ebay.com

hallmark

sorry for the basic question but can anyone let me know if there's anything to know about buying from ebay.com ?

I use ebay.co.uk but never used ebay.com & wasn't sure if there were any gotchas, or stuff to know about tax or import duty? Also can you just pay with a regular paypal account etc.

I did try to search but it brought back pages of threads that weren'tt anything to do with this question!

thanks

RFW

You can pay with a Paypal account.
As for tax/duty, if you are buying from the US, then it varies depending on the value and type of the item purchased.

soolin

You also get to pay a slightly unfavourable exchange rate as you pay in pounds and paypal convert it to dollars, but it isn't usually too bad. Just rememebr to ensure that seller has quoted a shipping price to the UK before you bid, not after.

hallmark

RFW wrote: »

You can pay with a Paypal account.
As for tax/duty, if you are buying from the US, then it varies depending on the value and type of the item purchased.

Does that just happen automatically (somehow!) or is it the responsibiity of the seller or the buyer to declare the goods or whatever...?

I'm not likely to be buying anything expensive, maybe stuff like ornaments that may cost $80 or somehthing like that.

Also not sure if it makes a difference what stuff is made out of (don't some things incur vat but not others)? Really not an expert on this stuff though, but fancied buying some bits & wasn't sure if it's feasible.

thanks again

soolin

At £80 you are looking at some quite high charges, the handling charges are the worst bit, they can easily be £11 or so on top of any tax or duty payable. If customs bother (and sometimes they don't) then you are charged on whatever the seller declares the total value to be. That should be an accurate figure, don't be tempted to go with anys elelr who will try and under declare or pretend it is a gift, it doesn't really help at all as is quite a serious offence.