declan64

I emptied my Hattons trunk earlier this week with the delivery coming via DHL. I receive an email and text this morning from DHL looking for an import duty and fees payment (which they're not going to get from me). I've contacted Hattons to either sort it or I'm asking DHL to return the items and looking for a full refund. I can live without the items for now and Hattons need to feel a little pain for this. Hattons have been one of the last usable UK channels given their ability to handle Irish VAT and the very useful trunk service but something that was working a few weeks ago is clearly broken now.

I use the trunk feature Hattons provide and only get a shipment every couple of months. This tends to mean that a courier is required to deliver and I haven't had any issues (touch wood). I find the combination of the trunk and prepaid VAT from Hattons a god send to help manage costs. I cancelled an order with Olivias Trains recently as they were charging a surcharge of £10 for excluding the VAT on my order and £20 for a courier who would likely hit me for a another £20 to handle the VAT. Hornby are Irish VAT registered now but a rip off price wise. EBay is a washout of course for UK purchases or sales. Brexit has been painful for sure!

At 60 euro a pop when purchasing 3 sets together, this represents excellent value given the quality of the coaches and the fact that they have inbuilt lighting. Compare these to the price of Bachmann's latest MK2 coaches with DCC controlled lighting at a cool £94.95 RRP and we should be thankful to IRM for a reasonable price to start out with along with the bundled pricing for the NIR coaches which doesn't appear to be getting offered for the BR and NSE coaches. My pre-order is in! I'll also add my vote for a re-run of the NIR liveries from MM. I'd love to get my hands on a 112 or 113 without having to re-mortgage the house.

Just came across these videos in my feed. The sheer variety of locomotives, rolling stock and train configurations was incredible in the 90s - so much more interesting than today. Was this the Golden Age of Irish Railways which we are now recreating in the Golden Age of Irish Railway Modelling? Video#3 - I never appreciated how physical a job it was to be a signalman in those days!

Online purchases have probably killed off most of the model shops. Post Brexit I think there is a renewed opportunity for model shops, particularly for UK models from the likes of Hornby, Bachmann and Dapol as well as the Irish stuff and the raft of scenery and supporting items. IRM are hosing up a lot of the Irish online purchases of course and will surely grow their Accurascale sales over time for UK models. When you consider the hassle of dealing with returns to the UK now being able to walk down to your local model shop is a far more appealing option. The relationships between the likes of Hattons and Rails with vendors such as Hornby appear to be fractured so these vendors are no longer the one stop shop they were in the past. I recently paid 18 euro to a courier for "handling" the VAT associated with a UK order. That was on top of 20 euro for the courier in the first place. If I could get what I wanted locally, even at a modest premium I'd gladly do it. Also there is no online equivalent to the actual experience of visiting your local model shop of course. God be with the days.

BREAKING NEWS eBay support have responded to me that they believe my assertion is correct and are escalating the issue to their technical team. They will get back to me once they have a further update. Let's see where this goes now.

Just got a response from revenue. This was my question to them: I wanted to confirm that my understanding is correct. This transaction is between two private individuals - the seller in the south, the buyer in the North and my understanding that there should be no VAT due on this transaction and moreover the shipping of the item does not require any customs declaration as it would do if the buyer was in mainland UK. Am I correct? Revenue response: "You are correct in your understanding. This sees to be a private sale between two private individuals and is a matter between you and ebay. Revenue cannot interfere in this private transaction." So there you have it. Now let's see what eBay come back with.

Here's the rub, the VAT charged on this transaction was UK VAT not Irish VAT - there was a GB VAT reference added to the buyers address in Paypal. If eBay are going to collect VAT on every single transaction for sellers who are not VAT registered then so be it. I'll just stop using it altogether. I recently (April) sold some stuff to a number of buyers in Europe (EU countries) and no VAT was applied so if any of these buyers had been in the North it looks like eBay would have hit them with VAT. This is the inconsistency I have a problem with. I await responses from my queries to both eBay and Revenue on this....

I completed an eBay sale to a modeler in the North on Friday night and noted on the Paypal invoice that eBay had charged a 20% "Sales Tax" on the item. Now am I imagining things or are eBay out of line here? I have emailed both eBay and the Revenue Commissioners on the matter for clarification but if eBay are entitled to do this it makes a mockery of any Good Friday agreement and any Northern Ireland Protocol and my next emails will be to some politicians. Any one else with similar experiences? Brexit has been a nightmare for modelers. This is close to the last straw for me.

