Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Bazaar of Obscurities => Commercial => Topic started by: nicknorthstar on 18 January 2021, 08:51:04 PM
-
Nick from North Star here.
It looks like, 18 days into leaving the EU, our orders to EU customers are arriving safe and sound. It seems to be around 6 days after we send them to delivery, with no charges (VAT or otherwise) to be paid.
I might be speaking too soon lol, but it's looking okay.
If you're a customer of North Star, and you've received an order this year, let me know.
-
It seems to be around 6 days after we send them to delivery, with no charges (VAT or otherwise) to be paid.
As a long-time customer of North Star and currently worried that post-Brexit ordering from the UK will be more problematic might I trouble you to expound upon that statement please Nick?
To your credit you were very early in removing VAT from orders going out to the EU (I recall you had in fact announced it even before the end of the year on FB if I am not too much mistaken) and I notice that this is the case when going to the site and placing some items on the cart/clicking checkout etc.
So that takes care of VAT on the UK side of things i.e EU customers are not called upon to pay VAT on the UK end. However for orders over 22 surely there is VAT waiting to be charged on the other end i.e. upon arrival to whatever EU country it goes out to? Plus a handling charge of course (plus having to go down to the posties to pay the VAT+handling charge before being allowed to collect the package as opposed to having it delivered to ones house).
Unless you mean no charges (VAT or otherwise) on the UK end which then yes I understand and is of course 100% right. Or perhaps you mean that in practice authorities in all these EU countries are not yet applying the aforementioned VAT etc. charges to packages from the UK i.e. stuff sent thus far has been getting through without them being incurred?
Thank you for clarifying. Would love to hear I have understood all this wrong and that ordering from North Star is still as hassle free as it always was.
All the best,
Fanis
-
Hi Fanis
Sorry if my original post was unclear.
So far, the orders that have been delivered to EU customers, all over €22, have not incurred any charges; VAT, Handling etc. They have just been delivered by the local post service to the customer.
I can't say that will continue, perhaps because it's early days the local post services are not geared up to collect all the monies due, but for now things have arrived without charges.
Long may it continue! (At least until July anyway, when the rules change again)
-
I'll second the Long may it continue sentiment! And thank you for clarifying Nick; much appreciated! :-)
-
I think maybe the truth is since the deal that was made was last minute everybody is playing catch-up , I doubt any government in the eu is going to miss taking in revenue , if a number of parcels which are over the 22€ limit have slipped through then happy days for the recipient, but I personally don’t think this will be a long term thing , in Ireland the media is full of stories of individuals being hit with customs charges already after buying items on uk websites, I think it will prove to be an expensive hobby for EU Hobbyists in the future
-
I think maybe the truth is since the deal that was made was last minute everybody is playing catch-up , I doubt any government in the eu is going to miss taking in revenue , if a number of parcels which are over the 22€ limit have slipped through then happy days for the recipient, but I personally don’t think this will be a long term thing , in Ireland the media is full of stories of individuals being hit with customs charges already after buying items on uk websites, I think it will prove to be an expensive hobby for EU Hobbyists in the future
Yeah, I'm expecting it's partially that, and partially that some countries don't check much anyway.
At least in the Netherlands, it used to be that smaller non-EU packages were picked out randomly. It was always a good idea to assume you'd get hit, but the few times I ordered something from North America from a webstore or ebay (above the threshold value), I never had to pay extra.
Now living in Finland, where controls appear to be much tighter - package arrives in the country, you get a notification in the post, pay the costs online and then the package is delivered. Based on my experiences thus far at least. If anyone in the UK wants to send me something valuable to test it out, go ahead. lol
-
but I personally don’t think this will be a long term thing
It won't be, because in July we're going to have to start charging VAT again on European orders. With tax then paid here in the UK, there should be no hold ups at the border.
But so far we haven't had any customer come back to us reporting a charge. All our orders are over €22. & it's not just some, we've sent a couple of hundred orders to the EU this year.
