Sending parcels to the EU from UK

My family in the US order stuff for me from UK Amazon, I order theirs from US site, exactly the same for EU you pay and address it to them.
Send them an online Xmas Card too and sidestep all the aggravation.

Whilst several people have offered suggestions to circumvent the costs of sending presents to loved ones in the EU, there are no solutions for the small, often family run businesses which can no longer afford to supply specialist items by post to EU residents. I understand from my DH in France that this has been devastating for UK companies supplying, for example, railway modellers in the EU. Some of these small businesses have ceased trading, sadly.

Yes, as DW Ashcombe says, legit businesses dealing with small value items have lost out. But it is worse than that. A friend's ex, living in Wales, sent several Christmas Cards to his sons in a packet, suitably marked to identify the contents. On arrival at the French address, the courier (an offshoot of state postal service la Poste) demanded 17 euros before releasing the packet. I have heard similar things about children's toys being sent to Belgium and being sent back by customs people. Any item not carrying a CE mark is illegal.

At the other end of the spectrum, I have this year bought a couple of expensive photography items from Amazon UK. They correctly deducted the VAT - and added a provisional sum to meet French TVA. Fair enough. In both cases, three months after the transaction, Amazon refunded the French element because France hadn't bothered to collect it from them! So I paid neither VAT, nor French TVA - result!

Every year I order from a small business in England. They kindly sent me an email last week pointing out the new charges I might be paying but unable to clarify the total exactly. I cancelled.

It is a tad irritating when so many posters turn up just to tell us to send presents on line. We have lived in France for 16 years and son has lived in another EU country for 27 years.
We do already know how to send presents and cards via the internet.
But just occasionally it is nice to send something personal or hand-made without paying duty, as has been the case up until this year. It would be nice if people could recognise that.

LadyStardust

Lincslass that does sound reasonable! My son is in the Netherlands. What company did you use?

Our good old Post Office.

My comment has nothing to do with how I voted (and that will remain personal to me) but my thoughts on import/export costs remain the same - it seems to be a complicated, expensive mess that didn’t exist before Brexit, and needs sorting for the benefit of businesses and citizens in all countries.

Lincslass

LadyStardust

Lincslass that does sound reasonable! My son is in the Netherlands. What company did you use?

Our good old Post Office.

Thank you! That's probably one of the last places I would've looked at!

LadyStardust

Lincslass that does sound reasonable! My son is in the Netherlands. What company did you use?

Beware of parcel over 2kgs, prices rise. Even sending within the UK can be expensive.

Yes, Mamie, I agree with you. There seems to be a ”never mind attitude, just go online and work around it” attitude on here. Some people cannot do that. In what other situations in life do we deliberately – and unnecessarily change things for the worse?

A friend texted me the other day. She sent a birthday present from the UK to her daughter in the EU. She declared the parcel as a gift, valued at £45. When it arrived at its destination her daughter had to travel to a depot miles away to release it, fill in a customs form and pay another £25. So the recipients of our gifts now have to pay to receive them. But we read that there are worse things to worry about so hey ho.

Mapleleaf

My comment has nothing to do with how I voted (and that will remain personal to me) but my thoughts on import/export costs remain the same - it seems to be a complicated, expensive mess that didn’t exist before Brexit, and needs sorting for the benefit of businesses and citizens in all countries.

I really didn't want to make this about anybody's personal politics Mapleleaf, I'm sorry if I gave that impression.

But the EU don't need to do anything at all to sort it out. This is what we have now and we voted for a system where this is what happens. The EU don't need to do anything any more than they need to do something about sending things to Mongolia. This is what Brexit means. Welcome to the brave new world.

Even online many UK companies aren't sending anything to the EU due to the difficulties. From Fortnum & Mason's website

Due to further regulatory changes around deliveries to the EU, we have temporarily paused all shipping to the EU and European countries delivered through the EU.

And they're not intending to resume until 2022 when presumably things will be sorted.

It's a great pity that companies are missing out on the very important Xmas trade.

You are right Greta and I would have a lot more respect for people who wanted Brexit if they ever admitted to being just a tiny bit sorry for making our lives more difficult. But no, nothing is a problem caused by Brexit, nobody ever needed to wrap and send a parcel to their grandchildren etc etc.
It just shows that some people have never moved on from 2016 and "you lost, get over it".

