Amazon.co.uk - No VAT on certain items under €22

glasso

glasso wrote: »

Likely supposition more likely.

My apologies for answering your question. Perhaps contact Amazon and post the answer here so we may all benefit.

glasso

glasso wrote: »

Does coffee come from an animal?

other coffee bean products can be ordered.

Here are the rules for transporting plants, grains etc.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/export-food-and-agricultural-products-special-rules

It can be the case that you need to pay for a phytosanitary certificate to do so.

well as no coffee is grown in EU except a tiny plantation in the canaries doesn't explain to me how some coffee beans on amazon are for sale are available and some not

will maybe ask them if the situation remains the same over the next while (seems to be a bit of a flux situation going on there understandably at the moment)

quote from your link

You do not need a plant health certificate to send grain to the EU.

glasso

glasso wrote: »

well as no coffee is grown in EU except a tiny plantation in the canaries doesn't explain to me how some coffee beans on amazon are for sale are available and some not

It's not as simple as that though. When the supplier exports it to the UK they have already created and paid for the certificates to do so. When Amazon then want to send it on from the UK to EU they may have to pay for additional certificates to do so, whereas before it wasn't necessary as the initial certificate likely covered export to any country in the EU, be it Ireland or the UK.

glasso wrote: »

quote from your link

Depending on the supplier you still need a supplier document, which is why some suppliers are still shipping and some aren't.

will just let amazon settle down and get in touch with them then to find out the reason

trawling through EU links and supposing what coffee suppliers have clearance or not could go on and on

thanks for the input

Enrico Palazzo

glasso wrote: »

Maybe off-topic a little but can anyone explain why items like this Amazon Brand coffee would now be "currently unavailable" while you can still get it sent to a UK address?

it's not as if it's UK coffee.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CGXZMT3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That could be attached to some factors not directly related to Amazon shipping policies. You can have one brand, one group of products with no apparent differences that could be the criteria, all shipped by Amazon and some of them will be available for shipping here, others not, but the next day it may as well be the opposite.

MrStuffins

Sorry, I hate being THAT guy but can someone confirm if i've gotten this correct?

Scenario A) I order a product worth £50 GBP from Amazon. Get it delivered to the UK, Subtotal £50 (£41.66 + UK VAT)

Scenario I order a product worth £50 GBP from Amazon. Get it delivered to Ireland. Subtotal £41.66, import fees deposit £8.75, Order total £50.41

Am I right here? Amazon are removing UK VAT, adding Irish as "Import fees deposit" and we're as we were?

Once Irish VAT is being collected, I shouldn't have any more charges?

Tzardine

MrStuffins wrote: »

Sorry, I hate being THAT guy but can someone confirm if i've gotten this correct?

Scenario A) I order a product worth £50 GBP from Amazon. Get it delivered to the UK, Subtotal £50 (£41.66 + UK VAT)

Scenario I order a product worth £50 GBP from Amazon. Get it delivered to Ireland. Subtotal £41.66, import fees deposit £8.75, Order total £50.41

Am I right here? Amazon are removing UK VAT, adding Irish as "Import fees deposit" and we're as we were?

Once Irish VAT is being collected, I shouldn't have any more charges?

Correct

Padre_Pio

MrStuffins wrote: »

Sorry, I hate being THAT guy but can someone confirm if i've gotten this correct?

Scenario A) I order a product worth £50 GBP from Amazon. Get it delivered to the UK, Subtotal £50 (£41.66 + UK VAT)

Scenario I order a product worth £50 GBP from Amazon. Get it delivered to Ireland. Subtotal £41.66, import fees deposit £8.75, Order total £50.41

Am I right here? Amazon are removing UK VAT, adding Irish as "Import fees deposit" and we're as we were?

Once Irish VAT is being collected, I shouldn't have any more charges?

Correct, so long as the good value is under €150 OR the goods are of UK origin, and so long as couriers and An Post don't add Admin fees for collecting Irish VAT (which shouldn't be a problem so long as Amazon charges Irish VAT at point of sale).

