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UK abolishes <£15 VAT free imports. EU to follow.

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DC1MC:

--- Quote from: Bicurico on January 10, 2021, 12:42:33 pm ---I have had my share of experience with Portuguese customs and I can tell you they are everything BUT stupid. They know exactly what these Chinese products are worth, they don't care for the sellers note of value and the standard practice is that the buyer needs to send proof of payment to customs, with a signed statement that all declarations are correct.

The problem is that once your package is flagged for check, you can easily add another 4 weeks minimum until you can lay your hands on it.

--- End quote ---

The same situation with the German customs, their eagle eye (pun indented) will not release anything that doesn't fit in a small envelope without personally coming to their offices with solid proof of payment. Also they are checking for "fake and counterfeit and non-CE approved products" and confiscate them on the spot, I've seen an Asian person in front of me leaving empty handed without his large bag of phones and toys, the poor guy was almost crying. The customs waiting hall in my town has even a display in the waiting area proudly showing their captures  >:D.
Of course, one either have to go there and wait in queue, or, with Covid rules and public access mostly forbidden, pay the "moderate" 25-50 EUR service fee that carriers ask for doing the customs declaration for you to pay the 4EUR VAT  |O.

 DC1MC

madires:
It should be EUR 5 at least since there's an internal directive to ignore low value goods generating a VAT less than EUR 5 because the work involved is much more expensive. That directive increases the official EUR 22 limit to about 26.

petematthews:
So, thinking it through since last night, could you (non-fraudulently) do this with 2 eBay accounts...

Prep your order at jlcpcb, get goods total
Acct1 creates a buy it now listing for the amount, declaring that it ships from outside the UK
Acct2 buys it, pays, etc. This should include the vat thanks to eBay.
Acct1 gets the relevant vat details for the packaging from eBay
Place order at jlcpcb, including the vat stuff as part of the address
You now have a vat receipt from acct2 in case you need it as proof on delivery, collection, etc.

Yes, you'll wind up paying eBay listing and PayPal fees, but that's probably less than the old royal mail £8 surcharge anyway... All in all, I'd be comfortable doing this from a legal and "I'm doing the right thing" angle.

Only possible problem is eBay flagging stuff as potentially fraudulent. Might be worth finding other people willing to help you out - if anyone wants to trial this, I'm game.

madires:
I've checked the new VAT rules for buyers in EU countries buying from no-EU sellers (starting July 1st.). There are two processes available for goods with a value less than EUR 150 (for > EUR 150 the standard customs process applies, as before).

process #1:
- seller not registered at a EU tax office
- seller doesn't bill VAT
- seller must perform a simplified customs declaration electronically
- mail service delivers the goods and charges VAT plus handling fee

process #2:
- seller is registered at a EU tax office
- seller bills VAT
- seller must perform a simplified customs declaration electronically stating his tax number
- mail service delivers the goods

petematthews:

--- Quote from: petematthews on January 10, 2021, 02:45:16 pm ---So, thinking it through since last night, could you (non-fraudulently) do this with 2 eBay accounts...

Prep your order at jlcpcb, get goods total
Acct1 creates a buy it now listing for the amount, declaring that it ships from outside the UK
Acct2 buys it, pays, etc. This should include the vat thanks to eBay.
Acct1 gets the relevant vat details for the packaging from eBay
Place order at jlcpcb, including the vat stuff as part of the address
You now have a vat receipt from acct2 in case you need it as proof on delivery, collection, etc.

Yes, you'll wind up paying eBay listing and PayPal fees, but that's probably less than the old royal mail £8 surcharge anyway... All in all, I'd be comfortable doing this from a legal and "I'm doing the right thing" angle.

Only possible problem is eBay flagging stuff as potentially fraudulent. Might be worth finding other people willing to help you out - if anyone wants to trial this, I'm game.

--- End quote ---

Actually, don't do this. While I stand by it as a creative problem-solving solution, it's apparently wildly contrary to eBay's T's&C's - They are watching, the will hunt you down and ban you. Hard. And your paypal account. And any other paypal accounts at your address, etc. Apparently it used to be used by unscrupulous characters to boost feedback scores. Which is annoying.

Not sure if there are other marketplaces you could run a similar plan though. AliExpress seems to require you to be a registered company to be a seller. 

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