UK exports

Are you sure that was the reason given, GagaJo?

My daughter's boyfriend is a student there and they're experiencing problems due to Covid.
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Yes, the librarian (British) said the conversation he had with OUP was that it was due to Brexit. They can't export books at the moment. They anticipate this situation will be resolved, but for Euro orders at the moment, no go.

Oxford press will be fine. But The Book Depository will crumble without Euro sales.

If it isn't resolved within a month or so, I will order all the texts needed to go to my UK address and I will pay extra baggage to get them back when I come home (having missed Christmas due to Covid). I had to do that for China to get some texts past the censor.

Also John Lewis has ceased all international deliveries. I learned of this in early December when my friend was unable to send a parcel to relatives.

So they're not sending abroad to anyone.

John Lewis is calling a halt to its international expansion strategy and will stop accepting orders for international delivery next week

Such a shame. Also such a shame they didn't inform my colleague when the order was placed!

They also majorly messed up a UK delivery for a Christmas gift for him, so he is doubly annoyed. Ordered early December. STILL not delivered due to Hermes not having a big enough delivery van (?????????).

Well you're doing the right thing and finding ways to get your items. Bit of a pain but it's like the ham sandwich. Find a way round.

Oooer, I wonder what his gift is that's so big!

That is bad because my friend was told very early December that she couldn't get them to post due to termination of international orders.

It was a gaming chair. I really didn't see why JL didn't deliver it themselves. Hermes are notoriously unreliable.

Hermes use local deliverers who use their own cars for deliveries. I would imagine that a gaming chair would be too big to get into the average car.

We cancelled an order from Germany as it went from a total price inc vat and delivery to a cheaper price (the vat) not inc vat (ok), or delivery or import duty. Asked what the delivery charge will be they didn’t know - why would it change? Import duty - no idea! This is a well established German company who were totally unprepared for Brexit. Their loss, we found the product in the UK, slightly more expensive but delivered free next day.

Dont get me started on Hermes - needs a thread if it’s own but it is nothing to do with Brexit

Frictionless trade as promised ?

Do you know anyone with links to the UK Embassy or representation, they may be able to organise the books via the diplomatic 'pouch'.
We have sent containers of stuff to Africa that way.

No, unfortunately not Felice. For now, the librarian has sourced 1 or 2 copies from several different European sites to make up a class set for the text we need immediately. For the rest, I will either carry them back (if I get to go back to the UK) or try for an English language bookshop in France or Germany.

Yes, quite Varian!

Does the French Amazon site stock the books? I have ordered books from the UK site and they have been delivered from the French site.
Apologies if you have addressed this and I have missed it!

“Not on the High Street” are not posting to Europe at the moment . I ordered personalised items for my new baby grandson in France (who I have not been able to visit due to Covid). The order was cancelled. Also my Christmas parcel containing cards and a cashmere top arrived damaged with contents missing.

I thought "Not on the High Street" was a platform of individuals selling separately under the NotHS umbrella? Surely they can't all not be sending items to Europe?

Poor folk in NI aren’t getting deliveries from the U.K. mainland from lots of stores. They will be better off ordering from the EU. Couldn’t make it up.

I think the French Amazon had a couple of copies, Welshwife.

Northern Ireland people must be so fed up, it said on the news yesterday that many things are out of stock in the supermarkets, and they can’t expect more normal deliveries to be resumed until April. Really poor show.

NotSpaghetti - Not on the High Street is still advertising they ship to Europe, but it has been removed as a delivery option. My local large post office has stopped accepting parcels for France too. ‘Normal service is expected to be resumed at some point in the future’.

Someone told me that was happening on other UK sites too.

I understand Europe not being ready. It was the UK making the decisions about stuff. But why aren't UK companies ready? They knew it was coming.

This explains why there's a problem, I think.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jan/08/firms-including-ms-suspend-eu-exports-over-brexit-smallprint

Businesses had very little time to prepare as the Trade Deal was signed a matter of days before transition ended and until then business had no idea what the terms would be.
Everything being sent to the EU now has to have a customs declaration with it and whether or not it can go tariff free depends on how much UK made/produced content it has. This isn't always easy to determine.

If the paperwork isn't correct the vehicle can be held up or turned back.

So many delivery businesses, as well as retailers and exporters who sell into the EU have decided to stop trading until they get themselves sorted. It's not their fault that the Agreement was made so late in the day... They knew 'something' was coming, but not exactly 'what'.

NI is in a much worse state than the we are...

That makes a lot more sense MaizieD.

MaizieD you’re right, but Northern Ireland is part of the UK, they are part of the ‘we’ and are being treated very shoddily I think.

In theory anything crossing a border is liable to VAT, that applies in both directions, there is a lower limit for presents etc but everything has to be declared for inspection.
So for practical purposes buy from a UK retailer and he will handle the VAT documentation but even that’s not as easy as before.