893bet

Stuff seems cheaper than ever......

beardybrewer

Padre_Pio wrote: »

Correct, so long as the good value is under €150 OR the goods are of UK origin, and so long as couriers and An Post don't add Admin fees for collecting Irish VAT (which shouldn't be a problem so long as Amazon charges Irish VAT at point of sale).

I was just reading about this in the paper today. I hadn't played around on Amazon enough to know about the over €150 issue. I tried adding some £220 Sony headphones and the cost - vat + import fees were roughly the Uk price. So are we in a grace period atm?

Really bummed that not only have we lost our virtual UK addresses (NI seems to have gotten the shaft too) but also now the UK is shut down once these fees kick in. I'm primarily thinking of getting a new PC and would normally shop on Amazon or Scan.co.uk. We're going to need to find good EU alternatives, pay more shipping, and have more problems returning things too.

Padre_Pio

beardybrewer wrote: »

I was just reading about this in the paper today. I hadn't played around on Amazon enough to know about the over €150 issue. I tried adding some £220 Sony headphones and the cost - vat + import fees were roughly the Uk price. So are we in a grace period atm?

Really bummed that not only have we lost our virtual UK addresses (NI seems to have gotten the shaft too) but also now the UK is shut down once these fees kick in. I'm primarily thinking of getting a new PC and would normally shop on Amazon or Scan.co.uk. We're going to need to find good EU alternatives, pay more shipping, and have more problems returning things too.

Honestly I'm not sure.

Info is here, but I don't know whether it's being enforced or not.
https://www.revenue.ie/en/importing-vehicles-duty-free-allowances/buying-of-goods-online-for-personal-use/buying-goods-from-outside-the-eu.aspx

I bought some clothes from another UK retailer yesterday for over €150.
Noticed toady they charged me UK VAT.

So now I'll have to pay Irish VAT, claim back the UK VAT and maybe pay duty on top.
Still cheaper than the Irish store though, which is a pity.

Ogham

beardybrewer wrote: »

I was just reading about this in the paper today. I hadn't played around on Amazon enough to know about the over €150 issue. I tried adding some £220 Sony headphones and the cost - vat + import fees were roughly the Uk price. So are we in a grace period atm?

Really bummed that not only have we lost our virtual UK addresses (NI seems to have gotten the shaft too) but also now the UK is shut down once these fees kick in. I'm primarily thinking of getting a new PC and would normally shop on Amazon or Scan.co.uk. We're going to need to find good EU alternatives, pay more shipping, and have more problems returning things too.

Duty does not apply to everything over €150. It depends on
a) If it was produced in EU or UK (No duty)
a) category of product - some are zero duty (such as headphones)

Some more examples here -
https://www.moneyguideireland.com/irish-customs-duty-on-uk-online-purchases.html

mrcheez

It seems books get free delivery even if the order is under £20... thought that was just UK?

e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1534317228/

When I checkout I can select Free Delivery to Ireland and total price is: £10.76 (note VAT is still included though?)

I don't have Prime

Ogham

mrcheez wrote: »

It seems books get free delivery even if the order is under £20... thought that was just UK?

e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1534317228/

When I checkout I can select Free Delivery to Ireland and total price is: £10.76 (note VAT is still included though?)

I don't have Prime

Books are VAT free in UK and Ireland - so the price of books to Ireland is unchanged by Brexit

harmless

mrcheez wrote: »

It seems books get free delivery even if the order is under £20... thought that was just UK?

e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1534317228/

When I checkout I can select Free Delivery to Ireland and total price is: £10.76 (note VAT is still included though?)

I don't have Prime

I think books are different, free delivery on oders £10 and over.
They shouldn't be charging any VAT on it though.

893bet

893bet wrote: »

Stuff seems cheaper than ever......

