Shipping to customers outside of the UK post Brexit

[Phil]

Since the new post-Brexit rules have come into play at the start of this year we have received a lot of queries about shipping overseas, and in particular the associated costs for shipping, VAT, Duty, etc.

Hence, a quick post here to try and clarify the situation that applies now, and to provide a point of reference.

Now that we in the UK are no longer members of the EU, shipping to anywhere outside of the UK is an export.

The best and clearest explanation that I have managed to find is in this document provided by the EU:
Buying goods online coming from a non-European Union country - Taxation and Customs Union - European Commission

As it explains, you (the customer) are an importer into your own country.
We, at use-IP, will charge you a shipping charge to deliver the items, but apart from that the rules and values for VAT and Duty that are applied are those of your own country.
Effectively, these rules are now the same for wherever we ship to outside of the UK.

When we ship your order, we are required to complete a Customs declaration form.
On that form, we provide:

• Our company details; name, address and EORI number (GB929328692000).
• The value of the items (the true & actual price that we sold the items to you at).
• The country of origin of the items (typically provided to us by the manufacturer, commonly it is China).
• The commodity code of the items (again, provided by the manufacturer).

The Customs agency in your country will base any additional charges that you may have to pay upon the information that we provide in that form.

For customers in most EU countries, you will still be able to checkout online - you can select your country at checkout and will currently be offered a flat rate shipping charge of £15.
Currently, this only applies to a simple list of what the couriers consider to be the main EU countries.
If you cannot select your country, address / do not see the £15 flat rate shipping offer then please contact us and we will provide you with a quotation to include shipping to you.
At a later date we hope to be able to offer more complex shipping rates, times and countries via the online checkout.

As ever, we aim to please, don't hesitate to get in touch with any queries arising from these changes - info@use-ip.co.uk

 

[Phil]

With thanks to one of our customers based in Ireland, here is a link to their government's web page covering this issue:

Buying goods from outside the European Union (EU) including the UK

Customs charges you may have to pay when buying goods online from outside the EU including the UK

www.revenue.ie

 

[Phil]

In case it's helpful for customers who would like to assess the Duty due to be paid upon receipt of products in their country, here are some example commodity codes:

A Hikvision camera = 8525801990
All Hikvision brackets = 8529904900
A Tenda POE injector = 85176200
A WD Purple hard drive = 84717050
A network patch lead = 8544421000
A junction box for a Vivotek camera = 8529902000
A Vivotek fisheye camera = 8525801931
A Mobotix MX-M26B-6D041 camera = 8525803000


I will add more example items to this list as time & experience allows.

Commodity codes are also variously known as TARIC codes, Harmonised codes, HSC codes ...

 

[Phil]

We are working our way through adding the commodity code and country of origin for every product within the Specs tab on the product page:

 

[Phil]

Just a heads-up that there will be further changes from July 1st 2021:

What Is Changing from 1st July?

• Any item regardless of its value will be subject to VAT and customs charges if it is going to Europe from the UK.

How Do VAT and Charges Get Paid?

Recipients will need to pay any VAT and customs duties, this is called 'Delivery Duties Unpaid (DDU)'. What will happen is that when the parcel reaches the destination country, customs will reach out to the recipient to collect any applicable charges. When the recipient has paid these charges, the parcel will be released by customs and delivered to the recipient.

[Currently, there are some exceptions to these rules for lower-priced items - the above states that these exceptions are to be removed July 1st 2021. There are also some exceptions for gifts, but these do not apply to us as a business supplier]