READ SUMMARY IN POST 986 - Amazon.uk Post-Brexit

Sorry if this has been mentioned already, but is there any reason to believe the free delivery on orders over £20 is going to end in January? I find there are very few items that do not qualify for free delivery to Ireland, all you need to do is spend over £20. Spending anyth8ng less than that and I prefer to just pop into one of my local shops.

forzacalcio

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Sorry if this has been mentioned already, but is there any reason to believe the free delivery on orders over £20 is going to end in January? I find there are very few items that do not qualify for free delivery to Ireland, all you need to do is spend over £20. Spending anyth8ng less than that and I prefer to just pop into one of my local shops.

I sell on Amazon Marketplace and still nothing from AnPost about exporting to UK from Ireland. Amazon will be charging VAT at source but no idea how this will.work regarding customs or visible declarations. Painful

TheDriver

Deleted User wrote: »

Sorry if this has been mentioned already, but is there any reason to believe the free delivery on orders over £20 is going to end in January? I find there are very few items that do not qualify for free delivery to Ireland, all you need to do is spend over £20. Spending anyth8ng less than that and I prefer to just pop into one of my local shops.

No reason and I have PRIME to which I gather is still going to operate as normal, albeit with a customs clearance sticker on the front.
In fairness, the couriers/an post will see an amazon box and won't be putting too much effort into checking it compared to others.

Pacifico

If I order something now for £450 would I be hit for fees?!

Tzardine

Pacifico wrote: »

If I order something now for £450 would I be hit for fees?!

I would imagine anything bought before the 31st would be treated as normal, the new rules don't kick in until after then.

wozniattack

harmless wrote: »

Some companies just have no interest in accommodating Irish customers. Not much you can do if that is the case.

Well there I have it, company I've been using for specific collectible items I've been making packaging for.

Either I keep using AddressPal with the UK site all my designs are saved with; or I use mailboxde.com with the German one, and redo my designs and upload to the templates. Then go through to hassle of getting sample prints before getting new orders.

Quackster

Darc19 wrote: »

Parcel motel is owned by a little company called UPS who are a tiny bit bigger than an post and have plenty of experience in clearance.

But if I remember, that under the trade rule agreement, Northern Ireland cannot be used to circumvent the agreement and be used as a route into the republic.

So in PM case, uk vat would be applied by the seller and pm/ups would have to also add irish vat.

Exactly this. UPS has the resources to add customs clearance to the Parcel Motel offering if they determine there is a business case for doing so. Of course the price would go up, any fool knows that. AddressPal's UK price increase is a case in point.

Specifically in relation to the customs paperwork, as another poster pointed out, it may be that goods mailed from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will have to have this anyway which would save Parcel Motel et al that hassle. Unfortunately, even now, the official UK Government Brexit website only has this to say about it:

More guidance will be published about this as soon as possible.

Goods transported from Great Britain to Northern Ireland at risk of entering the EU are to be treated as entering the EU when they arrive in Northern Ireland as there will be NO CUSTOMS BARRIER on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the EU. This will be the default position for all goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain unless the business shipping the goods can provide satisfactory evidence that the goods will stay in Northern Ireland. How this will work for goods moving in the mail system and via courier services remains to be seen.

chasm

I went to purchase a lightning deal on amazon and I only get the deal price if I change my Irish address to UK one. Ah well, one way to save money I suppose!

Theanswers

harmless wrote: »

Yes no worries with Amazon it's the UK sellers that put a flat €20-€30 delivery fee if you're outside the UK and free delivery for UK customers.

If they were not bothered offering a reasonable shipping rate to Ireland (forcing use to use parcel motel) what are the chances they would be willing to fill out a UK VAT exemption form for us?

I'm an Amazon UK seller based in Ireland with a UK company. No seller will be providing zero vat. The system is not set up for that.

Quackster

Pacifico wrote: »

If I order something now for £450 would I be hit for fees?!

