Duty & VAT on internet goods

[quinno]

My wife has being ordering cosmetics on line for a while from www.strawberrynet.com. Can't fault them - no problems - good service, goods arrive by post within a week, she reckons it's up to 50% cheaper than the shops here (well, that's what she tells me anyway!!). On her latest order (1 week or so ago), we received a nice note from customs and excise advising us the goods would not be released from An Post until duty and VAT were paid, which is fair enough. It was in the press before Chrimbo that the revenue are clamping down on this, I have heard storys about people being nabbed by UPS and TNT on their door step in a similar situation. The wife reckons that the package was a little larger than usual, so it may have come under the revenues watchful eye. Any one any ideas on this?

 

[JazzyJeff]

As far as I can see you get charged 21% plus €5 euro handling charge. However its purely random inspection. Packages from the US get stopped far more frequently than anywhere else. My wife used strawberrynet.com too and was caught once for taxes. She now uses www.perfumeireland.com that was reccommended to her by a work collegue. Prices are slightly cheaper there

 

[quinno]

JazzyJeff,

Thanks for that and the website info - I'll check it out. I reckon it's random as well, she's ordered stuff maybe 10 times and it's the first hiccup.

 

[Cahir]

Strawberrynet say on their website (or used to say - can't check right now) that if you get caught for duty they'll do their best to reimburse you. I haven't been caught yet (touch wood) and I find it a lot better and cheaper than perfumeireland.com.

 

[ClubMan]

Don't forget that commercial packages under €22 in value and gifts under €45 in value should be [broken link removed] from VAT.

 

[Mellow]

Hi quinno,
We got a note just before xmas from Customs about the same thing. I am a regular customer of strawberry.net and it was the first time I got caught for customs. I hear the general rule is to keep the packages small.
Anyway, I got on to strawberry.net with a copy of the charges I paid and they refunded the charges to my credit card no problem.

 

[ClubMan]

Interesting what they say on their website about taxes and duties (underlining is mine):

Taxes and Duties

We currently regularly ship to customers in over 100 countries worldwide. The majority of countries, particularly U.S.A., Australia, Japan, Korea, do not charge customs duty on small packages dispatched by air post.

Overall the world is moving towards free trade and we hope and anticipate this trend will continue and accelerate.

For the current time, we will endeavor to assist and cover in cases where duty is charged to the customers in some European countries, but we emphasize this is on a goodwill, not on an obligation basis.