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chapperz_2

Hello again quoia,

I accept the small shipments thing but I was referring to larger amounts, for example I bought a portable DAB radio for £49.99 from Play last Xmas and no problems with import duty. I would have thought that Play would have made us aware, but as we said previously, the price is a delivered price. Whether things change in the future - we'll wait and see. I know there has been controversy surrounding merchants deliberately setting up in Jersey (e.g. Tesco) in the news but wasn't aware that the rules had changed. It would be interesting to see if anyone has had any problems and posted on this thread.

Cheers.

quoia

chapperz wrote:

...............
Goods purchased from traders in Jersey and Guernsey

Customs has in place with the Jersey and Guernsey Customs and Postal authorities a special scheme that allows many of their traders to collect and pay to UK Customs import VAT on sales they make to UK customers. These traders, who are approved by the Jersey and Guernsey authorities, are allocated a unique authorisation number and this should be stated on the outside of your package. Under these arrangements you will be asked to pay import VAT, if applicable, at the time you make your purchase, and will not have to pay any additional costs such as import VAT, or the Royal Mail handling fee, when you receive your goods.

........

This is not compulsory and PLAY are not a member as far as I am aware

Swan_2

chapperz wrote:

Customs has in place with the Jersey and Guernsey Customs and Postal authorities a special scheme that allows many of their traders to collect and pay to UK Customs import VAT on sales they make to UK customers. These traders, who are approved by the Jersey and Guernsey authorities, are allocated a unique authorisation number and this should be stated on the outside of your package. Under these arrangements you will be asked to pay import VAT, if applicable, at the time you make your purchase, and will not have to pay any additional costs such as import VAT, or the Royal Mail handling fee, when you receive your goods

I thought that's why so many on-line retailers are based in Jersey, Amazon Jersey for instance are often cheaper than Amazon UK

if you buy anything from Play's international site though, you'll be liable for VAT, duty & handling on any goods valued over £18. maybe that's what quoia was thinking of

I've certainly never been charged for anything I've bought from Play & I've spent so much over the years that I'd've been sure to have been caught out at least a couple of times!

quoia

golddustmedia wrote:

The moneysaving flightchecker shows some flights to Jersey for 99p (Tuesday 18th September) so you could always pop over there and collect in person...

Not a problem if you only bought 1 of them and no other goods worth more than £65 (excluding booze, tobacco or perfume)

But by law you would have to go through the RED channel at the airport upon your return, declare it and pay the duty/taxes due if you spent more than £145 on goods including gifts and souvenirs.
Of course you could go through the GREEN channel and SMUGGLE it in !

HOWEVER sadly you're not going going to get a flight for JUST 99p.
I'm sure this will be a single not a return, then there will be the departure taxes to be paid at the very least for both journeys. Not much change from £40 I'll bet !

chapperz_2

Hi quoia

If the position has changed I would have thought it would have been better publicised rather than hidden away in T&Cs. Remember the CD-WOW business a while ago?

I guess unless anyone can categorically prove there is Import/VAT implications on something bought from play.com, (in which case I'll stand corrected), I'll carry on ordering from them without worrying about the small shipment limits.

Just wondered where you got the info from?

pin

I should point out that Jersey is a crown colony, but NOT part of the UK and is also NOT part of the EU. There is no VAT in Jersey, but if goods are imported to the UK, the recepient is liable for VAT.

Re the trading scheme already mentioned, I think Play is part of it. Again the text is here:

"Customs has in place with the Jersey and Guernsey Customs and Postal authorities a special scheme that allows many of their traders to collect and pay to UK Customs import VAT on sales they make to UK customers. These traders, who are approved by the Jersey and Guernsey authorities, are allocated a unique authorisation number and this should be stated on the outside of your package. Under these arrangements you will be asked to pay import VAT, if applicable, at the time you make your purchase, and will not have to pay any additional costs such as import VAT, or the Royal Mail handling fee, when you receive your goods."

Swan_2

chapperz wrote:

If the position has changed I would have thought it would have been better publicised rather than hidden away in T&Cs

I would think so chapperz
I'm sure if there were potential extra charges there would be a warning pop-up on the UK site like the one they have on their international site when you go to the checkout

nickygee

first off I bought a DAB radio from play costing roughly £100 last year no extra charges added.
I regularly use play.com as everytime I do I manage to raise money for my charity work through a certain internet link (below)
https://www.buy.at/birkenheadSJA
I hope more of you start using this for me as it helps raise money for much needed ambulances...
Any questions do ask

quoia

Swan wrote:

I thought that's why so many on-line retailers are based in Jersey, Amazon Jersey for instance are often cheaper than Amazon UK

But that is exactly the point.

Amazon Uk will charge you £nnn.xx + VAT

Amazon Jersey will charge you £nnn.xx

If the Jersey cost (inc P&P) is less than £18 the customs are not bothered.

If Amazon Jersey was part of the approved scheme .....

"Customs has in place with the Jersey and Guernsey Customs and Postal authorities a special scheme that allows many of their traders to collect and pay to UK Customs import VAT on sales they make to UK customers. These traders, who are approved by the Jersey and Guernsey authorities, are allocated a unique authorisation number and this should be stated on the outside of your package. Under these arrangements you will be asked to pay import VAT, if applicable, at the time you make your purchase, and will not have to pay any additional costs such as import VAT, or the Royal Mail handling fee, when you receive your goods

then you would pay £nnn.xx + IMPORT VAT which TOTALLY DEFEATS the point of Amazon being in Jersey in the first place.


Rules regarding this have NOT changed recently.

I know of people who have been caught out buying "cheaper" items from the Channel Islands only to be "stung" by VAT and the additional clearance charge. I'm sure that it has been discussed more than once on MSE.
Just because you have "got away" with it in the past don't take it for granted that it will always be so.

My nephew actually works for a large international shipping company and spends most of his day contacting people who have bought something overseas. His job is to get them to pay the duty and/or VAT that is payable before his company will deliver it. This can amount to just a few pounds or a few thousand pounds. Some people can get very irate when he asks for several hundred pounds duty/vat for a Turkish carpet or some Japanese furniture that only cost a few hundred pounds to start with. It is not unknown for the buyer to refuse to pay and in many cases the goods are sent back to where they came from.
He has spoken to several famous people (or at least their PAs) in the course of his job, including Eric Clapton regards 2 very expensive guitars.

quoia

nickygee wrote:

....I regularly use play.com as everytime I do I manage to raise money for my charity work through a certain internet link (below)
https://www.buy.at/birkenheadxxxx
I hope more of you start using this for me as it helps raise money for much needed ambulances...
Any questions do ask

Sorry but the rules of these forums DO NOT ALLOW links such as this.
I suggest you remove it immediately before a moderator does it for you and issues you with a reprimand