Ordering electronics from The East post-brexit / vat shenanigans

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Mark Robson

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Mar 14, 2021, 12:06:41 PM3/14/21
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Hi,

Has anyone ordered stuff < £135 from non-UK VAT handling suppliers in Asia recently?

JLCPCB - are now adding 20% VAT and adding vat / eori numbers to the customs documents (as they are supposed to) - this means that packages are legit and don't get stopped and we don't have to pay extra for ddp shipping. (earlier in the year it was messed up but it's all fixed now)

Aliexpress - are doing something similar and I think it's legit, but I haven't had any stuff from Aliexpress recently (waiting on a couple)

LCSC - I'm wary of ordering more components from lcsc as they have no info specifically related to uk vat on their site, and I would probably want to order < £135. This means that theoretically any package from them could be rejected by uk customs and I'd lose my parts and my money.

Note the same probably applies to any company whatsoever outside GB, possibly even those in Northern Ireland.

Mark

Stephen Rodway

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Mar 14, 2021, 12:10:21 PM3/14/21
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Ordered a 60V PSU from ali-express recently, about £85. AliExpress
charged me VAT and took care of all the paperwork, I wasn't asked for
any additional details. Packaged arrived in about a week and had clearly
been opened by customs en-route but no problems.

Steve
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Gavin

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Mar 14, 2021, 12:36:04 PM3/14/21
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I have ordered from JLC (via DHL and with the DDP premium), LCSC (via 4PX) and AliExpress (VAT added by AliExpress, via Cainiao). All >£15 but less then £135. All carried some sort of customs markings (didn’t note what it said about VAT - sorry, too excited about contents to remember to check). All cleared immediately by customs without additional fees and payments 

4PX seem pretty good - quick and good tracking info too

Gavin


From: reading-...@googlegroups.com <reading-...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Mark Robson <mar...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2021 4:06 pm
To: reading-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [RDG-Hack] Ordering electronics from The East post-brexit / vat shenanigans
 
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Alex Gibson

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Mar 14, 2021, 12:50:28 PM3/14/21
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Great to track this Mark.  I for one would be keen to see anyone’s recent experiences of other services, good and bad, added to this thread!

 

I’ve been pretty reticent to order outside UK recently but I recently bought an item from Biqu (BigTreeTech) via eBay for about £11 and this is both VERY slow and showing no sign of proper customs handling so it’s a real gamble…

 

Will update on the success or otherwise of this… hope it’s OK as I want to test one and if successful buy another 10, which will be up to £100 – too much to lose, but below £135…

 

Cheers,

 

Alex Gibson

 

+44 7813 810 765    @alexgibson3d    37 Royal Avenue, Reading RG31 4UR

 

admg consulting

 

edumaker limited

 

·         Project management

·         Operations & Process improvement

·         3D Printing

 

From: reading-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:reading-...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mark Robson
Sent: 14 March 2021 16:06
To: reading-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [RDG-Hack] Ordering electronics from The East post-brexit / vat shenanigans

 

Hi,

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Alex Gibson

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Mar 14, 2021, 12:52:48 PM3/14/21
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Forgot to say, ebay details claim the price I paid included VAT.  So I should be OK – the question is how does the seller mark this to get it through Customs…

 

Alex Gibson

 

+44 7813 810 765    @alexgibson3d    37 Royal Avenue, Reading RG31 4UR

 

admg consulting

 

edumaker limited

 

·         Project management

·         Operations & Process improvement

·         3D Printing

 

From: Alex Gibson [mailto:al...@alexgibson.net]
Sent: 14 March 2021 16:50
To: 'reading-...@googlegroups.com'
Subject: RE: [RDG-Hack] Ordering electronics from The East post-brexit / vat shenanigans

 

Great to track this Mark.  I for one would be keen to see anyone’s recent experiences of other services, good and bad, added to this thread!

