Buying from ebay abroad.

sarahblaneuk

I'm looking at bidding on a pram from ebay Germany and was hoping to win it for around £400. Will I need to pay customs and tax for it when it arrives and if so how do I work out how much it will cost me on top. I only have a limited budget and want to try and stay within what I can afford.

Thanks for any help in advance
x

fridayschild_2

I have only ever bid on things from the U.S. usually small/cheap things and have only paid customs once, I knew I was going to have to and checked with the inland revenue as to how much it was going to be.

I would be inclined to do that in this instance. Email them, they are usually good at answering. They gave me percentage figures. There are two things to pay and one is the percentage of the first two things added together which made it a bit dearer. Also what they don't tell you (nothing to do with them I suppose) is that the Royal Mail charge you for collecting the money. I think I paid about £8 for that bit alone and they wanted about the same again if you wanted it delivered on a Saturday!

As I say, I don't have experience of buying things from Germany but are you sure you want the hassle?

morg_monster

Germany is in the EU so there will be no taxes to pay at all. Woohoo!

sarahblaneuk

Thanks Fridayschild, I wouldn't bother with the hassle normally but to buy the pram over here its going to cost me over double the amount as it does in Germany! I'll try your suggestion and contact inland revenue, hopefully they get back to me soon as the auction finishes in 5 hours.

sarahblaneuk

Thanks morg_monster thats a bonus because taxes alone would be about £90 I think.

Percy1983

Just to confirm there is a free movement of goods within the EU so there is no taxs for you to pay.

As you may know postage will be quite a lot and guessing you are paying via paypal the rate might not be as good as you think it should be, but overall if it can be got a lot cheaper it sounds like a good plan.

sarahblaneuk

Thanks Percy1983, I'm purchasing from a business seller and postage to the UK will only be £20 so its a real bargain. I'm just worried i'll be charged money when it arrives and it turns out to be not such a great bargain.

martindow

Agree that within the EC there would be no import charges. Do you know what the seller is proposing to charge for carriage to the UK? Also you need to consider what would happen if there is any problem and you need to return it to the seller.

Edit: Just seen post no 7. £20 is a very reasonable charge.

sarahblaneuk

Martindow what do you mean by carrage to the UK? I hadn't really thought about what I would do if there was a problem but he has sold loads of this pram all with positive feedback to others in the UK and Germany.

soolin

sarahblaneuk wrote: »

Martindow what do you mean by carrage to the UK? I hadn't really thought about what I would do if there was a problem but he has sold loads of this pram all with positive feedback to others in the UK and Germany.

Your only problem would be if you need to return it for any reason as you would need to pay to get it back to Germany tracked and insured.

sarahblaneuk

Would it be expensive to send it back tracked and insured if the worse did happen? If it wasn't soo expensive to send it back in that instance and get a replacement sent out it would possibly still be cheaper than buying from the UK.