Import charges on used parts?

Damokc

Hi all.

I've got USED twin tail pipes coming from the UK. Currently they are in Athlone and it says "Import charges payment required". Is this a thing now? Thought that used parts would surely be exempt?

Del2005

You have to pay tax on nearly everything new or 2nd hand coming from outside the EU, the UK left the EU.

Atlantic Dawn

Can run in to problems when sender has not filled in customs declarations correctly and then courier has to estimate value, usually results in much higher calculation. Most recent imports for me were Irish VAT on cost of goods plus the shipping amount, plus €15 or so courier fee for collecting fee.

Damokc

So I paid €161.72 for the item inclusive of postage. Had to pay €60.85 for DPD to release it!! Also I had to get the seller to send me the link to pay it as DPD sent it to them instead of trying to get in contact with me. The seller had already started the process and declared it as car parts so it was giving some "code".

Any way of getting some if this back?

Atlantic Dawn

23% of €161.72 is €37.20, that leaves €23.65 for the DPD handling fee, not sure how much there is to have refunded if anything. Once goods are coming from outside the EU there will be fees due whether they are new or used.

Damokc

That's a lot of handling.😣

Irish Steve

The information above is not complete, and it's a nightmare that's not going to get any easier over time.

The information you need is at this link, with examples of the sorts of charges and extra costs involved.

https://www.revenue.ie/en/importing-vehicles-duty-free-allowances/buying-of-goods-online-for-personal-use/buying-goods-from-outside-the-eu.aspx

The mistake as such is the value, once you go over €150, including postage and shipping etc, as well as VAT, you also become liable for Customs duty charges, the rate is dependent on the type of item being imported, so DPD didn't take as much as was suggested above, there's an example (4) of items valued at just over 150, and by the time the duty, VAT and courier clearance charge is taken into consideration, 150 Euro can end up nearer 240 Euro to get the item into your hands. Note that the VAT is based on the price AFTER customs duty has been applied, so yet again, it's tax on tax.

The only solution is to buy locally, or from Europe, Amazon.de is a better bet in some cases than Amazon.co.uk. In the example given on the revenue site, the original purchase price has been lifted by over 50% as a result of the additional charges, and at the moment, there's even more confusion on sites like E-Bay UK, as some business sellers are not reducing the end price where the items are being exported, so you're being hit for VAT twice, once by the seller{illegally}, and then again by Irish Customs, so what should have been a bargain suddenly is very much not so. If the original price is in Sterling, then you're even more in trouble, because of the currency conversion.

A lot of companies, some quite large, are taking the cheats way out, and not selling to Ireland at the moment, as they don't want the hassles of dealing with the extra paperwork involved, and in some cases, it's significant, and for a few transactions a year, the work involved may not be worth their time. Quite a few companies on Amazon UK are refusing to deliver here at the moment, and it's serving to show just how bad Irish retail has become, finding some specialist motor trade items that are being sold within Ireland is a nightmare at the moment, or the relevant seller is gouging the local market big time,

I was looking for an injector seat cutter a few days ago, one was offered on Amazon for 19.99 Stg, but not shipping to Ireland, and the same make tool from a large Irish on Line seller was being offered at nearly 150 Euro. I found one in Dublin (after some searching, the number of places that came back out of stock when looking at their sites was only depressing.) for just under 40 Euro, which was not unreasonable, given the costs of bringing the item in, and the other charges as outlined above, and it was on the shelf, and available for collection.

Damokc

The part in question was a twin exhaust for a titanium x sport mondeo which is hard found in Ireland at all so didn't have much choice but get it from the UK.

Thanks for that link. It's a nightmare buying at the moment.