VAT & Import duties

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Nomoss
Posts: 493
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 11:35 am
Location: le Minervois

VAT & Import duties

#11 Post by Nomoss »

I have been careful to buy from the UK only using companies who have the procedure correctly organised, and have received goods from several UK companies with no customs issues.
But today I received a small book via Amazon France, costing 5€58, posted in the UK, for which the postman asked payment of 9€.
My wife answered the door. The postman didn't produce any paperwork to justify his demand, and moved the package out of her sight when she tried to look at it, but she saw the 5€58 entered as its value. I heard what was going on and called out to her to refuse the delivery. She did so; he made no particular objection, and wrote "refusé" on the package.
I checked the invoice, which said "TVA déclarée par: Amazon Services Europe S.a.r.L. TVA: Import-OSS"
I contacted the seller immediately, as Amazon's procedure requires for 3rd party sales, and received this reply less than 15 minutes later:

"Dear RR,
Thank you for your message
I can confirm that the VAT and delivery has been fully paid for on this item and there should be no reason for you to be asked to pay an extra customs charge. Unfortunately whilst deliveries to most EU countries is running smoothly we have been experiencing some issues with French customs.
We have already started a formal investigation into resolving this issue but I will forward your message along to my manager to add to that investigation.
I have therefore refunded your order. Please note that all payments are handled by the marketplace and they can take up to 7 working days to credit your account.
I am sorry that we can't offer another solution, but the best of luck with sourcing the product elsewhere.
Kindest regards,
Olivia, Customer Services Team"

I wonder how long this will continue.

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Hotrodder
Posts: 2232
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:31 pm
Location: Brittany 22

VAT & Import duties

#12 Post by Hotrodder »

Don't worry. Jacob Rees-Nob is now Brexit Opportunities Minister. :roll:
Humanity landed on the moon over fifty years ago but it seems too much to ask for a reliable telephone/internet service in rural France.

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RobertArthur
Posts: 1553
Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2021 3:10 pm
Location: Nièvre

VAT & Import duties

#13 Post by RobertArthur »

The VAT issue also attracted the attention of the French consumer organisation < 60-millions-de-consommateurs>.

Coldonat
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2021 1:44 pm
Location: Southern Tarn, 81

VAT & Import duties

#14 Post by Coldonat »

Bought a Freesat TV box from Amazon UK in September, and at the time had to pay £39.37 'Export Fee'. Received an email from them yesterday telling me I was getting a refund of the Export Fee as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reason for refund: Export fee reduced
 
The following is the breakdown of your refund for this item:
 
Import Fee Deposit Refund: £39.37
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Export fee' has now become 'Import fee deposit'. I'd forgotten all about it, since I didn't expect to see it again, and can't remember how it was described at the time.

DominicBest
Posts: 687
Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:09 am

VAT & Import duties

#15 Post by DominicBest »

I got a €47 refund from Amazon earlier this week for the same reason. I wasn’t expecting that until I got the email saying it was imminent. I’d ordered the product from Amazon.fr but it came from the U.K. The price I paid was less than the same thing delivered free to a U.K. address if I’d ordered it from them so I was happy. Almost €50 back was a huge added bonus. 🙂

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