Buying from EU query

[tauzero]

Guitar ordered from Thomann on the 10th, arrived yesterday.

 

Small diecast box ordered from China on the 9th, arrived today.

[dmccombe7]

Did you pay import taxes etc on them

Dave

[lemmywinks]

Yeah Thomann stuff is still coming through ok, had a pretty large item arrive after 5 working days recently.

[dmccombe7]

9 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

Yeah Thomann stuff is still coming through ok, had a pretty large item arrive after 5 working days recently.

Did you have to pay import tax etc on it or did Thomann adjust the price for UK buyers to avoid taxes 

Dave

[BigRedX]

Thomann already adjust their prices for UK buyers to take account of import duty and VAT which they pay for you.

[dmccombe7]

1 minute ago, BigRedX said:

Thomann already adjust their prices for UK buyers to take account of import duty and VAT which they pay for you.

Thought that was the case and it makes for an easy trip into UK by-passing Customs delays.

Thanks for letting me know.

Dave

[Triumph_Rock]

Bought an Ashdown James Lomenzo drive pedal from Reims, France. 

 

Was sent on the 9th of August, I received the pedal on I received the pedal on the 12th of August.

 

Nice and quick. 

 

If your amp head has been held up this long, I'd find out which courier has been used in Poland, if it was just the national postal service of Poland chances are Parcel Force or Royal Mail have it. Try your Polish tracking number in Parcel Forces tracking service. 

[dmccombe7]

43 minutes ago, Triumph_Rock said:

Bought an Ashdown James Lomenzo drive pedal from Reims, France. 

 

Was sent on the 9th of August, I received the pedal on I received the pedal on the 12th of August.

 

Nice and quick. 

 

If your amp head has been held up this long, I'd find out which courier has been used in Poland, if it was just the national postal service of Poland chances are Parcel Force or Royal Mail have it. Try your Polish tracking number in Parcel Forces tracking service. 

Its the Parcelforce International tracking service i'm using. It just states it left Poland on 8th but not arrived in UK.

Leszek from Handbox checked from his end and was told it left Poland on the 8th and is sitting in a warehouse in UK. I'm assuming its awaiting processing thru customs. Parcelforce said once its cleared customs it is given a GB rather than PL tag at the end.

Few others on here have said it takes 2-3 weeks to get delivered because of customs checks etc.

Dave

[BigRedX]

IME in-coming customs is always where the major hold-up occurs.

[Downunderwonder]

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

IME in-coming customs is always where the major hold-up occurs.

Ime Post was responsible for holding stuff until you paid and they were the ones sending the letter of demand. ''We got your stuff, pay up''. Then when Customs got theirs they would let Post know to let it go.

 

No doubt a carryover from days of yore with stuff being thrown off ships onto docks and nobody can take it away until the duty is paid.

[BigRedX]

11 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Ime Post was responsible for holding stuff until you paid and they were the ones sending the letter of demand. ''We got your stuff, pay up''. Then when Customs got theirs they would let Post know to let it go.

 

No doubt a carryover from days of yore with stuff being thrown off ships onto docks and nobody can take it away until the duty is paid.

 

No it's more to do with the actual customs checks rather than waiting for payment. 

 

AFAICS since the rules changes at the beginning of 2021 out-going customs are only really concerned that the accompanying forms have been completed. In-coming customs will actually check that the forms have been filled-in properly and if necessary make sure the contents of the package matches what is on the paperwork. This additional work (especially since the UK left the EU) requires more people than are currently employed. That's where the hold up is currently.

[ped]

As soon as your item tracking says it's in customs, ring them and pay the fee - otherwise they send a letter which can take 3-4 days if Royal Fail can even be bothered

[BigRedX]

3 minutes ago, ped said:

As soon as your item tracking says it's in customs, ring them and pay the fee - otherwise they send a letter which can take 3-4 days if Royal Fail can even be bothered

 

The problem is that you can only do that once the packaged has been assessed for import duty and VAT. IME the hold ups currently are because there are too many parcels waiting to be assessed and not enough customs officers to be able to deal with them now that every parcel from the EU needs to be checked as well.

[ped]

27 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

The problem is that you can only do that once the packaged has been assessed for import duty and VAT. IME the hold ups currently are because there are too many parcels waiting to be assessed and not enough customs officers to be able to deal with them now that every parcel from the EU needs to be checked as well.

 

Oh definitely, but it still deletes the final delay after all that initial messing about.

[dmccombe7]

44 minutes ago, ped said:

As soon as your item tracking says it's in customs, ring them and pay the fee - otherwise they send a letter which can take 3-4 days if Royal Fail can even be bothered

Problem is that it just shows it left Poland but doesn't say its arrived in UK so its kinda in Limbo according to the tracking.

