Customs & VAT

[irishmail]

Anpost  are back to their antics once again.  Today in the post had a card telling me I have to pay customs charges on my recent order from Hatton's.   Does not say what it is for until you put in the customs/tracking info on the Anpost website.

After last summers shenanigan's with Anpost things appeared to be fine until now.  

As usual Anpost customer service were helpful as usual, Not!!!

[Sean Hogan]

Received items from hattons this week and no problems with on post.

[amdaley]

1 hour ago, irishmail said:

Anpost  are back to their antics once again.  Today in the post had a card telling me I have to pay customs charges on my recent order from Hatton's.   Does not say what it is for until you put in the customs/tracking info on the Anpost website.

After last summers shenanigan's with Anpost things appeared to be fine until now.  

As usual Anpost customer service were helpful as usual, Not!!!

The best thing is to contact Hattons. 

[Noel]

7 minutes ago, amdaley said:

The best thing is to contact Hattons. 

Hattons normally handle this via DDP the parcel should just arrive as Hattons are registered for VAT in ROI. Assuming the correct paper work was with the parcel from Hattons. Let An Post send it back to Hattons and let Hattons resend with the correct paperwork. They are normally brilliant at this. I've used them ever since brexit no problems.

 

[amdaley]

1 hour ago, Noel said:

Hattons normally handle this via DDP the parcel should just arrive as Hattons are registered for VAT in ROI. Assuming the correct paper work was with the parcel from Hattons. Let An Post send it back to Hattons and let Hattons resend with the correct paperwork. They are normally brilliant at this. I've used them ever since brexit no problems.

 

Hattons are normally spot on with their paperwork. I'd say this just an An Post cockup. Wouldn't be the first time

[WRENNEIRE]

On the subject of An Post, I sent 2 parcels on the 11th, both Tracked & Trace.
First one was delivered to Tuam on the 13th
According to An Post my second one is still sitting in Kilbarrack Post Office
Rang customer service, a joke!

[irishmail]

13 hours ago, amdaley said:

The best thing is to contact Hattons. 

I did contact Hattons, they have changed their policy a bit, they say they will refund the VAT but not the handling charge!  This is a copy of the email that that I sent to  the CEO at Hattons yesterday, along with his reply.   I know the admin fee is 'only' €3.50 but that is not the point, is it a ploy from Anpost to see how much more money they can try and get out of people?  

"Hi Richard,

I have today received a notification from Anpost (Irish postal service) requesting customs/VAT charges on my recent order.   Apart from a few issues last summer all of my recent orders from Hattons have been received without any issue.  Earlier I spoke to one of your customer service representatives, (Christov) via live chat , however he told me that I would only be refunded the VAT and not the admin fee.  I do not see why I should lose out.

Could you if at all possible look into this for me.    

Information on the card from Anpost is:_

 

Customs Value :            €xxxx

Customs Reference :   xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tracking ID Number :   xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Customs charges;

Import Duty   €0.00

Excise Duty     €0.00

VAT :                €xxxxx

Admin Fee     €3.50

Total to pay    €xxxx

 

When I contacted Anpost customer service all they told me was that the item was from outside the EU and had to be paid despite me saying that Hatton's were registered for Irish VAT.  I would appreciate any help or advice that you can give in regards to this issue. 

 

Regards,  John"

"Hi John

Thanks for your order and email. Our policy is that shipping and duty is paid for by the customer. I agree that admin fees are not welcome, and we honestly do our best to make a "level playing field" to stop any customers feeling this way. I am working on ways for us to process these more seamlessly, so in the future there are no (or reduced) fees like this

I hope this is a useful explanation?

 

Richard"

[StevieB]

As a UK resident, can I ask if VAT is payable on secondhand goods sold into ROI or is it just a sly way of charging import duty?

[BosKonay]

1 hour ago, StevieB said:

As a UK resident, can I ask if VAT is payable on secondhand goods sold into ROI or is it just a sly way of charging import duty?

Generally an post will collect vat and handling on everything coming in from the UK unless it has the correct vat paperwork and even then it seems. Sending into the Uk from Ireland is somewhat simpler but even then there are exceptions and many hoops. 
 

