[biz-engineer]

I have never experienced a currency conversion that increases the price by 1.4x the original price

Well, the D-FA 21 limited is priced 1500E in Germany. It is priced £1500 in the UK, which translate to 1800E according to online currency converter. Now that's not necessarily more costly if I sell and buy cameras or lenses in the same currency/market, the sales can offset the higher cost of purchases. Anyway, thank a lot for your post, very clear.

[slartibartfast01]

Original price in the UK: €1050 + customs duties: €70 + import duties (VAT 25% in Denmark - in Austria?): €280 = €1400.

Import duties may vary from member state to menber state, but in Denmark it's 25%.

If you want to be absolutely sure of the exact price, you can go to your local customs administartion and get binding customs information on the custom duties to pay.

Also, shipping prices may vary a bit, but not much.

I have never experienced a currency conversion that increases the price by 1.4x the original price (before customs/shipping duties!). And I have purchased lenses and cameras in several countries around the world.

Wouldn't you subtract the UK VAT (20%) from the €1000 original price, making it €833.33?

[Time Traveller]

Wouldn't you subtract the UK VAT (20%) from the €1000 original price, making it €833.33?

You might have a good point! I have shopped in the UK via the internet but haven't obtained a reduction of the selling price/the VAT duties. That thought didn't occur to me at the time - and the retailer (a retailer in London) did not draw attention to that possibility. You would have the price reduced in Denmark for VAT. So that option might also exist in the UK? Ask the retailer about it, would be my advice!

[Cerebum]

The UK does not belong to either the EER or EVA, which means that on all imports an added tax is due. But the seller in the EU must sell you the item without VAT or have a system with which you can get the VAT back, if you require that before you made the purchase. Import taxes should be the same whether from Japan of from an EU country. As you are no longer an EU citizen, you have the right to get the VAT back. But different countries in the EU use different minimum amounts of spending before you are eligible for that tax return. Germany € 25, The Netherlands € 50 and Belgium € 125,01 to mention a few. Preventing paying double taxes is something that you must do yourselves. Hope this helps a little.

PS.: "And they levie that on the postage too!" Yes, but that is because the value of the actual product is made up of: 1. The item itself; 2. packaging; 3. insurance (if applicable); 4. postage.
So the total value is taken into account, which is what you actually spend for the product to get it on your table. Beware if you buy a second hand item: the price is you pay for that is a price without VAT, because no VAT is deductible unless it is indicated in the summary of the item.

Please can we rejoin the EU. Just buying from the UK is so limiting (& I am 100% European)

[Time Traveller]

Please can we rejoin the EU. Just buying from the UK is so limiting (& I am 100% European)

It only requires a majority of the British people to vote for Europe to get the UK to participate in world trade again to the benefit of all - it's that simple!

[StiffLegged]

Please can we rejoin the EU. Just buying from the UK is so limiting (& I am 100% European)

By the time negotiations to rejoin the EU had concluded, the D FA 21 would probably be out of production. You’d be as well looking on eBay.

[mlag]

I have never experienced a currency conversion that increases the price by 1.4x the original price (before customs/shipping duties!). And I have purchased lenses and cameras in several countries around the world.

Well it is, sometimes. There is the strange marketing habit selling lenses & camera's and other stuff for the same amount in $ or € or £. It looks like it is rounded to same rounded figure in these currencies regardless of differences in tax regimes and exchange rates. Well at least if the exchange rates are not deviating too much, otherwise people start buying abroad. Then they jump by a 100 or other rounded figure... but never by the exact exchange rates.
Example
The k3III is 1999€ or 1999$ or 1899£ on ricoh currently. Not exactly reflecting exchange rates or local selling costs.
These are clearly "set" prices, the margins ricoh makes in each market will differ ...
And sometimes if exchange rates fluctuate suddenly - what these countries/currencies try to avoid to some extent successfully- you can do bargains, because these set prices are kept quite steady. So I have seen indeed steep differences over the years and have imported sometimes $ or £ goods in my € country where the differences covered easily the shipping cost differences still yielding a benefit. But it is not a given fact, sometimes you loose, sometimes you gain. You have to be lucky wanting to buy that thing that is priced nicely "now"

[PenPusher]

The UK leaving the EU was very annoying, before the referendum photographic goods from any part of the world sailed through customs unnoticed as soon as the referendum happened our government realised the tax implications and started recruiting enthusiastic tax inspectors, and if you import anything from the UK, US or Japan you get caught for VAT on the goods and shipping, plus import duty if over a certain value which I can't remember and a collection fee by the goods carrier.

