Ordering from PopCultcha (Australian site) - Should I pay via Paypal or card to pay lowest price?

sebsy

Hi all,

I'm looking to place an order on the Australian site PopCultcha for some figures as some are better prices than anywhere in the UK, and as I understand it, as long as my order is under £135 i will not have to pay any customs/import fees as the total price on the site factors all that in.

However, with my basket total including shipping being £78.40, upon going to pay by PayPal, and clicking on 'see currency options', under GBP it says the final total I will pay is £82.36. Only a small charge but I figure it is to do with them using their own conversion rate. Will paying by card be give me a lower/better rate, or higher even, or does it make no difference?

Spoonie_Turtle

You'd have to find out the conversion rate for your bank / card company to be able to make a comparison.

[Do PopCultcha definitely charge the VAT at point of sale?  Not all overseas companies do, and if they don't you'll have to pay the import VAT plus handling fee when it arrives into the country.]

Belenus

How much are you saving to make buying from Australia worth any possible extra hassle and customs/import fees etc?

What happens if you need to return some or all of the figures?

sebsy

Spoonie_Turtle said:

You'd have to find out the conversion rate for your bank / card company to be able to make a comparison.

[Do PopCultcha definitely charge the VAT at point of sale?  Not all overseas companies do, and if they don't you'll have to pay the import VAT plus handling fee when it arrives into the country.]

I've asked the question on a forum I use where another user who collects the same figures has ordered from them and not had to pay customs fees, as well as from several users saying the same thing on reddit.

Belenus said:

How much are you saving to make buying from Australia worth any possible extra hassle and customs/import fees etc?

What happens if you need to return some or all of the figures?

The main reason I was looking at this site was because there were a few specific figures that are harder to get over here, and are around a 3rd-Half the price on the site than I could buy them for on ebay as the site has a 20% off Black Friday offer.

I've heard very good things about them as a company from users on a forum I've posted on for any years, aswell as a subreddit for these figures. I can only cross the bridge of returns if it comes up. 

LaHostessAvecLaMostess

sebsy said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

You'd have to find out the conversion rate for your bank / card company to be able to make a comparison.

[Do PopCultcha definitely charge the VAT at point of sale?  Not all overseas companies do, and if they don't you'll have to pay the import VAT plus handling fee when it arrives into the country.]

I've asked the question on a forum I use where another user who collects the same figures has ordered from them and not had to pay customs fees, as well as from several users saying the same thing on reddit.

Belenus said:

How much are you saving to make buying from Australia worth any possible extra hassle and customs/import fees etc?

What happens if you need to return some or all of the figures?

The main reason I was looking at this site was because there were a few specific figures that are harder to get over here, and are around a 3rd-Half the price on the site than I could buy them for on ebay as the site has a 20% off Black Friday offer.

I've heard very good things about them as a company from users on a forum I've posted on for any years, aswell as a subreddit for these figures. I can only cross the bridge of returns if it comes up. 

They don't change UK VAT so you would still be liable for this.

If it's shipped by mail it may fall under the radar, if it goes by courier it almost certainly will not.

sebsy

All the information I have found on gov.uk and Royal Mail sites, unless I am misreading, suggests that I should not have to pay any charges. As I say I may not be understanding what I am reading correctly, but this is what I have found:

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7208/~/help-with-paying-customs-fees

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/customs-charges-leaflet--01.01.21.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

Everything I can gather from that information leads me to believe I shouldn't have to pay any extra charges, but as I say I am figuring this out as I read so I may well be misinterpreting something.

LaHostessAvecLaMostess

The Government, in its infinite wisdom seems to think it can pass a law here and get everyone in the world to follow it.  Clearly, that is not the case.  The last image you can see says "The seller will have included VAT in the total."  It probably should read "We'd like the seller to have included VAT in the total but as we have no jurisdiction outside the UK, they may or may not have done."

The site you've provided only includes tax (in this cast GST) for Australian buyers, anywhere else and it gets knocked off.

If the goods have not had VAT paid on them, and they land in this country and HMRC see this, they will levy VAT on it.  If it comes by courier and VAT has not already been paid, the courier will charge you the VAT.

Spoonie_Turtle

The information assumes the company have registered with HMRC to collect VAT at the point of sale.  That's heartening that others have found it not to be an issue, and if it is quite a prominent shop in international fandoms it would certainly make sense for them to make life easy for international customers.

Out of interest, at the checkout, did it show VAT separately?  If not, if you have a VPN it might be worth looking at the website as if you were somewhere else (not in the EU either) to see if the prices change to include VAT.  [I've had that on a US website before, the price jumped when I signed in because obviously I'm registered as from the UK.  On AliExpress putting my address in bumped up the price to include VAT.]

You could also shoot them an e-mail or tweet just to be 100% certain (depends whether the sale might end before they respond, though).

sebsy

Yes, that is what I think is the case, in terms of them registering with HMRC. They get quite a lot of figures, especially exclusives earlier than the UK, and in some cases are the only option for certain figures, so they are quite popular around the world.

I don't have a VPN no, don't really understand all that kind of thing.

On the checkout it lists the price of the goods, and then 'shipping and handling'. It doesn't specifically state VAT.

As I say, many people have commented since the rules changed at the start of the year that they have not been charged for orders under £135, and would tie in with them being registered.

I've placed the order now anyway, as one of the items quickly went OOS and didn't want to miss on any more. I'll find out either way when the time comes.

Thanks all.

Spoonie_Turtle

Ah cool, please let us know the outcome (I'm curious now; I think we had a thread before about PopCultcha but don't recall if we heard the outcome).   Well, and especially with the sale, even if you do have to pay import VAT and the fee on top it may still be worth it.

LaHostessAvecLaMostess

sebsy said:

Yes, that is what I think is the case, in terms of them registering with HMRC. They get quite a lot of figures, especially exclusives earlier than the UK, and in some cases are the only option for certain figures, so they are quite popular around the world.

I don't have a VPN no, don't really understand all that kind of thing.

On the checkout it lists the price of the goods, and then 'shipping and handling'. It doesn't specifically state VAT.

As I say, many people have commented since the rules changed at the start of the year that they have not been charged for orders under £135, and would tie in with them being registered.

I've placed the order now anyway, as one of the items quickly went OOS and didn't want to miss on any more. I'll find out either way when the time comes.

Thanks all.

More likely is it would tie in with the items being sent via the postal system (especially as the shipping is pretty low for a courier delivered item from Australia.)

Many packages coming through the postal system fall under HMRC's radar as they don't have the manpower to check every single package.

They clearly do not pay VAT on your behalf.  If you set the shipping location to Australia you see a subtotal and then the amount of GST they're charging.  If you then switch to the UK the price changes to the pre-GST price.  This amount is exactly what the Australian subtotal is minus the tax figure (i.e it's a price without any tax.).  As GST is only 10% and VAT is 20%, the UK price should be in excess of the Australian price. As it isn't, no VAT is being charged.