Ordering from the EU instead of the UK to avoid customs hassles and charges

SBarrett said:
A lot of UK based companies have .ie websites for the Irish market. It isn't until you have purchased the item that you realise you are buying from the UK. This wasn't an issue pre Brexit but can be now. Thankfully, I haven't been lumbered with extra charges yet but there is a noticeable delay in getting the packages delivered. Being able to track your package, you can see it being picked up from the seller within a day or 2 and then going nowhere for a week before suddenly going out for delivery.
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Ordered 2 Vorwerk vacuum cleaners from their .IE site on the 15th of January - I knew though it will be routed via the UK. They arrived only today - normally it would had been 5-7 days... Thankfully no extra charges.
I will need some more accessories but I will get them via their German site (also because they are cheaper and you get more extras in Germany)
 
roker said:
did they sell to you ex UK VAT?
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No. UK vat was applied

I think the problem is the total value of items and shipping exceeded threshold. So therefore Irish customs applied plus vat on customs charge plus brokers fee.

it’s kind of annoying to include the shipping charge in the overall value

strangely I’ve had 3 Amazon parcels from in delivered today where the price I paid at checkout was less than advertised. They removed uk vat as it was going to IRL but I got no extra charges upon delivery.
 
I have ordered from all Amazon sites across Europe. In many cases the uk one is still cheaper, for items i am buying which are usually under €50 as its free postage, and the UK vat comes off and irish vat goes on, which amounts to a euro or less.
Have ordered a few times since January 1st.
The free postage on UK site often makes up, for any prices difference, as postage from .fr,.de,.es,.nl, it is often about 7 to 9 euro for the items i am buying.

It all depends on what you are buying. Shopping around, is as usual, the best advice.
 
rustbucket said:
strangely I’ve had 3 Amazon parcels from in delivered today where the price I paid at checkout was less than advertised. They removed uk vat as it was going to IRL but I got no extra charges upon delivery.
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Had they not added IRL Vat at checkout in place of UK VAT ? Amazon add IRL Vat to my recent order. No problem with delivery.
 
When i order from amazon UK, (i am not a prime member)the UK vat is removed, but “import deposit” is added on, at checkout, which equates to roughly 21% Irish Vat.

This happens, when the order value is above about €20. If its under the threshold, you don’t pay any import deposit, but its full UK price including uk vat + postage is added.
 
rustbucket said:
Item was £17.60 including uk vat

at checkout it was reduced to £14.67
No p&p
No vat added
No mention of import deposit etc

Charged €16.95 to my card

is this right?
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Looks odd. As the item is under the threshold, the UK vat should not be coming off. There are no import fees when item is under the €20 (roughly).

Are you a Prime Member ? As postage normally applies to amounts under £20, for non Prime Membere
 
fayf said:
Looks odd. As the item is under the threshold, the UK vat should not be coming off. There are no import fees when item is under the €20 (roughly).

Are you a Prime Member ? As postage normally applies to amounts under £20, for non Prime Membere
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Yes I’m a prime member. I ordered 4 of the same thing as individual transactions to avoid it going over the threshold. 2 more are due to arrive tomorrow but exactly the same amount on the transactions
 
fayf said:
Looks odd. As the item is under the threshold, the UK vat should not be coming off.
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UK Vat should be coming off.
Items under €22, UK vat off no Irish vat applied.

Enjoy until July 2021. Rules changing. :-
[broken link removed]

Remove the hyphens above for link to work.
Don't know why I couldn't link normally ????
 
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SparkRite said:
UK Vat should be coming off.
Items under €22, UK vat off no Irish vat applied.

Enjoy until July 2021. Rules changing. :-
[broken link removed]

Remove the hyphens above for link to work.
Don't know why I couldn't link normally ????
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For the items i select under €20, the UK var is not coming off, odd
 
fayf said:
For the items i select under €20, the UK var is not coming off, odd
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Are they items 'Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. ' or are they items from 'MarketPlace' or are they items just dispacted from Amazon?

Also they need to be individual purchases and packages under €22.
 
SparkRite said:
Are they items 'Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. ' or are they items from 'MarketPlace' or are they items just dispacted from Amazon?

Also they need to be individual purchases and packages under €22.
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That’s what I thought which is why I ordered my packages in individual transactions (2 of the same thing) but they actually arrived in the same box. So the value of the package was over 22 euro in theory m
 
SparkRite said:
Are they items 'Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. ' or are they items from 'MarketPlace' or are they items just dispacted from Amazon?

Also they need to be individual purchases and packages under €22.
Click to expand...
All Amazon purchases, sold & dispatched by Amazon.
Maybe there are different rules, for different products, the items i buy are vinyl records
 
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Actually, apologies, i am incorrect, checked again, and i can see the uk vat does indeed come off for items under €22, but postage is then added on as under the limit for free postage
 
this lasts until July1st when it changes and all purchases of all values will be subject to vat
 
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