So effectively closing down non EU sellers on e-bay unless you're willing to pay the taxes.

Amazon is slightly different, if you buy from their UK branch you pay taxes, switch to their German branch which has an English page and you don't.

The second hand seller of photographic equipment MPB which has branches in the UK and US realised the problem and opened a branch in Germany, in Berlin I think so avoiding taxes and they are not alone in doing so.

The EU has, for example, very strict food regulations and I understand the paperwork involved in importing food into the EU from outside the EU is apparently a nightmare, because the UK has seemingly decided to abandon EU food regulations and make up their own this has caused umpteen products which normally flowed into and out of the UK either not to flow at all or to be subject to severe inspection delays and so the saga drags on.

One of my daughters lives in Germany working for a firm that has branches in the UK and has become increasingly unpopular trying to explain to UK colleagues why their goods are not getting through EU customs, the full effect of Brexit seems to be only gradually being realised in the UK.

I discovered, by accident, that EU lorry drivers are paid mostly by the Kilometre and therefore do not want to drive from the EU to the UK as they don't get paid for sitting in inspection queues, before Brexit lorries from Ireland, again for example, drove across England to the nearest port serving their final destination now if for some reason they have to accompany the lorry and can't leave a container to be picked up on the other side they get to spend around 18 hours of glorious sea sickness going someplace else which may be a good deal further away from their destination than previously.

[newmikey]

It only requires a majority of the British people to vote for Europe to get the UK to participate in world trade again to the benefit of all - it's that simple!

Inaccurate, regardless of the British people and their wishes this would require a unanimous vote from all 27 member states to even allow the UK to join the EU - quite unlikely for the next 10-20 years as every MS has a veto right. As an EU citizen, taking into account the abusive behaviour of the UK towards the EU for at least the last 30 years, I would not vote for any political party in my country which would support the UK candidacy as an EU member.

The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020, after which it became a 'third country' to the EU (i.e. a country outside the EU).
For the import of goods, the currently applicable import duties/VAT (in Denmark 25%) is levied on the total purchase price. The shipping and/or insurance costs are added to the value of the goods, if the value of €22 is exceeded.

Also inaccurate, That €22 limit was abolished July 1st, 2021 and ever since, all non-EU shipments regardless of value are subject to VAT. This was supplemented on the same date by the new IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) arrangement whereby non-EU sellers can pre-charge VAT at the rate of the the destination country of their customer if they have a fiscal representation in the EU. In that case a special customs declaration (H7 restricted dataset) can be used upon arrival in the EU for goods up to €150 which results in zero VAT and handling charges on import. The new arrangement is still subject to revisions and updates as traders and express carriers are having severe process issues resulting in many failures to-date.

[Time Traveller]

Inaccurate, regardless of the British people and their wishes this would require a unanimous vote from all 27 member states to even allow the UK to join the EU - quite unlikely for the next 10-20 years as every MS has a veto right. As an EU citizen, taking into account the abusive behaviour of the UK towards the EU for at least the last 30 years, I would not vote for any political party in my country which would support the UK candidacy as an EU member.

This is not a place to argue about the UK rejoining the EU or not.

But Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union establishes how a country (UK) can (re)join the EU.

As the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, it is now considered a third country under EU law. If it wanted to rejoin the EU one day, the UK would join through the framework set out by Article 49.
But Article 49 is only part of the membership process. The 1993 Copenhagen criteria also outline some of the requirements for EU membership. Candidate states may also be subject to other specific conditions.

