Newfoundfreedom

Can you ship to Bulgaria? I'll stand the VAT. 😆

I think, sadly, this will be the reality for a lot of people and businesses, at least for a while. It's not just the situation regards Brexit, which was democratically voted for, whether we like it or not. But the bloody mindedness of Johnson and his cronies to ram it through at any cost. Leaving it all to the last minute so nobody has a bloody clue what's happening. Hopefully the situation will improve in time, but I can't see any possibly reality in which the UK will be better off for it.

Totally agree with this. It's the, why sing one note well, when you can cram 14 notes in the same space, mentality. It really does nothing for me at all.

I would have loved this back in the day! Ah who am I kidding? I'd love this now!

Yeah I knew what you meant. 😉

I believe that's known as adding insult to injury.

Possibly, eventually. In the meantime how many businesses are going to be causalities?

Probably worth quoting directly. I'll just leave this here without further comment. Brexit Unfortunately, we will not be able to send parcels to the UK from mid December 2020 onward. Quite apart from uncertainty surrounding the shipping cost, taxation etc. after that time, there is also a problem caused by the British government deciding to impose a unique taxation regime which will require every company in the world in every country in the world outside the UK which exports to the UK to apply and collect British taxes on behalf of the British government. For providing this service they intend to charge a fee to every company in the world in every country in the world which exports to the UK. Clearly this is ludicrous for one country, but imagine if every country in the world had the same idea. If every country decided to behave in the same way then we would have to pay 195 fees every year, keep up with the changes in taxation law for 195 different countries, keep accounts on behalf of 195 different countries and submit payments to 195 tax offices in 195 different countries, and jump through whatever hoops were required to prove that we were doing all of this honestly and without any error. Therefore from mid December 2020 onward we ship to every country in the world... except the UK.

No. But they're now easier to do business with than the UK. A lot of my wife's business is with Australia and it's simple.

I know what you're saying Stu. But at this point we shouldn't be guessing (or having to guess) anything at all. The fact that this has already in play and nobody has a bloody clue what's going on, speaks volumes.

I believe there's a kangaroo involved.

Oh not to worry. If Royal Mail are involved anywhere in the chain, there's still plenty of scope for a f### up.

Ah yes. At least we might have British incompetence to fall back on.

Same for my wife's business here in the EU. She will no longer be selling to the UK.

This exactly. There's a zoom recorder on the market place. I've been after one at a decent price for months. I would have already bought it if it wasn't for all this. But by the time I've added the VAT and the extra costs incurred by the shipping company, it's just not worth it. So the seller loses out on a sale (although I'm sure it will sell sooner or later) and I miss out on a bargain. For what? Alright in the scheme of things not the end of the world But anybody who thinks this isn't going to effect businesses (especially small ones) in the same way is living in cloud cuckoo land.

Looks like any future purchases will be getting carried in friends suitcases then.

Call it what you want. I won't be paying it if I can find a way around it.

We're not talking about businesses. We're talking about private sellers. In my view charging VAT on second hand, none commercial goods is just plain wrong.

Yup.

Considering we're only 2 days away from this kicking in. There seems to be little to no real information around as to what the new rules will entail. I've still no idea what I would be expected to pay shipping goods out of the UK into the EU. Or the other way around. My wife who runs a small Etsy business has now taken the UK off her shipping list altogether. I will never understand how anybody ever thought this was a good idea. How are business supposed to deal with all this cr@p with less than a weeks notice. Another appalling mess from Boris and his chums.

That's not how they work. Although they will probably have to change given the circumstances. They have no information on what you are shipping. Goods are just shipped to them at their address, with an account number which tells them where to send the parcel. They are, for all intents and purposes purely a mail forwarding company. There are no systems in place to tell them what is being sent or even when. Basically their whole business model is now null and void thanks to Brexshit, and having to deal with customs declarations etc, even if they can figure out how, will only increase the cost, which will have to be passed on to the customer. Making the savings I can currently make buying things from the UK null and void. Sadly I think they will end up being just another casualty of the Brexit vote.

But none of that will even exist in the case of a second hand eBay purchase, where the seller is essentially selling within the UK. My shipper would then get a parcel in my name, with no information to as to what it contains or what the value is. Making it impossible to do any kind of customs declaration. The whole thing is an absolute mess and will essentially put companies like this out of business, and make goods far more expensive for everyone else. Bloody genius!

But how do you then prove that the duty has been paid at the point of shipping? I buy a lot of good from the UK which I have delivered to my UK based forward shipper, who then puts them in their lorry and delivers them to me in Bulgaria. How the hell is that gonna work now, when the forward shipper had no idea of what's in my parcels or what the value of the goods is?