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[Peter Holden]

Gene, when our next door neighbour ran an old merc he bought parts from America rather than the EU and that was a long time before Brexit.

Peter

PS I thought the mid life crisis was long gone

[Rog-from-Bix]

Another user of ebays global shipping thing as said you only need get item to address in UK then any shipping is global shippers problem. I have used it for a while I sold some older subbuteo teams which seem to have a keen following in Italy but after Italian postal system lost a number I became reluctant to post there now not an issue.

I am sorry they are not going to rescind brexit just so someone can save a couple of quid on merc parts, when scotland goes you can moan about the price and red tape of getting land rover parts from rUK   

[Genem]

Gene, when our next door neighbour ran an old merc he bought parts from America rather than the EU and that was a long time before Brexit.

Peter

PS I thought the mid life crisis was long gone

I'm on MLC2 now, its a year or so older than MLC1 but in better condition - and was half the price :-)

[agg221]

This was always going to be a consequence of Brexit. Even with a deal in place, many small companies are choosing to pay the duty rather than try to complete the declaration forms for rules of origin as it's so complicated (the last version I had the pleasure of reading was a 17 page form). It's easier to just push the price up and accept the reduction in sales. Essentially, the UK has gone from being part of a trading block to not, so the costs on imported goods (which is pretty much everything) were always going to rise by 20% or so from what was formerly our largest trading partner.

On Ebay, the global shipping programme makes it simplest for the seller, but it will cut out some buyers as it can be very expensive. There are various items which I buy from time to time that can find themselves anywhere around the world and should be cheap and easy to ship but the programme makes it non-viable. For example, I was following an ebay auction on a watch movement in the US last week which was at around $16 but the global shipping programme was adding $52 to the total (cf. straight shipping costs of $15) so I dropped out.

An alternative is to accept the reduced market reach and use something like Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace as at least the fees are lower/non-existent so you balance the reduced average total against the reduced costs. The less formal arrangement often benefits the seller too.

Alec

[diffwhine]

The B word has been mentioned twice in one thread. I'm calling a moderator... I blame my wife - she voted for the B word, so it's all her fault...!

[rusty66]

Living in Germany, I am affected on the other side of the transaction. I used ebay frequently in the past to get parts for my Landies. In fact it was the main reason why I signed in on ebay more than 20 years ago. I once got sent a complete radiator and front panel over from a nice ebay seller in the UK. 

Even before Brexit, however, for short of a year maybe, it hasn't been what it used to be. It started when ebay introducted (or more and more sellers started to use) their silly global shipping programme, which massively inflated postage and 'handling' charges. There's simply no fun in winning e.g. an auction for a dash light for 13 quid and then spending another 13 or even more on postage. These days, even a simple gasket or oil filter often will only be shipped for a high two figure sum.

Now post-Brexit things have got worse with adding taxes even to second hand or used goods. A quite reasonably priced part can thus be so expensive until it arrives at my door, that it's economically just not feasible. I also relied quite heavily on professional UK parts suppliers and again often enjoyed transactions because of their quality stock. But the 'fun' is out of that, too. Due to shipping and, more importantly, taxes, the cost is very often (too) painfully high.

This is really sad, as for me, obviously, I need to turn to the UK most of the time if I need a certain part or want good quality. Additionally, to be quite honest, it was always also part of the pleasure and fun of owning an affordable classic to me that parts were plenty and usually not overpriced.

Sometimes I am lucky and find a part here on the forum or from a private seller (which is difficult outside ebay) and I always enjoy the contact with the friendly and helpful seller(s) greatly. Ebay used to be like that, too. I had made it part of my daily bedtime routine to browse the newly listed used parts on ebay.uk for many years, now I can hardly be bothered to look once a week. 


In addition by the way, couriers have become lousy, too. Over the past 12 months I have lost at least 200 quid in goods which never made it to my door. The sellers could show me proof of shipping, but on their way to me they simply vanished. And I, as the person who bought the part and paid for postage can't file a complaint as this can only be done by the sender. Most of the times, they are willing to do that once, but of course you can't expect them to keep bothering postal services for weeks trying to track a lost parcel. 