I agree, that isn't what is 'supposed to be happening', I'm just reporting what is happening. It might not last, equally it might last.
-
One wonders whether staff on both sides are just not bothering since it's too much hassle for the time being.
certainly it will eventually change, but I wouldn't be surprised if a general attitude of "I don't get paid enough to bother with this" is keeping things moving. lol
-
Nick,
I received my order earlier this week without a hickup or extra charge.
If anything, it looked as if the transit time was actually shorter than before too, but that could be a lucky coincidence of course...
-
Maybe I should think about putting an order before is too late.
-
Hi Daeothar
It's not luck, it's the same story from all of our customers. Orders taking 6 days to arrive (from despatch, not placing unfortunately) and no charges on receipt.
I know the doom & gloomers are saying 'oh, it'll never last', but I'm inclined to disagree. I think it will, & in July the new system will kick in where it'll be my responsibility to collect those Euro taxes from you all and pay them to each country.
-
Hi Nick I put a small order in , hopefully all we be ok , I will let you know
-
Oh No, this is where the whole postal system will conspire to prove me wrong!! lol lol
Seriously, yes, please let me know what happens when it arrives.
Did you get a confirmation that the order was placed?
Nick
-
Just from PayPal
-
You should have got one from us. when you've a mo have a look see if it got moved to your Spam folder.
-
Yes it was in spam folder
-
I have received three orders so far Nick from other retailers, so far anything sent by normal post has got through, anything sent by courier has been hit with customs and handling fee.
I have three more orders arriving this week so I will see them, one is over €45, that will be the test I think.
Cheers
Matt
-
I have received three orders so far Nick from other retailers, so far anything sent by normal post has got through, anything sent by courier has been hit with customs and handling fee.
Same thing here - order made with Foundry (ordered middle of December, went out 5th January >:( ) sent tracked - after two week at the Customs I got hit with 25 pounds VAT + handling... And I've paid VAT at the UK
Order made with Warlord (26th December - Better Toys promo :D ) as a courtesy sent tracked 3 January, just books and magazine - still waiting at the Customs. ???
Order made with UK trader on ebay, sent by normal post on 18th January, I've received today, no hassle, no additional expenses.
As I've made a small order during the North Star newsletter promo, and the order is slightly higher than allowed 22 E (I think it is 25 E, but I am not certain) and I still have not received the confirmation mail that it has been sent, can I please please please get confirmation they are sent by the normal post. I don't care when it arrives, just when it arrives I do not have to deal with customs, courier services and the rest...
-
We're sending everything by normal post, no worries.
Unfortunately I have to report one of our orders has been given a VAT charge. So far that's much less than 1% of orders, so it's good odds you won't be charged.
The chap who got charged said the irony was he'd ordered three times this year from us, and only one got a VAT charge on it. & it wasn't the biggest, or more expensive, I really think it's totally random. As we have removed the VAT from non-book products, although there may be a handling fee, you're not paying much more than you were last year from us.
And it all ends in July anyway when we go back to charging you VAT again. Oh the joys of business.
-
Received my order today no charges or vat , but I think it’s really random
-
I tend to agree with what others said above : it's the courier services that are most likely to levy a 'handling' (whatever that may be) charge on the parcels as many tend to seize every opportunity to hit their customers with additional fees (UPS are pretty bad in that regard but they are by no means an isolated case). On the other end, stuff sent via Royal Mail stands a very good chance of getting through hassle-free.
My own North Star January order to France (MO59412) has not dispatched yet (the 1672 figures awaiting additional casting no doubt) but I will shoot you an e-mail to let you know how things turned out when it arrives.
-
Hi Arthur
Yes, we need to make some Dutch musketeers especially for you.
Nick
-
Cheers for the heads-up, Nick. Take your time though : I took advantage of the January sale because it was a good deal but I don't need the figures particularly urgently. Given the January postal bottleneck between the UK and the EU, it is almost certainly a good thing that my parcel won't dispatch until this week or next.