IRM have opened a new warehouse / distribution facility in Birmingham and will be splitting our stock from now on to simplify for customers and improve delivery times (accurascale stock also)

[Georgeconna]

2 hours ago, irishmail said:

I did contact Hattons, they have changed their policy a bit, they say they will refund the VAT but not the handling charge!  This is a copy of the email that that I sent to  the CEO at Hattons yesterday, along with his reply.   I know the admin fee is 'only' €3.50 but that is not the point, is it a ploy from Anpost to see how much more money they can try and get out of people?  

"Hi Richard,

I have today received a notification from Anpost (Irish postal service) requesting customs/VAT charges on my recent order.   Apart from a few issues last summer all of my recent orders from Hattons have been received without any issue.  Earlier I spoke to one of your customer service representatives, (Christov) via live chat , however he told me that I would only be refunded the VAT and not the admin fee.  I do not see why I should lose out.

Could you if at all possible look into this for me.    

Information on the card from Anpost is:_

 

Customs Value :            €xxxx

Customs Reference :   xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tracking ID Number :   xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Customs charges;

Import Duty   €0.00

Excise Duty     €0.00

VAT :                €xxxxx

Admin Fee     €3.50

Total to pay    €xxxx

 

When I contacted Anpost customer service all they told me was that the item was from outside the EU and had to be paid despite me saying that Hatton's were registered for Irish VAT.  I would appreciate any help or advice that you can give in regards to this issue. 

 

Regards,  John"

"Hi John

Thanks for your order and email. Our policy is that shipping and duty is paid for by the customer. I agree that admin fees are not welcome, and we honestly do our best to make a "level playing field" to stop any customers feeling this way. I am working on ways for us to process these more seamlessly, so in the future there are no (or reduced) fees like this

I hope this is a useful explanation?

 

Richard"

 

If this is paid to the door there should be no fees to you. If the importer of record is Hattons then they should be taking the hit.

Ask An Post for a copy of the MRN, if it if you down as the IOR on it then it is wrong. If it is hattons then they should be billed by An post.

 

[murphaph]

Anything coming into the EU is in principle subject to duties and VAT, new or used. The value and whether or not the item is a gift are what determine whether duties and/or VAT is charged. Many categories of items, including model railways are zero rated for duties (tariffs) but VAT is still due on virtually everything, unless it's a gift and even then the threshold is only €45 before VAT is due. I thought the UK was still following the same regime to be honest. HMRC might be waving stuff from the EU through, however that is an "operational decision" I guess.

In Germany customs are waving nothing through. It's now very rare a parcel makes it through. Robert Shrives sent me a gift for 10GBP and it was stopped and VAT levied, incorrectly as well below the threshold. A book I bought from Jim Markle was incorrectly levied with 19% VAT instead of 7%. I make a point of claiming refunds for these very small amounts to cause more work than they are worth collecting. Many others are doing the same in the hope of getting the Zoll (German customs) to put pressure on the federal government to bring the issue back to Brussels to find a better solution for us all. We shouldn't be stopping small stuff from reputable countries just because certain predominantly far eastern sellers have been defrauding the tax authorities of the EU for years, by systematically under-declaring the value of commercial items. The solution is to stop everything from those countries and check it. They are still under-declaring the goods of course, just paying less in import duties and VAT!

A threshold of €100 is totally normal elsewhere in the world. The effective €5 threshold in the EU is ridiculous and should go. Stricter checks on goods from the far east are the solution. Given the huge geopolitical changes we are experiencing right now, I can see this happening in that context.

[spudfan]

China, believe it or not, is still classed as a "developing" country and that is why it gets all of these deals with European postal system.

[amdaley]

4 hours ago, irishmail said:

I did contact Hattons, they have changed their policy a bit, they say they will refund the VAT but not the handling charge!  This is a copy of the email that that I sent to  the CEO at Hattons yesterday, along with his reply.   I know the admin fee is 'only' €3.50 but that is not the point, is it a ploy from Anpost to see how much more money they can try and get out of people?  

"Hi Richard,

I have today received a notification from Anpost (Irish postal service) requesting customs/VAT charges on my recent order.   Apart from a few issues last summer all of my recent orders from Hattons have been received without any issue.  Earlier I spoke to one of your customer service representatives, (Christov) via live chat , however he told me that I would only be refunded the VAT and not the admin fee.  I do not see why I should lose out.

Could you if at all possible look into this for me.    

