This is 100% news to me. Nothing I can find on google either. Whatever the cause, if true, it is unbelievable stupidity. If I was an amazon seller and amazon forced this, I would put a statement on my amazon listing asking people to buy direct 
Exporting small retail items to China must be fun. I am just despatching a fourth airmail package to China (a sample transformer, for a company out there making them) because the previous three were “lost” (presumably stolen). It’s like Egypt, which reportedly has a ~90% postal theft rate, so DHL/Fedex/etc is the only way. Also a Chinese buyer is likely to be a fraudster; this is apparent on Ebay sales. I had some and now block bids from China.
Anyway, back to brexit, for a firm which has been exporting to non EU customers, the only real 31 Dec change is the VAT code. On our Sage software we change T4 (charge 20% unless valid VAT# supplied) to T0 (zero VAT) for all of the EU. Unfortunately there is no way to do it globally so we have to remember to do it for each customer when they order.
Peter wrote:
In fact you, as a non VAT registered body (I assume) should be better off, because pre 31 Dec the UK seller had to charge you 20% VAT, but now he charges no VAT (on all international sales, which is a useful simplification).
There is no advantage to the consumer in another EU country. That consumer has to pay VAT on entry to the EU. This is usually collected by the post officer or courier, before the goods will be released. The post office/courier also add a fee for processing this. It doesn’t make much of a difference on expensive items, but on low value items, the post office fee could make it not worth buying from outside the EU.
Yes that is true; I forgot. Although on small items nothing may be levied. That’s certainly been the case here in the UK on small personal imports, although I have no idea whether this was a rule or the post office just being pragmatic
It is also going to be awfully hard to collect import VAT on downloaded software, in that situation… just like they can’t on software downloaded from US firms… like GPS databases 
In my experience the UK post office has been less diligent about collecting VAT on import to the EU than the Irish have been. I’ve no idea about other counties.
The threshold for not collecting VAT here is just €22, and most people will order more than that to get free postage! So less than €22 you can indeed get it VAT free but probably have to pay postage changes.
It is also going to be awfully hard to collect import VAT on downloaded software
Software has it’s own rules which are different again. But indeed it might be harder to enforce non-compliance. It’s easy enough to enforce compliance between member states, but might be difficult between the UK and member states.
dublinpilot wrote:
There is no advantage to the consumer in another EU country. That consumer has to pay VAT on entry to the EU. This is usually collected by the post officer or courier, before the goods will be released. The post office/courier also add a fee for processing this. It doesn’t make much of a difference on expensive items, but on low value items, the post office fee could make it not worth buying from outside the EU.
Amazon US have a feature where they charge you the duty/VAT on overseas orders and pay the courier. That saves you the processing fee.
I recently bought a book from Amazon US. With express delivery it was both cheaper and faster than the newly launched Amazon Sweden…
The item I bought was a portable hard drive for a macbook. Price from Amazon uk was £76 of which £12 was the export fee. No explanation was given as to what the export fee was for. The product was not listed on Amazon fr. Back in November I bought exactly the same drive with no export fee. Incidentally more and more UK companies are refusing to sell and send such products to Europe. The ones I have contacted say it’s too much bother.
They are lazy and stupid.
Probably too lazy and too stupid to print off an invoice and insert it into a document pocket.
One aspect is that nowadays the entry level into running an online shop, or being an amazon trader, is very low. One needs roughly 3 braincells to knock up a shop, which has payment processing integrated.
I’ve been doing this since 1978, exporting to every place imaginable. One of my earliest customers was in Lebanon. Imagine the paperwork for that in 1978
Take your business elsewhere. There will be other suppliers.
And ask why amazon.fr doesn’t carry the product.
gallois wrote:
Incidentally more and more UK companies are refusing to sell and send such products to Europe. The ones I have contacted say it’s too much bother.
Peter wrote:
They are lazy and stupid.
From the UK to Europe, that is indeed a bit silly. The current rules “simply” require you invoice VAT free and send the goods with the appropriate customs declaration, the import VAT is then typically collected by the carrier. This will be a bit of effort providing the details to the carrier, but nor really prohibitive. In half a year’s time, the EU will implement a one-stop shop for all non-EU import of goods to consumers, which may be a bit of effort, but again nor really a massive obstacle.
But it will probably add to shipping cost as the carriers want to charge for the customs service. The “customs fee” may well be to cover that, although the amount is ridiculous.
The other way round, the UK managed to make it a bit harder as they introduced the requirement to be registered for UK VAT and to submit UK VAT returns, which makes exporting to the UK different from exporting to everywhere else, so it is a bit more understandable if smaller EU sellers decide not to bother, especially since they are required to use some accredited software for their VAT returns.
I’ve read elsewhere that amazon.co.uk show the price inclusive of UK VAT. But at the checkout they deduct UK VAT, and show the VAT at the import country rate as “Customs fees”. So Customs fees=your own countries VAT.