I bought vitamin supplements on Amazon in November for £13. Went back to buy more today and they are now £22. Thats before any shipping, Irish VAT etc etc. Needless to say I'm not buying . I'm not finding anything cheaper at all

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I bought vitamin supplements on Amazon in November for £13. Went back to buy more today and they are now £22. Thats before any shipping, Irish VAT etc etc. Needless to say I'm not buying . I'm not finding anything cheaper at all

Prices fluctuate. Had a look back at my orders from 2020 and pretty much all of them under €22 are cheaper now thanks to the lack of VAT.

nephster

Deleted User wrote: »

I bought vitamin supplements on Amazon in November for £13. Went back to buy more today and they are now £22. Thats before any shipping, Irish VAT etc etc. Needless to say I'm not buying . I'm not finding anything cheaper at all

From third-part sellers, maybe? Many of them will no longer deliver to Ireland so you'll be left seeing some high prices.

Food products have almost all gone to being unavailable for direct supply by Amazon, but some third-party suppliers are delivering, so you see ludicrously high prices that you'd previously not have seen unless going into the "all sellers" section.

nialler1978

Most likely answered already but couldn’t find it, what happens if you use address pal with An Post as it is substantially lower than the cost of delivering to ROI. Are all address pal Amazon boxes now being inspected and you could end up paying more in duty than what it could be on the Amazon site?

nephster

nialler1978 wrote: »

Most likely answered already but couldn’t find it, what happens if you use address pal with An Post as it is substantially lower than the cost of delivering to ROI. Are all address pal Amazon boxes now being inspected and you could end up paying more in duty than what it could be on the Amazon site?

By using a UK address, An Post *know* you've not paid Irish VAT. So yeah, they are going to be inspecting everything.
For anything over a declared value of €22 (and you may have to provide an invoice to them to prove that, as there will be nothing external on a UK to UK parcel!), you will pay Irish VAT on top of any UK VAT you've paid if applicable, plus €6.50 AP free, plus €3.50 An Post fee, plus (for some items over €150) possible duty.

I say if applicable as I believe that if an item is zero-rated (books spring to mind) for Irish tax then you'd not be liable to pay any extra VAT, and it's possible AP will only charge you the €6.50 and not the €3.50 collection fee. Ditto, until 1 July, for anything cheaper than €22.

AP will still be very useful for getting items that won't ship to Ireland that you really want, but the days of using it or similar to get cheaper shipping to Ireland are pretty much gone.

The Continental Op

^^^^

Someone posted a pic of an Amazon label recently and it showed that the price of the item was clearly stated so Customs shouldn't have any problem knowing the items value.

nephster

The Continental Op wrote: »

^^^^

Someone posted a pic of an Amazon label recently and it showed that the price of the item was clearly stated so Customs shouldn't have any problem knowing the items value.

Yeah, but on something sent to Ireland, no? You won't see that on something sent to a UK address, such as the AddressPal depot. Which could be a problem...

nialler1978

nephster wrote: »

By using a UK address, An Post *know* you've not paid Irish VAT. So yeah, they are going to be inspecting everything.
For anything over a declared value of €22 (and you may have to provide an invoice to them to prove that, as there will be nothing external on a UK to UK parcel!), you will pay Irish VAT on top of any UK VAT you've paid if applicable, plus €6.50 AP free, plus €3.50 An Post fee, plus (for some items over €150) possible duty.

I say if applicable as I believe that if an item is zero-rated (books spring to mind) for Irish tax then you'd not be liable to pay any extra VAT, and it's possible AP will only charge you the €6.50 and not the €3.50 collection fee. Ditto, until 1 July, for anything cheaper than €22.

AP will still be very useful for getting items that won't ship to Ireland that you really want, but the days of using it or similar to get cheaper shipping to Ireland are pretty much gone.

Thanks. Wow. For £40 extra to be delivered here, without any of that hassle it seems like money that ‘needs to be spent’ as opposed to ‘well spent’.

I posted earlier in the thread that I was looking for an item. I decided to take the hit and went to Harvey Norman and pay the extra whopping €150, got home last night, opened it and it looked as if someone had a very happy Xmas using it and returned it. An hour dealing with that today as a return and efforts being made to give a voucher instead.

nephster

sugarman wrote: »

Its no problem, they contact you by email looking for you to forward on an invoice. If theres any taxes to be paid, they will notify you and charge you with your AdressPal fee.

