Importing to the UK - VAT & Delivery info

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simonldt
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Thu Feb 20, 2014 8:01 am

Got my refund through on 2 tubes. Submitted 2nd Dec so just over 2 months waiting time. For some bizarre reason they sent me a letter a week before stating I was due the refund but that it would come separately, within 30 days (seems a bit silly when they could have posted it all together!). Luckily I didn't have to wait 30 days.

£30 back in total, feels good. :)

It's a big difference going from 20% to 5%.
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Fattyramone
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Thu Feb 20, 2014 8:32 am

suchanoo wrote:What's this crap on Ebay now where you pay import charges at checkout? It's not even an option to take it off and sort it our yourself. Bloody thing is run through a processing company who charge a mandatory %25 on top of the purchase. VAT is only 5% on screen prints here in Blighty, 20% on everything else. Surely I should have a say in whether I want to pay an additional 5% to some US company to arrange what I can quite easily sort out for myself over here?

Advice to US / international sellers on Ebay - we don't need or want this service thank you. Please opt out when listing, if you can.

One minor thing to pull you up on Dave , although it really strenghthens your argument in the absurdity of a third party deciding to "do whats best" for you and your country.

You state "VAT is only 5% on screen prints here in Blighty, 20% on everything else" ...this , although factualy correct in reguards the prints V posters argument that we are all to familiar with , is not true in the main for an awful lot of things.

VAT at 20% is surposed to apply to luxury goods only , there are a miriad of diffrent items that attract VAT at a lower or non-existant rate , hense our "prints" are reguarded as important "cultural and/or educational" items and as such attract 5% VAT , just like books are educational (No political party wants to be seen to penalise educating their citizens) ....childrens clothes are zero rated (or lower?) , biscuits ARE a luxury , yet Cakes are not ......(google the "Jaffa cakes" argument).....the lists of lowered or exempt items is endless

Yet Ebay in their deeply flawed wisdom now see fit to throw a blanket 20% VAT charge over things they dont understand and to hell with the actual facts of the matter.
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suchanoo
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Thu Feb 20, 2014 8:42 am

^^^ yeah, it was just a spur of the moment rant, not very thought through. My point was that they charge me a compulsory fee for some company to charge me the VAT (incorrect or not). I mean, that is just feckin ridiculous.
UK Member? Reclaim some VAT... http://forum.expressobeans.com/viewtopi ... =8&t=85994
shut your mouth and open your mind
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Fattyramone
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Thu Feb 20, 2014 8:43 am

The absurdity of it all ..

The Jaffa Cake ruling...


http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/vfoodman ... od6260.htm

And this is just the tip of the iceburg.

Did you know the condoms are VAT free as they are rightfully condidered a"non-luxury" essential , yet womens sanitary wear is considered a luxury and is 5% rated ...eh? ...non essential? ,

a well put together Facebook campaign could shame the Government to overthrow this idiotic rule (and save every household with a female living there £££££'s every year) in a few months by just threatening a "dirty week" in protest
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Fattyramone
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Thu Feb 20, 2014 8:47 am

suchanoo wrote:^^^ yeah, it was just a spur of the moment rant, not very thought through. My point was that they charge me a compulsory fee for some company to charge me the VAT (incorrect or not). I mean, that is just feckin ridiculous.
No , dont worry , i understood and agreed with your point 100% , just pointing out that prints/posters as not the only anomily.

Just Ebay pressing through an ill thought out plan that will just cause us grief and mayhem.
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HippyChick
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Fri Feb 28, 2014 8:44 am

Fattyramone wrote:What Ho James ...yep , first and formost it needs to be clear on the import sticker that its a "print" or "artwork" as they will liase with your local depot to confirm that that is the case....hopefully with the correct tarrif code on it as well.

We all know that they should read this info in the first place ...but we all know they dont! ...hense the fuss afterwards.

Right first off , you will recieve the letter from Parcel Force telling you how much you owe PF before they will hand it over to you , then you need to ring customs on 0845 0109000 ...keep the letter handy

You will then enter a miriad of option choices designed to make you give up! ....press the button that says "VAT import"

Eventually you will get thru to a human , explain the problem of being overcharged on VAT art import and have the correct tarrif to hand.

They will need to ring "The Border Agency" whilst you are put on hold , at this point it may get tricky. It looks like the Border Agency are difficult to get hold of and customs will only ring them 3 times at your instance that they try again before telling you to ring back again at another time ....if this happens you are back to square one again.

If they do get thru to Border Agency , they will get back to you and tell you the the Border Agency are looking in to it ...this is good.......ask for a reference number of the telephone call that youve just had with customs

Border Agency will then contact your local PF depot to ask what exactly is written on the import document/ sticker , if all is correct they will ring you back within about 48 hours telling you of their decision .

If their decision is favourable then they have to phone AND Fax the new charges through to PF before you get to pay the lower fee now due.

