No more free trade between UK and EU from 2021 onward. Grmble...
Okay, most what I buy is still below the allowed amount, but still...
It would mean that if I'd buy an oracle card deck of let's say 24 Euros or more I could have custom's slapping an addition fee on it. Great...
I think it all depends on how vindictive the EU are going to be but since the EU is mostly France and Germany, that might be quite a lot
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You are right about the custom fees though. There are times when I've been charged additional custom charges (and 20% VAT on top of that) for importing DVD's from American sites and they can increase the price you end up paying by a third or even half again.
Yup, that's why I don't buy from the States if I can help it. If it's less than E22 I'm good.
I also know custom's fees are dependent on which way the wind blows or someone's hairday?
When I still had my webshop I did order wholesale from the US. It sometimes took forever for stuff to get through customs, and there didn't seem to be a % of what I'd paid. Meaning sometimes it was okayish, other times it was steep.
And back then you had to pay cash -they didn't have portable pin yet- and the exact amount of what you owed. Now that was handy as I didn't know what I had to pay until they knocked on the door.
But if I didn't pay they'd take it back with 'em. And no change of course. A-holes!!!
I've had it too when I bought a crystal skull privately from the US that wasn't cheap. Then they put customs and VAT on it? For almost the same amount I'd paid for the skull. I was effing livid.
Later on I realised this was because I'd used PayPal and this was a business account.
I only recently realised that and deleted it and started a new account, a private one.
All this is why I was always happy to buy from the UK :)
And I read that these days we also have to pay when buying from China. That is new. It was always considered a developing country that needed support. I guess China is deemed to be on their own two feet, haha.
It is a daft system as I doubt they put the charged VAT and costs in a pot to give to the Dutch shops that have allegedly missed out by me buying abroad.
It's government lining their pockets with it.