Ebay - Shipping from UK to EU
I sometimes order from Ebay sellers located in the UK; how come that sometimes import charges + shipping has to be paid and sometimes only the shipping costs?
31 Replies
You assume the UK government is competent
It may be down to the value of the stuff
But also could just be... eh
From what I read online you pay extra fees for purchases over 150£ (correct me if wrong)
all is under 150€; I’m not sure but I think the reason is that the seller hasn’t registered their shop in the EU via the IOSS scheme
so far I haven’t found a definite answer yet
it’s a bit crazy that you can now order stuff from china or japan without import charges, yet sometimes you have to pay quite significant import charges when ordering from the UK
brexit
innit
some shops and individual sellers do manage to ship to EU countries without import charges though
You assume all Brits are competent
😦
i'm loving this convo btw
Yeah I’m annoyed because I’d really like to buy a sweater from an UK Ebay seller but I don’t wanna buy it if I have to pay the stupid import charge 😄
could ask them to mark as a gift? not sure if that'll work
bit of a risk too
🤷
Yeah, I’d guess the seller would decline that, haha.
Probably depends on whether the seller is a business or just a private seller, what value they declare on the item when they post it, and which of the eBay shipping methods they use:
You might be able to filter items that are sold via the Global Shipping Programme? In which case all VAT and fees will be shown upfront as it's dealt with by ebay
when does someone become a business? cos the item that I’m interested in is sold by a seller with well over 2000 reviews
I'm gonna weigh in here and say it's similar to people in the UK buying stuff from the US/Canada/EU
sometimes customs catch the parcel and apply a charge
sometimes they don't
unless you mean some sellers are charging you import duty on top of shipping when you purchase? in which case those sellers are setup to do that whereas others are just leaving it to your countries customs service to catch the parcel (if they do) and charge you
that’s a different situation though!
see my follow on
Often the shop/seller are paying the charges for you. Delivery duty paid or delivery duty unpaid are different sending services.
Beyond that, take it up with your Government - they're the ones actually levying the duty on the items you're buying.
I know what you mean, but that doesn’t apply here.
If the value is under 150€ and if the shop/ seller is registered via the IOSS scheme, only the VAT of the buyers country is added to the sales price. The seller doesn’t have to cover any duties/ import fee and neither does the buyer have to cover any import / duty fees.
I would be amazed if many eBay sellers are registered with IOSS.
Several are! Just before Christmas I bought a shirt from an UK seller, where no import charges where added to the sales price; I only had to cover the shipping charges.
Delivery duty paid Vs unpaid also includes vat fwiw.
Yeah, ofc that too! Which is 19% for Germany, I believe.
do you know they were registered or that it just wasn't caught by customs in your country?
Registered!
also like cdf said about being registered. A lot of people will just be selling things on ebay on the side, they aren't going to the effort of registering with IOSS
I guess larger sellers/stores would have more likelihood to be registered
The VAT was automatically added to the sales price / included. Everything was registered and I only paid for the shipping charges extra.
Yeah, that’s what I’m interested in. When does it make sense for a shop to register their shop via the IOSS scheme
Hundreds of items a month.
Over £80k worth of trade to the EU a year basically.
Below 80K you don't need to register for VAT in the UK, let alone every other European nation.
Such a shame as there are so many good UK Ebay sellers!
Paying import fees for low-value secondhand clothes is just so frustrating 😄
Yeah, it sucks. Unfortunately 52% of the UK voted for it though 🤦♂️