Withholding VAT

[Daeothar]

Andrew, I get that. However, as I understand it, PostNL sorts packages on either being subject to VAT or not, based on many EDI connections (including one with Ebay) that is not properly read and fed to their system, leading to many packages being wrongly tagged as having unpaid duties.

AliExpress have their own sorting center, where they apparently have no issue matching the electronic information to the correct package, hence no double VAT there. they only use PostNL for the domestic leg between their sorting center and the end-customer.

Then again; AliExpress uses a single system for payment and VAT declaration; there's just the one information source, even though packages originate all throughout China, whereas all other countries (or shippers in general actually) have all matter of different systems with which they convey the information, all of which has to be received and processed by PostNL.

And it's there that they fail miserably.

Like everyone else I'm hoping that they will resolve this quickly, because there are quite a few hobby related items that can only reliably be sourced in the UK and I've limited myself to EU based sellers in the meantime (today's purchase in LAF's bazaar excluded, obviously ).