Buying goods in the UK - need EORI number

RecycleAnimals

Hello there,

I have purchased a new futon mattress in Germany recently and, now that it is manufactured and ready for shipping, have received an email today asking about getting an EORI for the logistics company that picked it up from the manufacturer. The logistics provider won't ship it otherwise.

Other users with similar cases on the MSE forum have said, that getting an EORI for individuals is not possible. The HMRC pages are unhelpful in that regard and it seems that individuals are left out in the HMRC application/system. On one of the pages it alludes to getting an agent to deal with this, but again, that surely means having to use them as logistics and importers in the first place. This seems to be a chicken/egg problem, whichI am unsure how to solve. So, if anyone has done something similar recently i.e. since 1/1/2022, I am willing to learn from their experience :-)

The mattress weighs 37kg and cost 700€, if that helps in identifying a possible solution/way forward. 

RecycleAnimals

As edit is not available: The title should have read Buying goods from the EU, as I am based in the UK ;-) Sorry for confusion.

RecycleAnimals

Just a quick update, as none of the other cases on the forum here mentioned this so far:

After perusing many other sites, and trying to get anything out of the gov.uk help/pages, I just tried it myself, as I could not see any other options. 
It seems on the government application site, there is a choice "as an individual" during the EORI application process, which then just needs National Insurance number for identification purposes. The number was then given at the end of this and one has to wait for it to be usable. Fingers crossed this will work :-)

RecycleAnimals

Another - and final - update: The futon mattress arrived today :-)
So, the intermediate steps that happened in the last weeks:
The futon arrived on the EU side (Calais) and I was then contacted by a UK logistics company, which included their pricing. I guess I could have shopped around for a lower rate, etc, but by this time, I was happy the mattress was still en route. I accepted their "help" (read: paid help) in getting customs cleared, paid import VAT (not customs duty, as EU-produced) and it was then delivered a few days later.

TL;DR; One can indeed import goods EU -> UK as an individual, it is just not as cheap and easy as it used to be. One just needs to have patience, as it is not something for quick deliveries ;-)