From what Parcelforce tell me it wont show anything on their system until it has gone thru customs and is allocated a GB tracking tag which i'm guessing just means they change the PL to UK but the number remains the same.

Dave

[ped]

4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Problem is that it just shows it left Poland but doesn't say its arrived in UK so its kinda in Limbo according to the tracking.

From what Parcelforce tell me it wont show anything on their system until it has gone thru customs and is allocated a GB tracking tag which i'm guessing just means they change the PL to UK but the number remains the same.

Dave

 

Yeah you'll just have to wait and see. In either case as soon as it says awaiting charges, give them a ring. Some people say you need the 16 digit code in your letter, but most will happily let you pay with the tracking reference. If you get one of the former, hang up and try again!

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Problem is that it just shows it left Poland but doesn't say its arrived in UK so its kinda in Limbo according to the tracking.

From what Parcelforce tell me it wont show anything on their system until it has gone thru customs and is allocated a GB tracking tag which i'm guessing just means they change the PL to UK but the number remains the same.

Dave

Not necessarily. I’ve had foreign EMS purchases turn up in the UK and go through Parcelforce ending up with a completely different tracking number. They don’t seem to be set up well to handle imports - DHL and UPS both emailed me about customs charges before the item was in the UK so once it did turn up it was delivered next working day.

[lemmywinks]

The advantage of Thomann pre-paying fees and doing all the paperwork on their side not only means it most likely makes it through customs a bit faster but you also won't get hit with the handling fee courier companies generously award themselves.

[BigRedX]

25 minutes ago, ped said:

 

Yeah you'll just have to wait and see. In either case as soon as it says awaiting charges, give them a ring. Some people say you need the 16 digit code in your letter, but most will happily let you pay with the tracking reference. If you get one of the former, hang up and try again!

 

Until the package has been assigned a GB tracking number, which only happens after it has cleared customs in this country you can't do anything. IME the customs charge demand and the change in tracking number happen at the same time.

[ped]

4 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

Until the package has been assigned a GB tracking number, which only happens after it has cleared customs in this country you can't do anything. IME the customs charge demand and the change in tracking number happen at the same time.

 

I normally find the tracking number changes once it's landed and transferred to customs, at which point you can follow it as it's inspected, charges raised, then you call 'em. But it's probably different every time depending who's on strike.

[Downunderwonder]

Iirc from the last time I was looking at your rules there is a system in place to kind of pre clear your import. Effectively the forms have all been prefilled and the fees calculated so all they have to do is confirm it is the item and it skips on if you have already paid. Maybe next time...

[dmccombe7]

Found another tracker that states the parcel will arrive with Parcelforce between 24th - 28th Aug so hopefully delivered not long after.

The estimate is based on other packages from same country. Looks like UK customs are " processing" it.

Dave 

[Maricores]

It took me an average of 2-3 days to deliver. It took me an average of 2-3 days to deliver. I am engaged in shipping between countries, I have had this business for a long time and I thought that in today's situation I would have a lot of problems, including customs invoices. In fact, everything is as it was, and it remains, I continue to generate customs invoices for https://supercmr.com/ I discovered this service a long time ago, and it made my work a lot easier.

Edited September 7, 2022 by Maricores

[dmccombe7]

22 minutes ago, Maricores said:

It took me an average of 2-3 days to deliver

What was the item and who did you buy from. There's a lot of different things determine how long it takes.

 

Latest update i contacted HMRC Customs yesterday who couldn't help with just the tracking number. They suggested i contact Parcelforce International and gave me the customer services number.

Called Parcelforce today and they explained how it all works. The parcel leaves Poland and goes direct to Parcelforce who then assign a UK tracking number. From there it goes thru cutoms and once cleared and payments made it gets delivered.

Parcelforce have not yet received it into UK and suggested i contact sender to chase from his end.

I can only imagine its sitting in Poland awaiting enough parcels to fill a flight to UK.

I've sent Leszek a message about it as it seems to be in limbo.

Leszek sent one to US on 12th Aug and the guy received it on 18th Aug. 

The International Parcel tracker that is announced on the phone while you wait and it states that based on other parcels coming from Poland it is expected at Royal Mail between 24th - 28th Aug so this is the week i need to see something happen.

All a bit worrying for both myself and some others in UK and certainly for Leszek.

Dave

[Downunderwonder]

Based on the 24th to 28th window you could easily add an extra couple of days just to arrive in UK. Then add another couple of days just for PF to sort and convert the tracking. I wouldn't be concerned until a few days into September.

 

The original tracking ought to ping the handover in UK. I have had DHL from Germany arrive completely unannounced by the German tracking so you never know your luck.