decided to put a false value on the shipment and revenue spotted it.

A word of warning - revenue have one of the best IT systems and unusual for gov agency its all linked up. My guess is a little note has been added to your file and anything you import will be flagged.

Chinese guys will always suggest they put a lower value. My suggestion is always tell them to put full value.

Yeah they suggested to put the value as $10 per item. I'll make sure they don't do it again seeing as you think I may have been flagged.

Thank you for the heads up