UK collectors buying from EU

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by stillrockin, Jan 11, 2021.

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  1. stillrockin

    stillrockin Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    This might have been definitively clarified elsewhere but I am finding the plethora of UK Govt guidelines bamboozling.

    If you purchase a single cd or dvd or book from a European country like Germany or Switzerland and the package cost ( item plus postage) is less than £15 am I right in thinking there are NO import tax or VAT liabilities for either the seller or the purchaser?

    If the value is higher than £15 then someone has to deal with the VAT, hence why a number of private sellers in Europe will simply not now sell to a UK address as they have to account to the UK Revenue for the VAT?

    Have I got this right?
     
    tmtomh and Bingo Bongo like this.
  2. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Lots of discussion about this on Discogs forums.

    Been reading about it, mostly out of interest (I like to know what other countries are up to so I know what ideas my country is getting into their heads :) )

    The UK changes the VAT rules and now they require everyone selling to the UK, from outside the UK, to charge VAT and remit it to the UK. Yeah, everyone.

    I believe they removed the 15GBP exemption and it basically starts at 1p now.

    Online Market Places (OMP) have to register and remit the tax so they will be adding it to all purchases from Jan 1 e.g eBay, Amazon. Discogs is still unsure if they qualify as an OMP and I don't think they announced anything yet.

    Basically if I have an online store here in Canada and you buy something from me. I have to charge you VAT and remit but to do so I have to register for VAT and do all the reporting that comes along with it. This is beyond, and far worse, than what some states did in the US with their marketplace facilitator rules.
     
  3. BurntOutBassment

    BurntOutBassment Forum Resident

    I made an offer of 16 Euro on a 21Euro CD from an Austrian seller last week, ( I'm in UK), offer was accepted, went to pay and found that the VAT pretty much cancelled out the money I saved from the offer. I've tried to read the Discogs threads, couldn't make much sense of them. Basically just makes it even more expensive to buy music online. So this applies to buying from anywhere in the world, not just EU?
     
    Eric_Generic likes this.
  4. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Yup. Expect eBay to add 20% to your purchases regardless of where the seller is located.

    You'll probably see other online places doing the same thing.
     
  5. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    I think it may only apply if your seller is a business seller, but I could be wrong.
     
  6. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    It is rather confusing but if you sell on eBay or similar online market place the VAT is automatically added regardless of whether the seller is a business or not.

    Outside of OMPs, I tried to find something on the UK gov site that specifically excludes non business sellers e.g hobby sellers and the only thing I found was an exemption for anyone sending a gift.

    So it sounds like they consider anyone selling, whether it's a hobby or not, a business and subject to these new rules. I can't find anything on the forums about it either and what I have found, indicates that this is the case; everyone who makes a sale to someone in the UK has to charge it.

    If a business in Toronto, sold a record to someone in the UK and didn't bother registering, charging and remitting UK VAT, how is the UK gov going to know about it and if they do find out about it, what exactly are they going to do?
     
  7. Dave S

    Dave S Forum Resident

    It seems that ebay was automatically adding VAT, but they were going to move to a system where the seller adds the VAT rate, and that if you didn't have a VAT id, then you enter the rate of 0% (the VAT threshold is quite low in the UK). Of course, some products like books attract 0% VAT. And yes, how do you enforce the rule on a business with their own website. There's the customs declaration...
     
  8. stillrockin

    stillrockin Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    So are we back to a "person to person" collector/trader (a non-commercial hobbyist) declaring on the customs form "gift" and "no commercial value"? I thought that we had left those days behind. I think I can quite understand traders saying stuff it I am not selling to someone with a UK address. I am already seeing a number of Discogs listings with "unavailable in the United Kingdom" against them.
     
  9. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    I believe the situation is complicated. I know from Ireland up to £35 the sender pays UK VAT but over that the buyer has to pay VAT on receipt. Check if seller is adding VAT to item at source before purchase. I'm sure this only applies to new purchases and not second hand. Ask them to put 'gift' or a nominal amount (£1/$1) on the customs declaration to be safe.
     
  10. BurntOutBassment

    BurntOutBassment Forum Resident

    Far as I'm aware the reason for Discogs sellers only selling to their own country is due to the ASP Discogs introduced late last year, but this added VAT headache is hardly going to encourage international sales.
     
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