It will take about 8 days in total.
Just been through this process - thank you for the detailed explanation - and had £35.76 VAT reduced to £8.94. Result! The tube was marked as "art print" so I had to fax through additional info on the purchase and the print so it's take a bit longer than expected but well worth the effort :-D
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Fattyramone
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Fri Feb 28, 2014 10:01 am

HippyChick wrote:

Just been through this process - thank you for the detailed explanation - and had £35.76 VAT reduced to £8.94. Result! The tube was marked as "art print" so I had to fax through additional info on the purchase and the print so it's take a bit longer than expected but well worth the effort :-D

Your welcome Mrs Chick de le Hippy , also member BattleRoyale is having a lot of success with the "H number" process that ive detailed when you use UPS ...the H number process takes about 2 mins over the phone with the driver present and its sorted out there and then ...done.

Once I had sussed the H-Number process ive had 100% success rate with minimum fuss or bother.

El Ramonos du Fatto
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scottlistfield
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Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:36 pm

Hey everyone,

Sorry to crash your thread, but I was wondering if you knew of any decent places that sell prints, that are based in the EU? I'm a US artist, and I sell prints of my work through some galleries, and also through sites like Society 6. I've heard from a couple folks in Europe recently who want to buy a print of my work, but don't want to pay the ridiculous import fees. I'd really like to find a European print place to partner with so that anybody who wants a print of my work doesn't have to pay 3 times the price to get it through customs. Anybody have any thoughts?

Thanks!

- Scott Listfield
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jampar5000
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Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:40 pm

scottlistfield wrote:Hey everyone,

Sorry to crash your thread, but I was wondering if you knew of any decent places that sell prints, that are based in the EU? I'm a US artist, and I sell prints of my work through some galleries, and also through sites like Society 6. I've heard from a couple folks in Europe recently who want to buy a print of my work, but don't want to pay the ridiculous import fees. I'd really like to find a European print place to partner with so that anybody who wants a print of my work doesn't have to pay 3 times the price to get it through customs. Anybody have any thoughts?

Thanks!

- Scott Listfield
Paging Inkling
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LeeKaye wrote:I liked it, but I am trying to resist the lure of one more 'wafer thin print'
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Fattyramone
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Thu Mar 06, 2014 3:44 pm

scottlistfield wrote:Hey everyone,

Sorry to crash your thread, but I was wondering if you knew of any decent places that sell prints, that are based in the EU? I'm a US artist, and I sell prints of my work through some galleries, and also through sites like Society 6. I've heard from a couple folks in Europe recently who want to buy a print of my work, but don't want to pay the ridiculous import fees. I'd really like to find a European print place to partner with so that anybody who wants a print of my work doesn't have to pay 3 times the price to get it through customs. Anybody have any thoughts?

Thanks!

- Scott Listfield
Acutally Scott the import duty is Supposed to be a reasonable 5% , however in actuality it is far too often charged at an incorrect rate of 20% which entails learning how to claw this back from our revenue people....this is a relativly straightforward albeit time consuming buisness , but it can be done.

Far more pertinant to the problem of cost is the often extortionate postage that we here are expected to pay the US postal services that you the seller demand from us (often $50-$65+) to forefil Paypals criteria for traceabilty reasons.

Certain (very well know) artists just send it via normal usps mail at a cost of about $22 , and mark the value down as a nominal sum of $10-$15 which is under the limit that we are allowed to import stuff without incuring the wrath of taxation.
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Fattyramone
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Thu Mar 06, 2014 3:52 pm

Also Scott , I think im correct in thinking that importing them in volume to a UK based gallery will not negate any import duty that are owed on them , its just that any gallery owner will just have to pay 5% VAT to the (for example) 20 copies that you send them all at once to sell within Europe rather than the 20 eventual individual buyers paying it individualy.
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dearmrecho
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Thu Mar 06, 2014 4:51 pm

Looks like I'm going to be utilising the sage advice in this thread tomorrow. Just got the dreaded letter demanding £74 despite the sender having all the relevant codes etc on the package. grrrrrrrr!
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Fattyramone
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Thu Mar 06, 2014 5:01 pm

Which is it Andrew? ...ups or usps?

If its ups then its a doddle

Edit...

Ive just twigged , if youve got a letter then it will be the dreaded usps/parcel force ....do-able but more conviluted
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dearmrecho
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Thu Mar 06, 2014 7:43 pm

Yeah USPS… but worth the hassle… I hope.
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Fattyramone
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Thu Mar 06, 2014 8:36 pm

dearmrecho wrote:Yeah USPS… but worth the hassle… I hope.

Well if you follow my advice outlined in an earlier post reguarding USPS , it will take about 7 to 8 days until all the faffing around is done between the Border Agency and your local Parcel Force depot.

The Border agency will require fax proof from your depot on exactly what is written on the declaration form ...AS LONG AS THERE IS NO MENTION OF THE DREADED "POSTER" WORD!! On the forms.

Once it is agreed that they are wrong and you are right then they will amend the figure you owe them and you can pay the delivery guy when he brings it with the new correct charges (if your VERY lucky , like I once was , they might scrap all charges completly , in which case you dont even have to pay the PF handeling charge of £12)

Otherwise if 8 days is too long to wait you can choose to pay the £70+ they say you owe them and appeal it retrospectivly , you will probabbly win but it takes about 3 months for them to refund you :roll:

Good luck mate
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