I believe it's the actual marketplace, amazon. ebay, aliexpress that are required to apply the VAT at the point of sale thus collecting it on the sellers behalf, then I would assume the seller has to print the marketplaces VAT number and post it, I would hope its that simple.
I've read this indicates that it's an item on which tariffs/VAT which would be applicable were it to enter the EU as its final destination, is unpaid. Quite surprised you didn't get hit for it at the UK end! As you say maybe grace period.
Yep me too, you watch the items I bought from Amazon and paid an estimated VAT on will get stopped lol
Never used em thought they were UK based, they put .co.uk on it and I fell for that one, at least bike-discount put .de on theirs... I think some EU/UK delivery companies will do the same as DPD and "pause" their operations until sellers start understanding the new rules and file the correct paperwork, I bet the driver refused to take it, I suspect he would have had to stop for a boarder check and file the paper work manually.
I fear sellers don't seem to understand that items sold on ebay should be ok as long as the new customs details are filed correctly... Although I don't blame them, brexit and the VAT rules happening at the same time... I will order a new 1to4 cable and PAS sometime next month from Aliexpress if I can without incurring above normal costs.
My concern is that they *do* understand the new regulations and have made a business descision to stop selling to the UK rather than become involved with the new system. Their view might change once the new regulations have settled down and everyone (including the relevant governments) has worked out a smooth way to comply with the new requirements.
www.tfsafari.com
All goods must apply 20% VAT now regardless of where they are shipped from, UK, EU, China etc marketplaces will take the VAT for the seller but "topbikekit.com" and "pswpower.com" and ANY non-marketplace from the EU or any other country (ie all company owned websites) will have to register for a UK VAT number and charge it before they can ship. This is what causing oversea companies to think twice about shipping to the UK for now.
Scruffdroid above did and delivery failed.
Same with Poland - a motorcycle crash bar manufacturers (Heed) has removed UK from its posting options list on its webstore (and same on its ebay store) .
Could you say a bit more about this please, I think I may have had a similar experience over the past years but am not sure (it feels like something has somehow been sent FROM a Heathrow UK postal address rather than China, as though it had been shipped in a bigger box with more things, each addressed to their end-address, and only the bigger box maybe had the "sent from China blah blah" label on it, which of course I never see. (?)
www.bike-discount.de