If you're ordering direct from Amazon, there are absolutely no extra fees that would apply so work away!

scamalert

Quackster wrote: »

Goods transported from Great Britain to Northern Ireland at risk of entering the EU are to be treated as entering the EU when they arrive in Northern Ireland as there will be NO CUSTOMS BARRIER on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the EU. This will be the default position for all goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain unless the business shipping the goods can provide satisfactory evidence that the goods will stay in Northern Ireland. How this will work for goods moving in the mail system and via courier services remains to be seen.

bold line seems pretty clear that will stop any virtual addresses from operation, as it would break the rules where goods are forwarded using NI address to Ireland.


at this stage doubt if PM/PW will ever be operational to offer virtual address as some here keep suggesting as it simply pile up extra cost for customers, get it delivered- customs/tax cleared to NI and then charge extra to ship here, vs plain delivered to irealnd and customs/charges collected here.


as out of all providers seems nightline got stung the most as they have physical boxes scattered around Ireland which are useless now, dpd prob will use their NI hub as they did just for UK customers, so no loss there, address pal is basically an post so not an issue for them, to operate in US style type- question lies if numbers are even worth it thou for end customer to keep it going.

As im more interested how well an post is actually prepared- someone who works shipping across ireland noticed from November times increased up to a week on next day deliveries, as company i work for has 30 pallets roughly 5k separate parcels that will go up to 20k in coming weeks to be shipped out, and post is barely keeping up with such small operations- where deliveries that should be next day seems like will be 2-3 weeks.
As previously thought they would of hired extra staff, but between covid and brexit this year seems they are quite off.

Quackster

Well, as there will be no issue of customs duty between the UK and EU now, the 'at risk' rule will apply specifically to goods that originated outside the UK/EU entering Northern Ireland (EU tariffs to apply rather than UK tariffs). There will also be a regularly barrier between GB and NI as NI remains in the Single Market for goods.


it will come down to how VAT will operate for goods travelling GB -> NI -> EU. No import VAT will apply on goods purchased in NI and transported to ROI and vice versa.

westyIrl

Pacifico wrote: »

If I order something now for £450 would I be hit for fees?!

All depends on when the item ends up being imported. Ebay global shipping programme is already applying the surcharge at checkout.

Jim2007

Quackster wrote: »

If you're ordering direct from Amazon, there are absolutely no extra fees that would apply so work away!

And you have confirmed this with the shippers as well have you?



What I have found here in Switzerland, is that regardless of the agreement, we in Switzerland will be charged additional handling charges for the UK VAT - the Post will charge 30 francs, DHL 25 francs and UPS 35 francs...


So about €30 added to the bill and if the parcel is selected by customs for physical inspection additional charges will apply.

harmless

Jim2007 wrote: »

And you have confirmed this with the shippers as well have you?



What I have found here in Switzerland, is that regardless of the agreement, we in Switzerland will be charged additional handling charges for the UK VAT - the Post will charge 30 francs, DHL 25 francs and UPS 35 francs...


So about €30 added to the bill and if the parcel is selected by customs for physical inspection additional charges will apply.

So you think that after paying Irish VAT and not UK VAT as is normal with the Amazon checkout process the courier will then charge us UK VAT and fees when it arrives in Ireland?

Are you sure Amazon.co.uk is registered for VAT in Switzerland in the same way they are registered for VAT in Ireland?
If not then ordering from Switzerland is very different from ordering from Ireland.

There is also tariffs on some goods that travel between the UK and Switzerland, this will not be the case between the UK and the EU.

The two scenarios are not comparable..

westyIrl

Jim2007 wrote: »

And you have confirmed this with the shippers as well have you?



What I have found here in Switzerland, is that regardless of the agreement, we in Switzerland will be charged additional handling charges for the UK VAT - the Post will charge 30 francs, DHL 25 francs and UPS 35 francs...


So about €30 added to the bill and if the parcel is selected by customs for physical inspection additional charges will apply.

I would imagine it is Swiss VAT the handling charge relates to. As previous poster outlined, if Amazon take care of the VAT issue at checkout (+ Swiss VAT - UK VAT) you have nothing to worry about. Not sure what UK-Swiss deal is in place however as I would question if EU-UK FTA applies at all. Convoluted mess!

Jim

Charles Babbage

harmless wrote: »

There is also tariffs on some goods that travel between the UK and Switzerland, this will not be the case between the UK and the EU.

The two scenarios are not comparable..

On what basis do you believe that the UK has a better deal with the EU than Switzerland?

harmless

Charles Babbage wrote: »

On what basis do you believe that the UK has a better deal with the EU than Switzerland?

I didn't say it was better I said it was different.

We have known about the UK/Switzerland trade deal since February 2019. Both sides have agreed to a continuity agreement.
This trade deal starts from the 1st Jan 2021 and includes the same agreement between the two countries that applied when the UK was a member of the EU.
This deal means most good are tariff free but there are a few exceptions.

The EU and UK have agreed to a trade deal with no tariffs on goods. It's a complex deal though and it covers far more than just tariff free trade.

