Sending parcels to the EU from UK

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.

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!

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.

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.

Living in an EU country I would advise caution on posting gifts from the UK. In some areas the postal system is adding import duty to letters & cards.
My DH recently bought some items from the UK. The items cost £50. On arrival he had to pay €17 import duty.
What I do now is order gifts from UK companies for recipients in the UK.
Relatives in the Republic of Ireland no longer use Amazon.uk because of this situation. They use Amazon.de.
Please be mindful that any gifts sent to EU countries could incur a hefty import duty.

Nobody is complaining about paying postage charges that we have always paid. We are complaining about the chaotic lack of clarity of the amount now due in VAT and customs duty. These changes happened this autumn.
Would you really regard it as unimportant Forsythia if your daughter was charged over twice the value of your gift in customs duties?
We all know Brexit brings changes as the UK becomes a third country. We have been dealing with them for five years. But if the UK had taken the time to do things properly so many of the difficulties could have been avoided.

My friend, who has had her book published , needs to post copies from Belfast to Dublin and Cork to be reviewed. The post office has told her they will need to go to the mainland first,where they were printed, then back to Dublin. It would be easier to drive down with them were she fit. Brexit.

GrandmaKT

Forsythia

In reverse my daughter, who lives abroad, orders things for us on the John Lewis UK website and we just don’t open them until Christmas. I do the same for them from Australian websites. It’s just getting used to doing things differently.

But the issue is Forsythia, that we were part of a community where we had got rid of all annoying little issues like this, and we threw it away! I too accept that when I send gifts to family and friends in NZ and Aus, I have to jump through a few hoops, but it does upset me having to do it for Europe.

To be honest it doesn’t bother me that things have changed now we are not in the EU. There’s more important things than worrying about sending a few parcels to EU countries. It’s a big world out there. We all have to send parcels abroad. It’s your choice: send them and pay the charges or find ways round it like ordering in the countries they live in. Or give money, vouchers etc.

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

I sent a parcel to my DG in the Netherlands, cost me £6, small box of gifts for Christmas. Considering the distance and cost of transportation , thought that was reasonable.

Forsythia

In reverse my daughter, who lives abroad, orders things for us on the John Lewis UK website and we just don’t open them until Christmas. I do the same for them from Australian websites. It’s just getting used to doing things differently.

But the issue is Forsythia, that we were part of a community where we had got rid of all annoying little issues like this, and we threw it away! I too accept that when I send gifts to family and friends in NZ and Aus, I have to jump through a few hoops, but it does upset me having to do it for Europe.

In reverse my daughter, who lives abroad, orders things for us on the John Lewis UK website and we just don’t open them until Christmas. I do the same for them from Australian websites. It’s just getting used to doing things differently.

I remember, before the UK joined the E U, I received a free gift from a UK company. I was asked for some money to pay the import tax. They were very surprised when I refused to pay. I didn’t mind if they sent it back as I didn’t know what was inside as I hadn’t asked for it.

Can't even get a bloody internet post across the channel any more.

Apologies for double post. It sat there for 15 minutes. ?

The worst thing is losing the personal nature of gifts to and from our loved ones in the UK. Yes you can order on Amazon or other sites, but it isn't the same as something you have chosen, wrapped and posted yourself. It isn't the fault of the post and parcel services; just a rushed, botched departure from the EU by people who put populist rhetoric over economic prudence and considered solutions.

The worst thing is losing the personal nature of gifts to and from our loved ones in the UK. Yes you can order on Amazon or other sites, but it isn't the same as something you have chosen, wrapped and posted yourself. It isn't the fault of the post and parcel services; just a rushed, botched departure from the EU by people who put populist rhetoric over economic prudence and considered solutions.

Mapleleaf

It is a shame, and surely all EU countries & the UK are going to have to sort this out, otherwise they’ll lose a lot of revenue because people will refuse to send parcels because of exorbitant delivery costs - both in the UK and the EU. (The value of the goods themselves usually being a lot less than the postage costs will prevent people sending anything, surely). Yes, I realise that for many, this could be solved using the internet and looking for delivery via local Amazon, etc, but this will not be possible or desirable, for some.

Mapleleaf I have no idea how you voted in the referendum so this is not getting at you.

We had a perfectly good way of avoiding problems like loss of revenue in this situation, but we voted it away, along with lots of other things.

The EU don't have to do anything. We told them that we didn't want this. Now they treat us just like other third countries - just like we told them we wanted.

I'm afraid I don't agree with ”It's a shame but hey ho”. Brexit was going to deliver benefits but so far there only seem to be obstacles.

For years I've bought some Swedish gifts for my grandchildren. I live in the UK and so do they. These gifts cannot be sourced anywhere else. I recently checked what the total cost would be and it was more than double what I've paid in the past so this Christmas I'll have to tell the children that there won't be any special Swedish parcels. I've also told their relatives in Sweden not to send us presents.

But it is what some of us wanted and voted for – to make simple things like trading with our nearest neighbours much more costly and complicated.

Mamie Thanks for clarifying. The articles online are so damn complicated! Thanks everyone else for your suggestions.

It is 45€ including postage and the sender must tick "gift" on the label. We had a ridiculous sum added to a parcel received here recently (more than twice the value) but a quick trip to the parcel office proved that nothing should have been added as the value was below the 45€.

I wasn't keen, but ordered from Amazon Spain for delivery to Portugal. No extra charges and it was a very quick delivery. Gifts from the UK were delayed, sometimes for a few weeks and the excess amount charged was really variable and bore no relation to the cost of the gift!

It is a shame, and surely all EU countries & the UK are going to have to sort this out, otherwise they’ll lose a lot of revenue because people will refuse to send parcels because of exorbitant delivery costs - both in the UK and the EU. (The value of the goods themselves usually being a lot less than the postage costs will prevent people sending anything, surely). Yes, I realise that for many, this could be solved using the internet and looking for delivery via local Amazon, etc, but this will not be possible or desirable, for some.

You can order gifts from Irish based firms who will send direct to EU, no taxes.

I've done the same thing Welshwife too much hassle and too expensive all round. It's a shame but hey ho .