Buying exhaust from EU charges?

[gareth h]

I’m looking to buy a Wings exhaust for the 690, obviously VAT is going to be due when it’s delivered, but I remember hearing that the couriers were making some hefty charges for dealing with the paperwork.
Has anybody got any experience of the extra costs?
Thanks
G

[gareth_r]

.

https://www.parcelforce.com/help-and-advice/receiv...

Other carriers are available.

Remember that (IIRC) customs duty is charged on the cost of the item + shipping, then VAT has to be paid on cost + shipping + duty.

[anonymous-user]

Yup. I bought a GPR system just a little over a month ago. £585.

I had to pay another £142.72 in sovereignty fees.

[DirtyHarley]

Same situation here - I bought an engine guard for 300euro and that cost around £50 in inport fees etc. through parcelforce.

[gareth h]

Killboy said:

Yup. I bought a GPR system just a little over a month ago. £585.

I had to pay another £142.72 in sovereignty fees.

So, was that £585 + £117 VAT (20%) + £25.72 admin

[anonymous-user]

gareth h said:

So, was that £585 + £117 VAT (20%) + £25.72 admin

Duty: 21.08
Vat: 109.64
Clearance fee: 12.00

[Krikkit]

Killboy said:

Yup. I bought a GPR system just a little over a month ago. £585.

I had to pay another £142.72 in sovereignty fees.

I'm using "sovereignty fees", that's a good one.

[anonymous-user]

Krikkit said:

I'm using "sovereignty fees", that's a good one.

People voted for this

[Krikkit]

Killboy said:

Krikkit said:

I'm using "sovereignty fees", that's a good one.

People voted for this

Ironically it's probably 52/48 the opposite way now as a load of the Brexity wrinkles have snuffed it

[Biker9090]

What you absolutely shouldn't do is ask them to put a lower price on the invoice.

Definitely don't do that like a lot of others have successfully done as it would be very wrong.....

[SteveKTMer]

I bought some discs and brake parts from Italy last year, still saved about £170 over what the official UK suppliers wanted to charge, just had to add VAT and a reasonably modest import duty and fee and they still arrived in 2 days, same as I'd expect from any supplier in the UK. I think they used DHL so the same as buying from the UK.

Brexit may have screwed the economy in various ways but if the EU supplier is willing to fill in the forms and do the paperwork, which most larger suppliers are, then you can still save a lot of money, especially of the UK importer has been pulling our pants down for years and has used Brexit as an excuse to hike prices even further.

[gareth_r]

It's worth knowing that there is no import duty if the order is less than £135, so, depending on shipping cost, separate orders may save money.

Also, if you buy via a "platform" - eBay, Amazon etc. - and the order is less than £135, then the platform is responsible for passing the VAT to HMRC. Otherwise, it's the vendor, so many websites have a £135+ minimum order.

[anonymous-user]

gareth_r said:

It's worth knowing that there is no import duty if the order is less than £135, so, depending on shipping cost, separate orders may save money.

Also, if you buy via a "platform" - eBay, Amazon etc. - and the order is less than £135, then the platform is responsible for passing the VAT to HMRC. Otherwise, it's the vendor, so many websites have a £135+ minimum order.

It's also worth noting the pain you're in to get your money back if you decide to return the goods that you pay duty/VAT on.

[Panclan]

There are some German companies that pay the VAT and duty upfront, I bought a screen costing £195 from https://www.louis-moto.co.uk/en/ and there were no additional charges once delivered

[scorcher]

I bought a Wings exhaust for my 690 smcr in September 2022. The exhaust arrived within a few days via DHL. They sent a request for the extra charges as soon as it arrived and that was for £74.56. The price of the exhaust was 343.45.Total 417.99. Still half the price of an Akrapovic and better looking.

[gareth h]

Thanks chaps, exhaust ordered, I was going to use PayPal until I discovered that they make a 4.5% currency charge (the invoice is in Euros).
Anyway, DNA air filter and remap to follow, which should make it very healthy

[slime bomb]

If it comes with the silent kit and you don't wont it, I'm after one?

[gareth h]

slime bomb said:

If it comes with the silent kit and you don't wont it, I'm after one?

It does, and I do

[Krikkit]

Panclan said:

There are some German companies that pay the VAT and duty upfront, I bought a screen costing £195 from https://www.louis-moto.co.uk/en/ and there were no additional charges once delivered

Autodoc.co.uk are the same, but I don't know if that's a loophole by being a UK-branch of an international outfit

[gareth_r]

Krikkit said:

Panclan said:

There are some German companies that pay the VAT and duty upfront, I bought a screen costing £195 from https://www.louis-moto.co.uk/en/ and there were no additional charges once delivered

Autodoc.co.uk are the same, but I don't know if that's a loophole by being a UK-branch of an international outfit

The HMRC rule is that the foreign vendor MUST submit a VAT return on orders that are under the £135 import duty threshold.

I assume that there is no rule that the vendor CANNOT submit a VAT return on orders over £135, and if the vendor has the system in place to submit a return to HMRC It's possible to extend it to deal with duty as well as VAT.