Under Article 49, any country applying to become an EU member state must meet the following criteria:

• Be a European state
• Respect and commit to promoting Article 2 values – including human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, human rights (specifically minority rights), pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality
• Have its application unanimously approved by the Council of the EU
• Have its application approved by a majority vote of the European Parliament

These criteria were decided at a European Council meeting in Copenhagen in 1993.
They are additional requirements that a candidate country must meet to become a member state of the EU:

• Political: broadly the same values as those outlined in Article 2, with an additional requirement for sound institutions and robust checks and balances
• Economic: a functioning and resilient market economy
• Administrative and institutional: the capacity to implement and absorb the EU’s acquis, i.e. the full sum of EU law

Member states must then agree to open accession talks. They can decide to ask for more specific eligibility criteria after consultation with the European Commission.

When an application from the UK might emerge, nobody knows!

[newmikey]

This is not a place to argue about the UK rejoining the EU or not.

Now thàt confuses the hell out of me because you started that particular argument, and you actually expand on it rather than refraining from arguing. But hey, no need to answer back - I'm jumping out of this thread altogether.

If there are other forum members with specific EU Customs or VAT related questions, please feel free to PM me and I'll try to give you a straight answer or alternatively, open a separate thread if you think others might benefit from reading the answer.

[Cerebum]

By the time negotiations to rejoin the EU had concluded, the D FA 21 would probably be out of production. You’d be as well looking on eBay.

Moving to Spain feels like a really good idea

[Marcus Rowland]

I sell 2nd hand photo gear on eBay UK, with overseas customers in Europe and the rest of the world.

Before the change there was no requirement to put a customs declaration on small parcels going to the EU, and for a non-business seller that made sense - you'd already paid VAT and duty on the goods and weren't going to get a VAT refund when selling to another EU country - I'm not VAT registered anyway since I'm doing much less business than the threshold for VAT, £85000 turnover a year. I think you were supposed to fill in customs declarations for high value items, but I don't think I ever came close to that limit. Anything going outside the EU got a customs declaration.

Since the change eBay adds VAT automatically for private sellers (not sure what happens re VAT-registered commercial sellers) which gets paid to the recipient country via the IOSS system. So you get something like this on invoices:

for a customer in Italy
Tax details: IOSS ID: IM2760000742
Payment info
1 item £34.00
Postage £14.10
VAT * £10.58
Order total £58.68
*In line with applicable laws, eBay has collected VAT on this transaction based on the delivery address.

I have to put a customs declaration on all parcels now, and if it's Europe it's labelled as VAT paid IOSS ID: IM2760000742

I really don't know if buyers are paying tax on top of the VAT, I've had no feedback to suggest that they are. I haven't had to pay any tax other than VAT when I've bought items from other European countries, but I think I may not have spent enough to run into this.

I see something similar when I sell to some other countries, but it's a much smaller sum for e.g. California sales tax. I'd guess that in that case there is usually additional customs duty for items costing enough to make it worthwhile.

[Marcus Rowland]

Since last weekend they've changed the way customs forms work on the Royal Mail web site - I prepared a parcel tonight, and you now have to look up the customs tariff code for every item and enter it when you say what you are posting. Fortunately most of what I sell falls into a few categories, and it didn't take me that long to get the codes for future use. The site for looking them up is here

Tariff Code Search Tool | Parcelforce Worldwide

The codes I think I'm most likely to use are the following:

Digital camera - 85258030
Film Camera Smaller than 35mm, NOT SLR - 90065200
35mm AND SMALLER SLR - 90065100
35mm non-SLR - 90065380
Film camera bigger than 35mm - 90065900
Electronic flash - 90066100
Other flashes - 90066900
Camera parts and accessories - 90069100
Lenses (cameras/projectors) - 90021100

There will probably be others I find I need, but those cover at least 95% of my post.

[mlag]

I have a recent example :
paid to the seller 160 Canadian dollar ~ 123 €

import duties 38 € , 23 € (20%?) import & 15 € import handling fee from the post office.

on small amounts the handling fee is steep (fixed fee), on larger amounts the duty tax prevales.