Would this be liable to VAT?

skywanderer

I seen some genuine Ink Cartridges in Guernsey in the UK, which is outside the EU and treated the same as if it was China etc.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Original-HP-301-Combo-Black-Colour-Ink-For-Deskjet-2540-3050A-N9J72AE-/401111228778?hash=item5d6417a16a:g:MRIAAOSwVllXHino#shpCntId

They cost £16.96 ~ €20 with free P&P to Ireland. I know the VAT limit is €22, these retail here for around €30 to €35 and I'm afraid some jobsworth would decide these are worth €30 hit me with VAT plus the €7 An Post ripoff fee; thus making it cheaper to just pay Argos €30 for just a few spoons of ink.

Last time I bought DVDs from the Channel Islands in 2010 I got badly roasted on VAT so am cautious ever since.

prinzeugen

skywanderer wrote: »

I seen some genuine Ink Cartridges in Guernsey in the UK, which is outside the EU and treated the same as if it was China etc.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Original-HP-301-Combo-Black-Colour-Ink-For-Deskjet-2540-3050A-N9J72AE-/401111228778?hash=item5d6417a16a:g:MRIAAOSwVllXHino#shpCntId

They cost £16.96 ~ €20 with free P&P to Ireland. I know the VAT limit is €22, these retail here for around €30 to €35 and I'm afraid some jobsworth would decide these are worth €30 hit me with VAT plus the €7 An Post ripoff fee; thus making it cheaper to just pay Argos €30 for just a few spoons of ink.

Last time I bought DVDs from the Channel Islands in 2010 I got badly roasted on VAT so am cautious ever since.

Avoid like the plague..

The guy is based here going by the contact details.

Rhys Morgan
Warehouse b
Postley Road
Kempston
Bedfordshire
MK42 7BU
United Kingdom


That is not Guernsey..

It looks like he is doing what a lot do on adverts now as well.

You pay them for goods and they order it from China in your name, making a small mark up themselves.

You are better just paying Argos etc IMO...

aujopimur

I use ReCharge, €10 for black refills.

whiterebel

skywanderer wrote: »

I seen some genuine Ink Cartridges in Guernsey in the UK, which is outside the EU and treated the same as if it was China etc.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Original-HP-301-Combo-Black-Colour-Ink-For-Deskjet-2540-3050A-N9J72AE-/401111228778?hash=item5d6417a16a:g:MRIAAOSwVllXHino#shpCntId

They cost £16.96 ~ €20 with free P&P to Ireland. I know the VAT limit is €22, these retail here for around €30 to €35 and I'm afraid some jobsworth would decide these are worth €30 hit me with VAT plus the €7 An Post ripoff fee; thus making it cheaper to just pay Argos €30 for just a few spoons of ink.

Last time I bought DVDs from the Channel Islands in 2010 I got badly roasted on VAT so am cautious ever since.

Rip off? Doing a customs entry, sending it down the line to customs, paying out the VAT on your behalf for €7? I can't believe they can do it so cheaply, couriers are normally twice that.

Get used to it if Brexit goes badly.

rubadub

skywanderer wrote: »

They cost £16.96 ~ €20 with free P&P to Ireland. I know the VAT limit is €22, these retail here for around €30 to €35 and I'm afraid some jobsworth would decide these are worth €30 .

If these have gone through an post and have the correct price on the invoice you should be fine. An post and customs IME have no problem with the bogus concept of "free postage" and know the price includes it. Its only the money grabbing scum like DHL who screw you over. An post and customs are also evidently aware that stuff can be far cheaper in other countries and do not apply the often outrageous RRP seen here.

skywanderer wrote: »

Last time I bought DVDs from the Channel Islands in 2010 I got badly roasted on VAT so am cautious ever since.

If this was play.com then its a different ball game. I am convinced they have/had people dedicated to processing play.com stuff, I expect it arrives in the same bag/container and all the documentation is so similar that it was very easy & quick to process in bulk.

skywanderer

rubadub wrote: »

If these have gone through an post and have the correct price on the invoice you should be fine. An post and customs IME have no problem with the bogus concept of "free postage" and know the price includes it. Its only the money grabbing scum like DHL who screw you over. An post and customs are also evidently aware that stuff can be far cheaper in other countries and do not apply the often outrageous RRP seen here.



If this was play.com then its a different ball game. I am convinced they have/had people dedicated to processing play.com stuff, I expect it arrives in the same bag/container and all the documentation is so similar that it was very easy & quick to process in bulk.

Yes that was play.com back in 2010, only time I purchased anything from them and the last time I purchased physical media DVD's etc. as I got broadband about a month later that year when Eircom enabled our local telephone exchange.

rubadub

I must have had about 50 orders from www.mymemory.co.uk from the channel islands and the majority were slightly over the limit but I was never once charged. My money is on your item slipping through.

There was some arrangement with the channel islands where people in the UK did not pay vat on imports, in which case parcel motel or parcel wizard would be an option if you were worried. The arrangement might be over now though.

whiterebel

rubadub wrote: »

If these have gone through an post and have the correct price on the invoice you should be fine. An post and customs IME have no problem with the bogus concept of "free postage" and know the price includes it. Its only the money grabbing scum like DHL who screw you over. An post and customs are also evidently aware that stuff can be far cheaper in other countries and do not apply the often outrageous RRP seen here.



