Ebay international purchasing advice needed

Hintza

If it is worth over £18 you are liable to pay VAT amd duty and you will also have to cover parcelforce's costs for clearing the item. Win getting seller to offer you half. Bearing in mind we are not allowed to suggest anything illegal you need to think outside the box the next time.

HelpfulConsumer

how do you mean outside the box? if you have any suggestions for next time, can you email me? As I clearly don't fully understand the process. It seems excessive.

soolin

HelpfulConsumer wrote: »

how do you mean outside the box? if you have any suggestions for next time, can you email me? As I clearly don't fully understand the process. It seems excessive.

Blame the Government or the EU or whoever your preferred centre of blame is .If your seller is paying any then like others have said you are VERY lucky. Ebay US have even introduced new rules for sellers shipping overseas to protect them against buyers who feel aggrieved at paying taxes and duty.

soolin

Sorry I know the thread is confusing but I merged the two that were running.

trukdiver

HelpfulConsumer wrote: »

So could the declaration have been wrongly described and thats why? or would it still be the case writing 'Software, including CD and manual' as that is all it is.

Sorry to appear thick, I have no experience of this and don't know the regulations etc

Software is not on the list of zero rated goods so unless they declared the value as something higher than what you actually paid you can't say it was "wrongly described" . I've been wrongly charged a couple of times. Once, they read the value in dollars as pounds and charged me twice what they should have done. On another occasion they charged me VAT on the insurance value (ie, retail price) rather than the low ebay bid I'd actually paid. I argued about that one (and provided evidence) and they refunded the VAT but the Post Office wouldn't refund their fee.

HelpfulConsumer

Thank you, thats useful to know.. I will check that!

digerati

Just a reminder - INTERNET shoppers will no longer have to pay customs duty on purchases made from outside the EU, provided they cost no more than €150 (approx £133).

Customs duty was previously payable on goods worth €22 (about £19) or more bought online from non-EU countries. But from 01 December 2008, the new limit of €150/£133 applies.

VAT will still be charged on goods over £18, and is not affected by the changes.

Hope this helps :-)

soolin

I assume we still have to pay the handling fees as well? That's usually the expensive bit.

N79

soolin wrote: »

I assume we still have to pay the handling fees as well? That's usually the expensive bit.

Correct - or present the item to customs yourself.

HelpfulConsumer

digerati wrote: »

Just a reminder - INTERNET shoppers will no longer have to pay customs duty on purchases made from outside the EU, provided they cost no more than €150 (approx £133).

Customs duty was previously payable on goods worth €22 (about £19) or more bought online from non-EU countries. But from 01 December 2008, the new limit of €150/£133 applies.

VAT will still be charged on goods over £18, and is not affected by the changes.

Hope this helps :-)

Thanks...

I purchased software on Ebay from Canada, value roughly £100. Does that mean I should not have been charged??
VAT £22.50 and Parcelforce Clearance Fee £13.50. TOTAL £35.95!!!