 

I’ve been pretty reticent to order outside UK recently but I recently bought an item from Biqu (BigTreeTech) via eBay for about £11 and this is both VERY slow and showing no sign of proper customs handling so it’s a real gamble…

 

Will update on the success or otherwise of this… hope it’s OK as I want to test one and if successful buy another 10, which will be up to £100 – too much to lose, but below £135…

 

Cheers,

 

Alex Gibson

 

+44 7813 810 765    @alexgibson3d    37 Royal Avenue, Reading RG31 4UR

 

admg consulting

 

edumaker limited

 

·         Project management

·         Operations & Process improvement

·         3D Printing

 

From: reading-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:reading-...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mark Robson
Sent: 14 March 2021 16:06
To: reading-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [RDG-Hack] Ordering electronics from The East post-brexit / vat shenanigans

 

Hi,

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Gavin

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Mar 14, 2021, 1:32:22 PM3/14/21
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Since posting I have received this SMS claiming that Royal Mail are awaiting payment of £2.99. I reckon this is a scam as (a) I have no packages in the postal system awaiting delivery, (b) pretty sure Royal Mail would not use a standard mobile phone number to send the message, (c) if they were to contact me, they would sneak up to my door and silently post a grey piece of card through the letterbox, (d) there is no way they would charge as little as £2.99 to release a parcel

Gavin


Gavin

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Mar 14, 2021, 1:36:29 PM3/14/21
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Forgot to attach image


From: Gavin <gavi...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2021 5:32 pm
To: reading-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [RDG-Hack] Ordering electronics from The East post-brexit / vat shenanigans
 
Since posting I have received this SMS claiming that Royal Mail are awaiting payment of £2.99. I reckon this is a scam as (a) I have no packages in the postal system awaiting delivery, (b) pretty sure Royal Mail would not use a standard mobile phone number to send the message, (c) if they were to contact me, they would sneak up to my door and silently post a grey piece of card through the letterbox, (d) there is no way they would charge as little as £2.99 to release a parcel

Gavin



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Alex Gibson

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Mar 14, 2021, 4:09:57 PM3/14/21
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Alex Gibson

 

+44 7813 810 765    @alexgibson3d    37 Royal Avenue, Reading RG31 4UR

 

admg consulting

 

edumaker limited

 

·         Project management

·         Operations & Process improvement

·         3D Printing

 

From: reading-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:reading-...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Gavin
Sent: 14 March 2021 17:36
To: reading-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [RDG-Hack] Ordering electronics from The East post-brexit / vat shenanigans

 

Forgot to attach image

 


From: Gavin <gavi...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2021 5:32 pm
To: reading-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [RDG-Hack] Ordering electronics from The East post-brexit / vat shenanigans

 

Since posting I have received this SMS claiming that Royal Mail are awaiting payment of £2.99. I reckon this is a scam as (a) I have no packages in the postal system awaiting delivery, (b) pretty sure Royal Mail would not use a standard mobile phone number to send the message, (c) if they were to contact me, they would sneak up to my door and silently post a grey piece of card through the letterbox, (d) there is no way they would charge as little as £2.99 to release a parcel

 

Gavin

 


 

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Nigel Worsley

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Mar 14, 2021, 4:47:25 PM3/14/21
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The situation seems to be changing, I had an order from Banggood arrive in the middle of February with no VAT issues but got an email on Friday about an overdue order that said " We are sorry to inform you that your order would be delayed for 15 days due to customs clearance delay (the backlog of customs parcels leads to a long time for customs clearance)".

Nigle

Alex Gibson

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Mar 14, 2021, 8:25:30 PM3/14/21
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Hi Nigle

 

Did the BangGood parcel show clear signs of correctly displayed VAT payment?  Or do you think it just slipped through?  I guess both of those could be true…?

 

Cheers,

 

Alex Gibson

 

+44 7813 810 765    @alexgibson3d    37 Royal Avenue, Reading RG31 4UR

 

admg consulting

 

edumaker limited

 

·         Project management

·         Operations & Process improvement

·         3D Printing

 

From: 'Nigel Worsley' via rLab / Reading's Hackspace [mailto:reading-...@googlegroups.com]
Sent: 14 March 2021 20:47
To: reading-hackspace
Subject: Re: [RDG-Hack] Ordering electronics from The East post-brexit / vat shenanigans

 

The situation seems to be changing, I had an order from Banggood arrive in the middle of February with no VAT issues but got an email on Friday about an overdue order that said " We are sorry to inform you that your order would be delayed for 15 days due to customs clearance delay (the backlog of customs parcels leads to a long time for customs clearance)".

 

Nigle

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Nigel Worsley

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Mar 14, 2021, 8:33:28 PM3/14/21
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Did the BangGood parcel show clear signs of correctly displayed VAT payment?  Or do you think it just slipped through?  I guess both of those could be true…?


It had a UK tracking number, so any VAT would have been handled at the bulk shipment level when it arrived in the UK before the individual packets were then handed to Royal Mail.

The delayed one currently has a UK DHL tracking number, but they haven't received it yet.

Nigle

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