Sending to Germany via Ebay

DullGreyGuy

martindow said:

I've just remembered that DPD booked through P2G offer a service where the sender can pay fees, VAT and customs clearance.  I'll try that later, but I expect that the total may be eye watering ...  I'll report back.

From experience the fee is generally lower than what they'd charge your customer but for low value packages its likely to be proportionately very high.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

DullGreyGuy said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

For VAT registered companies the EU have a central system to report, collect and remit the VAT but I think if your customer in Germany was buying from a non-VAT company in France they'd be facing the same issue of either going through a marketplace or paying the VAT on import. 

They shouldnt have any issues from buying from a French company thats below the VAT threashold, goods moving within the market that arent subject to excise duty are exempt from any importation costs. This would have been the same pre-Brexit for items being sent by the OP to the continent 

Reference was to VAT which is now required to be paid based upon the country of the consumer rather than the business. 

Excise duty is a completely different thing.

If you have a source, regarding VAT on B2C transactions between different EU member states and non-VAT registered businesses, I would be interested in reading  

martindow said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

The EU adopted the same principle of charging VAT depending upon the location of the buyer rather than seller.

For VAT registered companies the EU have a central system to report, collect and remit the VAT but I think if your customer in Germany was buying from a non-VAT company in France they'd be facing the same issue of either going through a marketplace or paying the VAT on import. 

Customs are presumably looking out for parcels over £135/155 EUR as there's not a requirement to charge the customer VAT over those amounts but instead for it to be done upon import but whether they have time to check every parcel for small fees isn't something I've seen clarified.

I think in some countries, all businesses have to register for VAT regardless of turnover, so non-VAT businesses might well raise an eyebrow.

IIRC there's a 10,000 EUR EU wide threshold for distances sales (cross border), a quick Google suggests in France there's standard 34,600 EUR threshold for VAT registration, 22,000 EUR in Germany   

martindow

For sake of completeness here are the costs of sending via DPD:

Item cost £12

Sending cost £10

German VAT £4

Clearance fee £4.50

Total £30.50

Via RM:

Item cost £12

Postage £6

VAT £3.50

Clearance fee ???

Total £21.50 + clearance fee

I'm letting the customer decide.  Although the DPD carriage cost is greater, £4.50 for clearance is quite modest. 

They are eager to get this product which they can't find anywhere else, but whether they will pay £30 to get a £12 item I don't know.