Geoff, if you are about to sell things, let me know 


 

[diffwhine]

Very interesting to see the problem from your side and I'm sorry to hear that its gone this way for you. I think that once things settle down a bit perhaps it will become easier for everybody.

I'm just thinking if there is a way we could possibly help overseas S2C members to get round this sort of grief. Worth a thought...

[Genem]

We can't even do an expanded "Forum Relay" with the Covid-19 travel restrictions....

 

[nathanglasgow]

Boris(rusty66), I am truly sorry if you had to pay any extra taxes on the drive flange I sent you. I did not vote for Brexit. Usually goods are smuggled into the UK, be very strange if this was reversed to avoid the taxes!

[rusty66]

Boris(rusty66), I am truly sorry if you had to pay any extra taxes on the drive flange I sent you. I did not vote for Brexit. Usually goods are smuggled into the UK, be very strange if this was reversed to avoid the taxes!

Now there’s an idea  I was actually thinking of visiting the Uk for parts shopping once this is all back to normal. But I would have to intricately plan and map out the route to pick up all my eBay purchases ...

No worries Nathan, I knew what was coming tax-wise and was very happy that you sold me the flange and were willing to post it to me. The PO had hammered a plug solid in the filler plug hole on one of the flanges on my 88 and I had been looking for a while for a single replacement.

[Tim_Moore]

Everyone welcome to my life! 

Norway has always operated as an outside to all these agreements.
its a PITA to get stuff into Norway. I dont mind paying the 25% tax that is law, what boils me is the "processing handling fee - £20 up to £50 + the higher than normal postage costs.
Always made me laugh that it costs 10 EUR to post from Germany to Denmark, but its costs 80EUR to get it to Norway 

Base case i assume everything coming from the UK is + 50% on the sale price. Thats approx what it works out to be when you add all the costs ontop...

[Ndrwdz]

I've not sent anything from the Club Shop to the EU this year.
I presume it'll be just the same as sending to the RoW before - I'll need to do customs declarations etc.

Anybody in the EU want to be a guinea pig and order something?

Andrew
Club Shop Manager

[agg221]

I've not sent anything from the Club Shop to the EU this year.
I presume it'll be just the same as sending to the RoW before - I'll need to do customs declarations etc.

Andrew
Club Shop Manager

You have a choice.

The simple approach is to do exactly as you describe and add the duty accordingly.
The alternative approach is to read:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-your-goods-meet-the-rules-of-origin

followed by:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-proof-of-origin-for-your-goods

and fill in the associated forms accordingly. If you identify that some of the products you are sending are compliant with the rules of origin terms (which is likely) then the duty is not payable on those items.

If however you take one look at the links above and decide it is a bureaucratic nightmare that only Sir Humphrey could have dreamt up then you can give up and just charge everyone the duty regardless and give the government the extra money that they are not entitled to because life is too short. This is what many SMEs are now doing apparently.

Alec

[Matt Reeves]

I recently sent some small parts to a friend in the Netherlands, only difference to before Brexit was filling out a customs form just the same as shipping elsewhere in the world. He received them within a few days.

I stopped selling any unwanted bits and pieces on eBay several years ago due to their increased fees, plus selling on here or via Facebook is generally less hassle!.

[RobS]

I've not sent anything from the Club Shop to the EU this year.
I presume it'll be just the same as sending to the RoW before - I'll need to do customs declarations etc.

Anybody in the EU want to be a guinea pig and order something?

Andrew
Club Shop Manager

It's pretty simple, basically as the rest of the world as you said, to avoid duty at the other end you will need to state the country of origin, if the parts are made in the UK plus you will need to state a manufacturer, the order will become tariff free and VAT will not apply as they are now classed as a Z code, the only thing you have to make sure is the description of the item is accurate - you can't just put car parts, you will also require an EORI number which if you are VAT registered you can get easily any way.

If you would like a copy of one of my invoices to give you an idea of the layout let me know.

RobS