Cont: Brexit: Now What? Part 5

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Yes I know. I do that too. I don't object to paying the VAT but the handling charge added on is excessive. Not only that but they delay your parcel holding it ransom and sending you a postcard telling you that. Parcel Force used to have a policy of charging extra when you'd already paid extra for faster shipping. I think it was £13.50 instead of £8.50 or something like that - even though they delayed your parcels for just as long either way. I don't know if they still do that as I stopped buying things that might fall into their greedy clutches. When I buy from Hong Kong now, I use a service that goes via Germany (all by air). I get an email when the parcel arrives in Germany and I then pay the VAT by PayPal, but there is no handling charge, and no extra delay waiting for postcards to be sent.

Like I said, I don't mind paying the VAT, and I wouldn't mind Parcel Farce or Royal Fail making a reasonable charge for acting as government tax collectors. But the ludicrous overcharge coupled with the delays introduced by the quaint postcard system makes the decision to avoid using their services at any cost a no-brainer.

Things I've bought from the USA sometimes turn up here in a DHL van, and I have to pay the driver VAT plus rip-off handling charge. They won't accept credit/debit cards so I have to pay cash! That is almost as annoying as Parcel Farce, but at least without the postcard delay.

Shame the shipping companies can't collect any taxes and duties when you pay for the shipping in the first place. You'd think that would be the easiest way in our modern internet shopping with on-line payments age but instead we're stuck with a Victorian-era postcard and cash system.
 
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Ironic that you won't be able to use your German service after Brexit without paying the same as shipping direct.
 
Once we're out of the EU, our government might scrap the existing system or at least streamline it so it's less nineteenth century. One can live in hope that common sense might prevail.
 
Lothian said:
News this morning is that hard Brexit is the new hot favourite. Apparently there is a border in Ireland around which international rules need to be followed. Who knew?
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Indeed, who knew trying to be the next PM was going to be so difficult!
 
ceptimus said:
Once we're out of the EU, our government might scrap the existing system or at least streamline it so it's less nineteenth century. One can live in hope that common sense might prevail.
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And how long will that take? How many "custom unions" will we have to negotiate and then operate with all the separate countries in the world to make that happen?
 
ceptimus said:
Once we're out of the EU, our government might scrap the existing system or at least streamline it so it's less nineteenth century. One can live in hope that common sense might prevail.
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Scrap all customs controls and stop taking revenue from imports?

Why would any government do that?

We are leaving the EU customs union, they are going to apply the same regs as the rest of the world gets.
 
ceptimus said:
...snip..



Things I've bought from the USA sometimes turn up here in a DHL van, and I have to pay the driver VAT plus rip-off handling charge. They won't accept credit/debit cards so I have to pay cash! That is almost as annoying as Parcel Farce, but at least without the postcard delay.

...snip;;;
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Think you might be being scammed, you can pay those charges prior to delivery and on delivery "electronically".
 
Interesting article on the treaties the UK needs to replace here
https://www.ft.com/content/f1435a8e-372b-11e7-bce4-9023f8c0fd2e
Some interesting points in there.
Some of the 759 are so essential that it would be unthinkable to operate without them. Air services agreements allow British aeroplanes to land in America, Canada or Israel; nuclear accords permit the trade in spare parts and fuel for Britain’s power stations. Both these sectors are excluded from trade negotiations and must be addressed separately.
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They also note that a US-UK nuclear deal would require US Congressional approval. You don't have long left for that one.
“There will be a lot of countries with a beef with the EU or the UK and will see this as a golden opportunity to bring up a nuisance issue. They might not get anything, but they have to try,” he adds. “There will probably be an accident in areas you cannot predict.”
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Setting up WTO terms also not that simple it seems
The political danger for Britain is that any WTO member can veto such revisions. It may be possible for the EU and UK to collaborate on finding a smooth transition at the WTO. But it will require consensus at some point, a vulnerability open to exploitation.

“It is a hell of a task. Trade will keep them very busy,” says Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s ambassador to the EU. “All the quotas will have to be recalculated, and I assume anti-dumping calculations should be changed at some point. There are 164 members at the WTO. And all of them will have to agree.”
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No worries, I'm sure in the next few weeks it will all be sorted.
“Despite the creation of a new trade department, the civil service and ministers are not even close to being ready to negotiate, let alone implement, new global trading relationships,”
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Captain_Swoop said:
Scrap all customs controls and stop taking revenue from imports?

Why would any government do that?

We are leaving the EU customs union, they are going to apply the same regs as the rest of the world gets.
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Can't you read?

I just want to pay all VAT/duties at the same time as I pay for shipping, and have the shipping company transfer the money for me. The big shipping companies in China, USA, and so on must be shipping millions of pounds of stuff to the UK each week, so there are potential big economies in scale for them to collect all the duties and forward them on to HMRC or whoever as bulk payments.

No doubt you'll say that such a system would be too complex, whereas the current postcard-driven system is a paragon of simplicity.
 
ceptimus said:
I buy several small electronic items from eBay most weeks. Most of them come from China and arrive without problems. Free postage too. They're much cheaper than the same items sold by EU or even UK suppliers. Last time I checked, China wasn't in the EU.
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Which bit of "if the declared value is more than £15" don't you understand?
 
ceptimus said:
Can't you read?

I just want to pay all VAT/duties at the same time as I pay for shipping, and have the shipping company transfer the money for me. The big shipping companies in China, USA, and so on must be shipping millions of pounds of stuff to the UK each week, so there are potential big economies in scale for them to collect all the duties and forward them on to HMRC or whoever as bulk payments.

No doubt you'll say that such a system would be too complex, whereas the current postcard-driven system is a paragon of simplicity.
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So you want systems in place in every US and ROW retailer so they deal with all the duties and taxes. That would cost those business money and would mean increasing prices for many. Large cos already do this, where the EU is a big enough market. Small ones it is not worth their while. They can keep prices lower by leaving it to the customer. Post brexit you are more likely to see more have the customer pay the cost, if we move away from the EU system as hard brexiteers want. Should every UK supplier sort out the import docs and duties for sales to Chad? Or does it depend on their sales whether they do this? We will be a smaller unique customs area post hard brexit. Some sellers to the EU will think it not worth it to pay for a new system. No business will be more likely to sort out the paperwork for a smaller market.

Beat the rush. Order a new cheque book now!
 
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