Very few Swiss business will be registered for VAT in Ireland compared to UK businesses.

Charles Babbage

harmless wrote: »

I didn't say it was better I said it was different.

We have known about the UK/Switzerland trade deal since February 2019. Both sides have agreed to a continuity agreement.
This trade deal starts from the 1st Jan 2021 and includes the same agreement between the two countries that applied when the UK was a member of the EU.
This deal means most good are tariff free but there are a few exceptions.

The EU and UK have agreed to a trade deal with no tariffs on goods. It's a complex deal though and it covers far more than just tariff free trade.

Very few Swiss business will be registered for VAT in Ireland compared to UK businesses.

The devil is in the detail!

Sexual Chocolate

So in short any business thats registered for Irish VAT such as big names like Amazon, ASOS and maybe certain eBay sellers it's business as usual ?

Quackster

Jim2007 wrote: »

And you have confirmed this with the shippers as well have you?



What I have found here in Switzerland, is that regardless of the agreement, we in Switzerland will be charged additional handling charges for the UK VAT - the Post will charge 30 francs, DHL 25 francs and UPS 35 francs...


So about €30 added to the bill and if the parcel is selected by customs for physical inspection additional charges will apply.

Switzerland is a complete irrelevance to this discussion, being neither in the EU nor the EEA. You may as well quote Amazon UK shipping costs to Vanuatu.

Amazon applies shipping costs at checkout. As of right now, shipping costs to Ireland remain unchanged for items with estimated deliveries past January 1st and, as of right now, Amazon UK Prime continues to offer free delivery to Ireland.

Quackster

Sexual Chocolate wrote: »

So in short any business thats registered for Irish VAT such as big names like Amazon, ASOS and maybe certain eBay sellers it's business as usual ?

Exactly this in a nutshell. Such businesses will also have trusted trader status with Revenue so few, if any, of their parcels are likely to be physically inspected by customs. They'll whizz on through.

Where we'll suffer is with buying from small UK businesses and private sellers.

harmless

Quackster wrote: »

Where we'll suffer is with buying from small UK businesses and private sellers.

Exactly and what it will comes down to with these small businesses is if they can generate enough revenue from the Irish market to justify the extra administration work they have to do to sell to us without UK VAT applied.

beauf

scamalert wrote: »

...
as out of all providers seems nightline got stung the most as they have physical boxes scattered around Ireland which are useless now, ...

Parcel motel is still useful if you can't be at home to collect something or you don't want to rely on other postal services or couriers getting something to the door. Some of whom are still abysmal. I can imagine though the majority of this business will shrink.

Wheety

beauf wrote: »

Parcel motel is still useful if you can't be at home to collect something or you don't want to rely on other postal services or couriers getting something to the door. Some of whom are still abysmal.

You mean get a delivery to their Finglas address? Then they pop it in a locker for you? The charge for that is €3.25.

Do An Post charge for their lockers?

harmless

Wheety wrote: »

You mean get a delivery to their Finglas address? Then they pop it in a locker for you? The charge for that is €3.25.

Do An Post charge for their lockers?

UK AddressPal to the An Post lockers willl cost €6.50 per parcel from Jan 1st onwards.

scamalert

beauf wrote: »

Parcel motel is still useful if you can't be at home to collect something or you don't want to rely on other postal services or couriers getting something to the door. Some of whom are still abysmal. I can imagine though the majority of this business will shrink.

i didnt mean it in that way, more so that they bought em physical boxes, which are no use atm, as likes of dpd can repurpose their warehouses and move fleets etc, but with physical stuff likes lockers they are at a loss, as if they wont be able to operate they are no use anymore which is a loss that they will need to take on.

dubrov

beauf wrote:

Parcel motel is still useful if you can't be at home to collect something or you don't want to rely on other postal services or couriers getting something to the door. Some of whom are still abysmal. I can imagine though the majority of this business will shrink.

I'd say that use case makes up less than 1 percent of their business

L1011

That is the reason they were built - direct forwarding does not need lockers. Similar services exist in many countries where there is no international forwarding element to the service. Amazon even over their own lockers in the US for that reason.

People working from home more has massively dented the potential audience, though.

Wheety

harmless wrote: »

UK AddressPal to the An Post lockers willl cost €6.50 per parcel from Jan 1st onwards.

That's a different service. The poster I replied to was saying you can still use the Parcel Motel lockers for convenience, not necessarily for bringing in an item from the UK.

An Post lockers are free.