Forthcoming Changes to Pricing from January 2021

[dmantione]

Okay, then we are in agreement Indeed a lot remains unclear here and I hope things will become more clear when we approach July. The big guys (Ebay!) will have to sort it out as well, so the simplest approach might be to look what Ebay is doing.

[rwap_software]

At the moment, it appears that ebay are adding VAT to most purchases from outside the UK, but not all for some reason...

[8BitRetro]

I just found this website, "Brexit Checker"
- maybe helps a bit to learn more >> https://www.gov.uk/transition?utm_campa ... Gwodu0wL7g

[flibblesan]

I see VAT and handling charge are being added to listings if you're logged in as a UK buyer, but the site is still preventing purchases. Are you any closer to a solution to allow sales again?

[rwap_software]

Getting there slowly - the main issues are that no-one seems to know how to mark packages to ensure that VAT doesn't get added twice; plus for VAT registered sellers in Europe (especially Poland) selling stuff B2B to SellMyRetro, so that we can charge the UK VAT is not simple and the Polish accountants are not sure how best to do it!

[dmantione]

I did learn that PostEurop, which is basically the European branch of the Universional Postal Union, is developing the successor of the CN22/CN23 forms at the moment. It is not ready yet and is one of the reasons why the EU did postpone the new rules. These new forms, which will also allow electronic data exchange besides the current paper data exchange, will allow packages with prepaid VAT.

PostEurop still lists Royal Mail as a member (which is to be expected, because the UPU is a United Nations body and the UK didn't leave the UN). Therefore it is IMO very plausible that Royal Mail is going to use the system developed by PostEurop, just like all other postal operators in Europe (and possibly worldwide). The conclusion is that there might currently be no way to send packages with prepaid VAT to the UK by mail. Combined with the new VAT rules this would be completely crazy , but reading Royal Mail's website, I see nothing that contradicts this conclusion. (Not much confirmation either though.)

I read on DPD's Dutch Brexit page that they are going to offer a "Duty Prepaid UK" option, so it looks like at least one courier is going to offer a possibility with prepaid VAT. Other couriers may follow. I cannot check, because DPD is still refusing packages to the UK and the web interface for UK shipments is not yet available. So perhaps we should send items with prepaid VAT by courier? However, courier services are not the cheapest, and I haven't seen post-Brexit prices yet; this could be a disaster for low-cost retro computing items.

[dmantione]

This was published a few days ago:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... post-users

Now I am completely confused: UK is no longer charging any import VAT at all for packages under £135??

[rwap_software]

Yes that is very confusing. I think they are trying to say that Import VAT will not be collected at the border (because the business will have already charged and collected the VAT). It is not what it says though!

[dmantione]

It might be an emergency move: No doubt many packages are arriving at the border now with no way to check if VAT was prepaid or not, so they act in favour of the receiver. I would say it can't be a permanent solution, because if you don't do any checks, it is super fraud sensitive.

[retrofez]

Hi Richard,

When will we be able to buy from international sellers again?