I've had 3-4 deliveries from them since Brexit without any problems. Effectively no different from the pre-Brexit experience with them which has been a relief. I had a double VAT hit with Hornby but got them to refund me the UK VAT which they shouldn't have charged me with in the first place.

And Hattons are registered for Irish VAT so that means painless deliveries (and no extra processing fees) and painless returns if you have a problem. With anyone else you're going to have to claim your VAT back from the courier who paid it if your return something. I'm not aware of any other UK supplier providing this (apart from Amazon which wouldn't be my first stop for railway models). Does anyone know of anyone else? eBay purchases from the UK are a total disaster post Brexit. Don't get me going ....

Nice surprise this morning even if my credit card was running hot from two Class A's last night. I missed the Tara Mines first time out and always regretted it so my order is in - I don't care if they're a re-hash of the previous model, that's fine with me - they've got new running numbers at least for the previous owners to extend their rakes. I've never seen the blue Taras in model form before. Now if I could lay my hands on an NIR 071 in this blue livery, that's something I'd be interested in.....

Yeah, they use the term "Super H0" - it was a marketing ploy to help sell this set in a predominantly H0 market. All is revealed below. I's not a bad set, though these locos show their age running wise. That doesn't stop folks looking for £200 for these locos on their own on eBay. We await an IRM Irish steam offering to signal the end of life of these models as MM did for the old Lima 201 offerings. Will be few years yet....

And eBay are showing me £77.01 in import charge which shouldn't be the case here. Buy this instead and get a free loco! https://www.adverts.ie/toy-cars-trains-boats-planes/train-set/22265842

After sitting on my camera for the last few months I've finally got around to editing and posting the following videos covering my Irish Railway Model wagon purchases at the end of last year. In the absence of the A-Class at this point, Murphy Models Classes 121, 181 and 071 are providing the traction. A review for the fertilser wagons is pending but I do have a running session below. Irish Railway Models (IRM) range of Irish Ballast Wagons and Ballast Ploughs Review: Running Session: Irish Railway Models (IRM) range of Irish Gypsum Ore Wagons Review: Running Session: Irish Railway Models CIE/IR 42’ Liner Flats Triple Pack Review: Running Session: Irish Railway Models (IRM) range of Irish Fertiliser Wagons Running Session:

This has to be some kind of joke coming in at over 630 euro landed cost for any southern Irish purchaser. In all honesty it looks like something someone found in the bin (probably buried in the attic). https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224427255044?ul_noapp=true My equivalent money will be going on two new IRM Class A's with sound decoders. In 10 years time we'll see how these compare value wise..... Thanks to Paddy Murphy and IRM we now a choice of vastly superior models to the likes of this.

Bad news for this poor individual however. I hope they were UK based at least or this would have been a whopping £420 for a used Inter City 201. https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Murphy-Models-201-Class-229-Inter-City-River-Maine-MM0229/143955901514?hash=item218470bc4a:g:860AAOSwSUBgMo9O&autorefresh=true They'll be kicking themselves when they read this stream!

Hi, I'll take the four fertiliser packs. Based in Galway so will need them posted Thanks, Eugene

My introduction to Paddy and the magnificence of his Class 071s (look at the beauties he has on display). As the father of the Golden Age of Irish Railway Modelling and the man responsible for elevating the Irish Railway Model to levels we couldn't even dream of, he has my undying gratitude. Thank You Paddy.

I believe it's total cost of £176 for a buffet coach!

Can listen to MM0567 here:

I'll echo the suggestion for ease of adding a driver. IRM please note for the Class A .... or just put one in from day one!

Testing 127, 133 and 125 last night with their respective sound modules and I have no sound from either 127 and 133 though their lights are controllable and they run as if there was sound there. Swapped decoders around and they all tested fine on 125 so it sounds like either a wiring problem to the speaker or no speaker fitted on 127 and 133. These are delicate puppies so I'm not overly keen taking them apart. I've already gone back to respective vendors. Anyone encounter this?

I received 125 this morning from IRM and it was alarmingly poorly packaged - same as above - loose in an overly large box with just some crumpled brown paper. Not really good enough for an 190 euro model in my opinion so after I check the model this evening I'll be getting back to IRM in the morning. Everything else I've got from IRM has been well packed so this is disappointing to see for a valuable loco like this.

Just got the email from IRM and the frankness and openness is to be commended. For anyone who went through the pain and misery of the Hatton's Class 66 debacle this year they will be more than happy to see the time taken to get things right for a new model launch like this. IRM are also new to the game so probably still finding their feet with the complexities of a development like this. With the different 121s coming ashore in the months ahead we'll have more than enough to keep us busy as well as helping things on the finance side!