Help with Customs/Import charges

RFW

sebsy said:

jon81uk said:

It means Amazon are paying the VAT for you, so no handling fee from the courier as Amazon took care of the VAT payment instead of the courier.

Sorry to keep asking questions, just want to make sure I'm understanding everything correctly.

When you say no handling fee, does that mean no £8 Royal Mail charge or whatever charge from whatever company?

ie: does that mean I'll literally pay the £41.89 to Amazon, and then there are no more charges after that?

Would Amazon deliver the item to me the same as if I ordered the items from Amazon UK?

As said you shouldn't get an additional charge. Amazon will also refund if there's a difference in the amount paid and what ends up being the actual amount. It takes a few months for it to filter through. I've had a few refunds like that, they never amount to much though.

martindow

RFW said:

sebsy said:

As said you shouldn't get an additional charge. Amazon will also refund if there's a difference in the amount paid and what ends up being the actual amount. It takes a few months for it to filter through. I've had a few refunds like that, they never amount to much though.

I assume that is because VAT is calculated at the official exchange rate on the day of entry to the UK, which could be different to thst used on the day of ordering.  Possibly Amazon overcharge a little and then refund rather thn coming back to you to collect some trivial amount.

sebsy

Thanks folks, really appreciate the help

Spoonie_Turtle

martindow said:

RFW said:

sebsy said:

As said you shouldn't get an additional charge. Amazon will also refund if there's a difference in the amount paid and what ends up being the actual amount. It takes a few months for it to filter through. I've had a few refunds like that, they never amount to much though.

I assume that is because VAT is calculated at the official exchange rate on the day of entry to the UK, which could be different to thst used on the day of ordering.  Possibly Amazon overcharge a little and then refund rather thn coming back to you to collect some trivial amount.

Oh that makes sense why they used to do it that way then!  Now I'm fairly certain it should be calculated on the date of the sale, because that is the point when it is collected, not on entry to the UK (whereas it was before).

RFW

martindow said:

RFW said:

sebsy said:

As said you shouldn't get an additional charge. Amazon will also refund if there's a difference in the amount paid and what ends up being the actual amount. It takes a few months for it to filter through. I've had a few refunds like that, they never amount to much though.

I assume that is because VAT is calculated at the official exchange rate on the day of entry to the UK, which could be different to thst used on the day of ordering.  Possibly Amazon overcharge a little and then refund rather thn coming back to you to collect some trivial amount.

There's possibly some of that, although I've had it occasionally on zero rated stuff. It may well just be the exchange rate, although I've never known them to ask for more.
Oddly enough I received one of those refunds today, a whopping 65p!

sebsy

Hello again everyone,

I just had one more query occur to me whilst I await the items in question to all be in stock at the same time.

If I add just one item to my basket, this is the payment info given:

Now, VAT is only paid on items totalling over £15. The price there before VAT is added is $19.74, which converts to around £14.35, so surely VAT would not be required in this instance in the first place? So the package would surely be marked as being under £15, in which case would a refund then be given for just over £3?

Again I'm sure this is probably a daft question to some, but would rather ask and learn, though obviously I appreciate there would still be no extra courier charge involved on top of that (such as the £8 RM fee) because the VAT has already been added on, and the courier will be Amazon, as mentioned previously in answering the initial question I made.

Thanks again

KxMx

There is no Low Value Consignment Relief any longer.
So no £15 "allowance" before VAT kicks in.

It is as a result of Brexit but the EU themselves are also abolishing it within a few months. 

jon81uk

They got rid of the £15 low value consignment relief to cut down on the cheap AliExpress type imports that don’t pay tax and therefore undercut uk sellers. 

VAT is now payable on everything. Nothing to do with Brexit. 

Spoonie_Turtle

jon81uk said:

They got rid of the £15 low value consignment relief to cut down on the cheap AliExpress type imports that don’t pay tax and therefore undercut uk sellers. 

VAT is now payable on everything. Nothing to do with Brexit. 

Precisely.  It coincided with Brexit which meant they could overhaul the collection of import VAT online, but there are EU countries that have no LVCR already, then the rest of the EU will abolish their €22 threshold in July anyway as @KxMx already mentioned.

sebsy

Fair enough, thanks guys.

Figured there would be a reason, so wasn't really hopeful of being able to do it that way.