How do I know whether an online supplier is outside the EU and subject to VAT and other charges?

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mathepac

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With on-line sellers like amazon.ie, very.ie, etc the website designator is never enough to tell consumers where the goods will ship from. This could conceivably result in purchasers inadvertently incurring additional charges with resultant hassle and maybe even eliminating the cost advantage of using the online shops.

Should there be an onus on the seller therefore to identify the ship-from country of the goods the purchaser will receive to let them make a decision as to the value of placing that order? For example, if amazon.ie cannot fulfil my order from Irish-held inventory, should I be given the option of cancelling the order or allowing fulfilment to be re-routed to amazon.co.uk?

Should the same responsibility apply to sellers who use amazon marketplace and similar store fronts?
 
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It's a tricky one alright, EU law that mandates companies must make it clear when goods are shipped from outside the EU only applies to companies operating within those borders, and some sites do a better job than others. Amazon at least tell you who you are purchasing from and who is fulfilling the order. A lot of the items on the .ie site are still listed as coming from Amazon.co.uk or other 3rd parties, those listed with Amazon.ie are shipped from the Irish warehousing. Where using a marketplace supplier, you need to look into their details to see if you can ascertain where the good might ship from.

The likes of Very, Harvey Norman, Decathlon, and others are now operating a similar kind of marketplace in their online stores, listing items that are actually being sold and shipped from 3rd parties. You need to check the T&Cs for each marketplace supplier
 
Leaving aside the legal obligation, the business that is trying to sell you the goods has a commercial interest in making sure you have the information you need; if purchases from them attract unexpected surcharges to cover VAT and duty, you will pretty soon stop buying from them.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
€6.95 seems very reasonable to me.
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I agree that its quite a bit of work for An Post so €6.95 is not unreasonable, but if you are buying items which are not too expensive, in the overall scheme of things the costs sure can build up. If you then find that they possibly have to be returned its a right bummer overall. I would not bother with places like Shein or Temu but have found since Argos left it can be hard to get some items locally.
 
The bottom line is very simple - the consumer is going to be forced to pay more, be it through the new €3 (plus vat) per item charge, or bring forced to buy an item at a higher price, from within the EU.
 
messyleo said:
Yes, an administrative fee for collecting a customs duty not VAT
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If there's import VAT due on the package, An Post collect that too and charge you the same fee. Their admin charge has existed from before the new customs charge.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
€6.95 seems very reasonable to me. There is a fair bit of work to do in collecting VAT and dealing with queries.
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As you know I’m abroad. Since Brexit I will purchase nothing from the UK. Had to pay a fortune in customs for graduation photos from the UK etc.

Before Ulster Ireland left I ordered a free bank card reader from them. Did not realise it ships from the UK until the post office here left a slip/letter for me that I’d to declare its value and pay duties. I’d no clue at that stage what it was as I’d neither paid for anything to be shipped and now I didn’t know what it was. So I rang the post office and asked them could they give me a clue as to what it was. They kindly gave me the name of the company because I’m lovely. Then I googled, still had no clue, phoned them up in the uk and said what is it you could possibly be sending me, they do the plastic card readers. So as the value is zero, I got back to the post office here and they released it to me for free…

I suppose ultimately those card readers are made in China, probably 5 pence each …
 
Using the Amazon uk site - products being shipped from an eu warehouse seem to be charging the levy.

This makes zero sense.
 
Sarah Ryan said:
Plus if you have Amazon prime UK that prime doesn't follow over to Irl site you need to take out a separate prime membership for Ireland. Not sure if the same is for Amazon.de
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Yes it's better to use the one in the country you are shipping too. Which is why I'm registered on different Amazon's to ensure if I order something in one country it comes from that country. When one of the children went to America I opened an American one to ship them teabags and Irish treats, but from America.
 
Sarah Ryan said:
The problem is that the product range is just nowhere near the same, when you change the delivery to the UK your options are so much better. Very annoying!
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Well in case you or others might like to know, you can order from IKEA on the continent if you spend enough. Items are more expensive in Ireland as we a) are sea locked b) are a small market.
 
You have an example product?
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I tried ordering a few CDs on the Amazon UK website, being dispatched from an Amazon EU facility, and a levy was imposed.

I think it is odd that the levy imposed from an EU warehouse to an |EU country.

You can see the EU dispatch facility at checkout
 
cork said:
I think it is odd that the levy imposed from an EU warehouse to an EU country.
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They could just be enabling it for all EU destinations no matter the source. They want to make sure the import fee is higher than whatever they actually end up paying.

Amazon refund import fees later if they over charge.

It could be that an EU Sarl source may not actually mean that is where the warehouse is. It could be an item from the EU site, but Amazon happens to have some of the actual items stored in the UK. They use those items for supplying Ireland.

Either way, over time, Amazon will hopefully end up working out ways to reduce the amount they need to pay.

If it is UK warehouses, they can move common items to Irish warehouses to spread the import tax over many separate orders. It may depend on import taxes due to the €3 per item charge vs how much it would be for a bulk order. Likely, small items will be more important, since €3 is a greater proportion of what it costs.

If it is just a blanket charge, then it should reduce as Amazon gets better at estimating it. In addition to checking where the item actually is, it doesn't need to be applied per item, just per item category. If all items are the same category, then there is only 1 charge.
 
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