New Import Duty/VAT Thread. Read Post #1 for Rules Updated 10/9/2024

Suckit wrote: »

Alphalete I guess are using DPD, so they should have the invoice stating that you have already paid the Irish VAT.

Yup, DPD i spent 1hr today waiting for someone to pick up phone at customers service, i want an explanation why i was charged double Irish (wrong 23%) VAT in this case

Hey All,

I won an item yesterday on eBay UK. I know I probably should avoid eBay UK private sales because of VAT and customs, but something came up that's hard to get here.

I bought it in the knowledge that I'd be potentially liable for VAT and customs duties. But from reading elsewhere, I somehow got it into my head before bidding that LCD monitors were potentially not liable for eit.her VAT, customs duty or both. But it's just the customs duty I don't pay as far as I can tell from the TARIC code. So grand VAT is due on it—I expected that anyway.

The thing is, it's a private seller, and as far as eBay is concerned, its a UK transaction as my account is registered there still with my old address.

Even so, my understanding is that if this were, say, a business eBay seller and I'd set my delivery address to Ireland, then eBay would collect any VAT and duties on top of the price paid (like Amazon are doing for new items subject it various thresholds). But it's a private sale, and eBay will display collection as opposed to a shipping address upon checkout, so I'll just pay the item amount. eBay won't collect anything. And the seller will merely be attaching my address label and handing it over to the courier. I'm not asking them to fill in any forms for export.

When I bid, I figured it would simply be a case of book a courier; they would pick up the item in the UK, customs upon arrival would assess based on the value declared to the courier (like you declare for domestic shipping) or customs would base it on the eBay print off (if the seller happened to include it on or in the box)—but booking a courier like so doesn't seem that "simple" these days.

I need to get it to Ireland rather than the seller, so my real questions start here.

I'm being asked to fill in quite a bit of info about the item during the courier booking process (via UPS). It's a lot more than "what this item worth". UPS's system seems to be triggering an export from the UK based on my delivery address in Ireland. That makes sense, but at the same time, it looks like they are just starting to implement this version of these online forms, either in general for all international deliveries or for post-Brexit EU deliveries from the UK specifically...as it's not the most seamless to use and looks like a BETA form. It also looks like an upgrade from some other online forms on their site, but that may well be the Ups.ie variant of their website I was looking at before. Not sure, but very clunky and confusing still.

I'm getting the option to declare the value along with a whole range of declarations, and they then give me an estimate of what I owe customs. It's based on what I declare and the tariff code. I'm assuming here I'm fine to put in what I actually paid for the item provided I have evidence—which I do.

I believe filling in these online forms means I would avoid any customs admin charge from UPS, and I get to declare the value of the item upfront and possibly pay the VAT and duty over to Customs via the courier on top of the delivery cost before it's even picked up in the UK. Albeit based on an estimate. That's handy even though the form is a pain. This is rather than someone else working it out (and likely at a much higher rate than what I paid).

Of course, I could just ask the seller to attach the eBay invoice/receipt to the outside of the box or leave it inside for the customs people to dig out. Still, I can't see an option with UPS to simply put in a UK pick up address, Irish delivery address and just declare the value, and then pay the VAT and any duty upon delivery (and possibly an admin fee...). The booking process I'm looking at seems very involved, as if I were exporting hundreds of the items.

Has anyone had any similar experiences there? I'm thinking filling in these forms is the way to go?

I was also going to ask the seller to include the original invoice from retail as it is a new boxed item. I know the manufacturer warranty is obsolete with a private sale (even though the thing is virtually new), but I want to have the original receipt nonetheless. The problem with this is I'm wondering if customs would open up the box and decide to charge the VAT and import duties (if there were to be any) based on that value plus shipping and not the eBay purchase price plus shipping.

In practice, which value are they meant to use?

I know if someone were sending you something for free (for whatever reason), they'd have to put a value on it, and you'd have to pay duties but wondering how like new boxed auction items work?

In general, with private eBay purchases, I get the sense that even if someone sent something like this via the AddressPal route, Customs could slap a value on it based on the value of the item at retail, or it could be let through without anything at all.

Am I right in thinking that? Particular the former as that would be pretty punitive. This is what I want to know before booking the courier.

If Irish VAT and customs are going to be based on the recommended retail price as opposed to what my eBay receipt says, then I would courier and sell it on to a friend in the UK. I was only buying it to see how it compared to another monitor I've on route from Germany.

The only scenario where Id be happy to pay the Irish VAT on the RRP is if I could in turn make a claim to recover the UK Vat if the seller sends me the original receipt.

Advice greatly appreciated.

Brexit fun eh!

So I'm buying a skateboard obstacle from the UK as nowhere I Ireland makes them, total cost plus shipping about €300.50 it's under the sport and leisure category. How much would customs slap on to that piece

Sorry for my ignorance but can anyone explain to me why I’m being charged import duty on some of my UK purchases and not on others?
For instance, I purchased some clothes from ASOS a few weeks ago, delivered by DPD and with no extra charges.
This week, I ordered a small electrical item from an independent UK store, delivered by DHL but slapped with a €25 import duty charge for it to be delivered.
Both the clothes and electrical item were just under €100 each.
Does it all depend on the courier?