Greta

Yes, Mamie, I agree with you. There seems to be a ”never mind attitude, just go online and work around it” attitude on here. Some people cannot do that. In what other situations in life do we deliberately – and unnecessarily change things for the worse?

A friend texted me the other day. She sent a birthday present from the UK to her daughter in the EU. She declared the parcel as a gift, valued at £45. When it arrived at its destination her daughter had to travel to a depot miles away to release it, fill in a customs form and pay another £25. So the recipients of our gifts now have to pay to receive them. But we read that there are worse things to worry about so hey ho.

I can only speak as I found it, no my GD did not have to pay any tax, or collect it from anywhere, it was delivered to her home. So to be insinuating that a devil may care attitude is prevelant is rather unfair.

Lincslass I thought you said the parcel was low value? If it was under 45€ then the recipient should not pay anything. No problem there.
The problem for me is with people who say that you don't need to send personal parcels anymore and should just order from the internet.

Mapleleaf

My comment has nothing to do with how I voted (and that will remain personal to me) but my thoughts on import/export costs remain the same - it seems to be a complicated, expensive mess that didn’t exist before Brexit, and needs sorting for the benefit of businesses and citizens in all countries.

Oh yes it did. Anything sent outside the EU had exactly the same had exactly the same customs arrangements, US, Australia, NZ or anywhere else, and all have different rules.

When we decided to shoot ourselves in the foot the perceptive minority knew that all along!.

My DH buys and sell's automotive parts on a well known auction site, he regularly sends and receives parcels to and from the E,U, He fills out the customs form ( which only takes a moment) and pays the same as he did before Brexit, no extra postage.

I think this thread is indicative of the approach of many to Brexit.

It goes along the lines of saying "my life is fine, I have one more form to fill in and I haven't been inconvenienced at all".

While some others are massively inconvenienced and have to travel miles and pay more for things.

and some companies have gone out of business because of the new trading ruless

The Brexit motto -I'm allright Jack and I don't care about anybody else, so stop moaning.

I think also Alegrias1 that we cope with the big things like getting residence and managing the loss of income from the decline of the pound, but when you are asked to pay a large sum for the delivery of a birthday present from one of your children, that hits hard.
It is the little things.

Yes I had the same message from Fortnums and Betty's of Harrogate Riverwalk

Food is a nightmare to get delivered to the EU at the moment - in fact so much of a nightmare that the British Corner Shop who have operated an expat food delivery service all over the World for several decades has moved part of its operation out of the UK to the Netherlands. However they are pretty good.

M&S are also good (but no food and limited range) and they have country specific websites and the price paid includes local customs clearance duties etc.

Be careful about any food items
- had to pay £8,00 on a jar of Branston pickle that DD wanted (50p in duty and 7.50 in customs clearance costs)
- my British Corner Shop Easter order (before they moved to NL) was impounded in the UK and never arrived because of a jar of tartare sauce

sodapop

Yes I had the same message from Fortnums and Betty's of Harrogate Riverwalk

I really miss Betty's

We recently sent a Christmas gift to a child in France. The contents cost me about £ 20. My DH took it to the PO and filled a customs form in. . The parcel arrived on the doorstep in France and my relative was told that if she wanted to take possession of the gift she would have to pay €80 !! She refused of course and the parcel was taken away. I was advised to contact Royal Mail - got no where. Don’t think we will make progress as my DH is unable to locate the receipt or proof of posting !!!! Goodness knows where the parcel is now, I am upset as one 8 year old child is one parcel short this Christmas. Could use Amazon France but would need help - our French is poor. Looks like the end of birthday / Christmas gifts to France. I am not a happy bunny ?!

SkyBird - I’m in the same position as your Irish relatives. I live in Ireland, and sadly will no longer be buying from Amazon UK or any other UK sites. I have received import duty bills which have completely negated the value of doing so. Such a pity, but, c’est la vie unfortunately ! In fact, I used my Amazon account to buy something in the UK, to go to my daughter, also in the UK, and she got a customs bill, can’t figure that one out at all!!

Shelflife this happened to us with a present from our daughter in the UK. We went to the local parcel office here in France and they checked on their computer system. There was nothing there at all about the parcel so they agreed there was nothing to pay. It would be worth the family in France checking at their local office.