If this was play.com then its a different ball game. I am convinced they have/had people dedicated to processing play.com stuff, I expect it arrives in the same bag/container and all the documentation is so similar that it was very easy & quick to process in bulk.

Maybe you'd like to explain once and for all, exactly how DHL screw people over? How do they make money out of it, or who benefits?

rubadub

whiterebel wrote: »

Maybe you'd like to explain once and for all, exactly how DHL screw people over? How do they make money out of it, or who benefits?

DHL charge an admin fee based on the amount they collect from you, at least they did in the past. So it is in their interest to over value items to get a slightly higher admin fee.

They could also feasibly put you above the limit for collection. The limit is currently about €26 with the 23% vat rate as revenue will not collect more than €6. If you got an item for €25 with free delivery they could say the postage was €80 and so get to collect their fees while if it went with an post you would have no trouble. I have not read of that happening, just saying it is feasible.

It would not surprise me if the couriers get a small % of the collected fees from revenue too, I reckon there has to be something to it as they are certainly giving themselves very bad press over this matter -if there is no economic benefit then they are complete and utter morons.

They also benefit by not bothering their hole to pay staff to check what you actually did pay, which I imagine is easily traceable seeing as its their own company and would have a reference number.

whiterebel

€12.50 or 2.5% of the amount paid out. They would need to be charging hundreds of euros to make that worth their while. They have an account with customs for VAT/Duty payments called a TAN account. It costs them money to provide that service, as they have to guarantee it to customs every month. I have known TAN accounts back in years gone by with a couple of million guaranteed in it every month. Not a free service from the banks.

They don't hide anything, this is all freely available on their website:

Customs Service How We Charge Additional Charge
Advance Payment Per shipment 12.50 EUR or 2.5% of the credit advanced, if higher
Bonded Storage Per shipment, per day after 3 calendar days 5.00 EUR per day up to 70kgs, 20.00 EUR per day over 70kgs
Bonded Transit Per shipment Minimum 30.00 EUR
Certificate of Origin Per shipment Minimum 10.00 EUR
Clearance Authorization Per shipment 30.00 EUR Per shipment
Disbursements Per shipment 12.50 EUR or 2.5% of the credit advanced, if higher
Handover to Broker Per shipment 20.00 EUR Per Shipment
Import/Export Duties Fiscal No charge
Import/Export Taxes Fiscal No charge
Multiline Entry Per line item 5.00 EUR Per Addtional Line
Personal Effects Per shipment Minimum 20.00 EUR
Post Clearance Modification Per shipment 45.00 EUR Per Shipment
Temporary Imports/Exports Per shipment 40.00 EUR Per Shipment

They also tell you quite clearly on their website that if the correct shipping isn't shown on the invoice they show the Express rate less 30% discount, as agreed with revenue.

"Under current regulations the cost of delivery is added to the declared value of the product to make the shipment`s "value for customs". If your shipper does not include the Freight Charge on the shipping invoice provided to DHL Express, then Customs will assign a transport charge based on DHL Express export rate to the origin country with a 30% discount. The Customs ruling on this is detailed in the attachment “Annex 25_Customs Explanation of Freight Charges”, and more information is available from Revenue at this link"
http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/leaflets/pn1882.html
http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/businesses/importing/index.html#section1

DHL employee hundreds of people in Ireland, and import hundreds of parcels a day from all over the world. Do you think they're going to start sending mails off to China, the US, Singapore, Malaysia etc asking if they showed the correct values? These shippers know that if they show incorrect values on their paperwork it will make their sales more attractive to buying customers. Why should a courier, be it DHL, Fedex, UPS or whoever have to chase up people on the other side of the world, creating a backlog of parcels? If they really wanted to make money, thats how they would do it - see the Bonded storage option? €5 per day after 3 days.
"Yeah, emailed your shipper in China a week ago, still waiting for a response.........That'll be €20 after 4 days, and a fiver a day, thank you." They would have to increase their carriage charges by €200 to make that, according to your theory.

An Post only ever deal with Postal services and it is entirely feasible to have something small posted for €2/3, but not for couriers.
The whole point of Ad Valorem Duty and VAT is to ensure that cheap product doesn't flood the home market. If Apple/Samsung/LG ship their latest batch of Phones/Tablets into Europe by container which takes about 3 weeks to a month, they will pay duty on $2500-3000 per container. If they airfreight it , they would be paying VAT/duty on maybe 15-20 the seafreight cost (Rough figures only). Do Apple/Samsung/LG care? No, because they pass the cost onto the customer.

I'll let you into a little secret from my years gone by in that business. Couriers will have published tariffs for public consumption. They will have better tariffs for the customer that ships 10 packages a week, or 50 a day, and management from other countries MIGHT be able to find out what the actual rates are. You go in for an Alibaba or Apple or Samsung or Epson or Canon and only the Worldwide management, and the originating country and maybe a few select others will ever know what the rates are.
Courier Dublin: "Just checking to see what rate you have for Alibaba on our Express Service to Ireland, as its not shown on the invoice"
Courier China: "Sod off and mind your own business"

Long post, but it might give you a better idea of the way couriers and imports actually work.

skywanderer

Ordered from Amazon instead today, thanks for the tips guys.