I buy a good bit from the US using AddressPal and its always been this way since its outside EU. I must say they're very efficient. They email almost immediately after the package has been received and once you send the invoice / payment they have it cleared within an hour or 2 and on its way.

Fab, that's how it should work so good to know it does I suspect many of us will have memories of trying to get parcels released from An Post or couriers in the past where it wasn't quite that efficient!

beardybrewer

Ogham wrote: »

Duty does not apply to everything over €150. It depends on
a) If it was produced in EU or UK (No duty)
a) category of product - some are zero duty (such as headphones)

Some more examples here -
https://www.moneyguideireland.com/irish-customs-duty-on-uk-online-purchases.html

Thanks, that's a relief that it won't apply to everything made outside the UK. That said I'm happy to look for alternatives and still hope amazon.de will take advantage of Irish shoppers looking elsewhere.

Some Examples of Items that can be imported to the EU with 0% Duty
Here are some examples of goods from the UK that we understand can be imported duty-free into Ireland if the country of origin is not the UK.

Computers & Computer Parts
Computer Monitors
Calculators
Printers/Copiers/Faxes
Printer Inks & Accessories
Phones (Mobile/Non Mobile)
Laptops
Digital Cameras
Storage Drives
Games-Consoles
Headphones
Books
Radios
Sound recording or Reproducing Equipment (CD players, Turntables)
CDs
Memory Cards
Electric Toy Trains
Billiard/Pool Tables
Kids Bikes/scooters
Wooden Furniture
Plastic Furniture
Metal Beds
Upholstered Seats
Vitamins & Pro Vitamins
Whey Protein
There are many more items that will not be liable to customs duty. We have tried to just list the popular things that people would be buying online.

Padre_Pio

beardybrewer wrote: »

Thanks, that's a relief that it won't apply to everything made outside the UK. That said I'm happy to look for alternatives and still hope amazon.de will take advantage of Irish shoppers looking elsewhere.

RE this "made outside the UK" stuff.

Does that apply to UK companies who have factories outside of the EU? Like say I'm a Saville row clothes shop, but my shirts are made in Taiwan. Can I sell to the EU duty free?
I'm not buying and reselling, I'm manufacturing and selling.

Or say I'm a clothes shop and I import from an EU clothing manufacturer, who has factories in Taiwan. Can I resell to the EU duty free?

J2CVC

Good deals to be had here. Had a tool set on my wish list for a while. It's £34.45. Noticed it was in the warehouse (Like New) for £23 so got it for £18.69. Browsed the warehouse and found a few other deals.

I'm still on a free month of Prime but it looks like I'll be paying for it for a month or two before July.

Sleeper12

bfa1509 wrote:

I didn't realise they geoblocked the UK content, what a disaster! There is literally nothing decent available to watch now.

They only allowed UK content in the rest of the EU because of an EU directive where you can take your streaming content anywhere in the eu. Now that they are no longer in the eu they aren't allowed to broadcast UK content in the eu. Due to copyright

bfa1509 wrote:

Hopefully there will be a relatively simple "workaround"

Smart dns costs less than 50c per month & will get you UK prime & iplayer

starlit

Ogham wrote: »

Tried a couple of clothes shops - Topman + Topshop as far as checkout just to see what happened - and no changes to UK price were showing for Irish orders.

I'm just wondering do you get your order from topshop website via a courier or postal service? I can't seem to find an email for their website. Selfridges and next are currently the only other places I could order from if I wish in the future.

Ya I think they have a base in Germany and Ireland. I've not ordered from them before I usually have always bought instore but can only order through online or with another store. I know next, littlewoods and others sell some Topshop items but you would have to be quick they sell fast.

I'd hope they be taken up as a store again or at least could sell through other stores at least as the quality of their jeans were very good.

Amazon could easily take up their products?