Information on the card from Anpost is:_

 

Customs Value :            €xxxx

Customs Reference :   xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tracking ID Number :   xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Customs charges;

Import Duty   €0.00

Excise Duty     €0.00

VAT :                €xxxxx

Admin Fee     €3.50

Total to pay    €xxxx

 

When I contacted Anpost customer service all they told me was that the item was from outside the EU and had to be paid despite me saying that Hatton's were registered for Irish VAT.  I would appreciate any help or advice that you can give in regards to this issue. 

 

Regards,  John"

"Hi John

Thanks for your order and email. Our policy is that shipping and duty is paid for by the customer. I agree that admin fees are not welcome, and we honestly do our best to make a "level playing field" to stop any customers feeling this way. I am working on ways for us to process these more seamlessly, so in the future there are no (or reduced) fees like this

I hope this is a useful explanation?

 

Richard"

Check the Hattons customs label when the package arrives & see if its ok.

It seems with An Post  it depends who scans your package as to which way things will go.

Its a mess with them but what's new

[connollystn]

I bought a couple of locomtives from a retailer in the U.S.A. two weeks ago and it has been in this country since last Saturday. Still waiting for An Post to process it - I.R.M. will probably have launched a new model before I receive my locomotives.

[Georgeconna]

The old days of getting stuff in a few days is gone. No point in Cribbing about it, If you want it Sooner , if possible buy within the EU.

Ordered some RC Boat stuff on Friday from the UK March the 31st,  got the An post notice Wednesday, Paid the vat tis on it way, Probably Tuesday now when I will see it. so what used to be 2 days is now taking 2 weeks to get something in from our Neighbours, Pretty daft but that's the deal

 

 

[connollystn]

@Georgeconna - I thought the point of this thread is to crib about customs & V.A.T. etc. The reason I purchased from the United States is that it works out around 100€ cheaper than buying same items in Europe, that's including V.A.T. My preference is to buy local where I can but when it comes to model railways there's nothing in Ireland that bares any semblence to a model railway store.

[connollystn]

Regarding my U.S. purchases, they're still in the Dublin 12 parcel hub. Beginning to think that An Post isn't fit for purpose.

[spudfan]

An Post will have received your parcel from the American postal service. When you finally receive it lodge a complaint with the American postal service giving the details of your parcel like date of posting in the USA etc. To get the contract from the U.S. postal service An Post have to fulfill certain commitments, one of which is the delivery of the item within a certain time frame. Email or write to the CEO of An Post telling him you are going to do this. 

[connollystn]

Thanks @spudfan for that helpful advice. It's been with An Post since 10th April last and no sign of it being delivered. You're probably right about An Post having contractual obligations with that company because over the years I've had packages with USPS stamps on them but delivered to my by a variety of courier companies.

[Sean]

That's great to know, placed a hattons order last night so am in prayer mode that it lands safely.

[irishmail]

On 15/4/2022 at 12:44 PM, amdaley said:

Check the Hattons customs label when the package arrives & see if its ok.

It seems with An Post  it depends who scans your package as to which way things will go.

Its a mess with them but what's new

Should of updated last week.  I paid the VAT and Anpost fee and amazingly the item arrived the next day.   

When the package arrived all seemed to be ok with it, I did not notice anything different to previous orders,  so seems to have possibly been Anpost mess-up when item was scanned, (when I put in the tracking/custom's info from Anpost it said sender unknow) anyway, I contacted Hatton's and emailed them the Anpost receipt and correspondence and they gave me a full refund of the VAT & charges.

[amdaley]

7 hours ago, irishmail said:

Should of updated last week.  I paid the VAT and Anpost fee and amazingly the item arrived the next day.   

When the package arrived all seemed to be ok with it, I did not notice anything different to previous orders,  so seems to have possibly been Anpost mess-up when item was scanned, (when I put in the tracking/custom's info from Anpost it said sender unknow) anyway, I contacted Hatton's and emailed them the Anpost receipt and correspondence and they gave me a full refund of the VAT & charges.

Just an An Post mess up as usual

I just wish they'd train their staff properly.

[Sean]

just got one of those scam "click this link and pay 2 euro in VAT" dodgy texts for the first time in a long time, first time in a long time im actually waiting on uk post too so i almost clicked, seems a bit too coincidental if you ask me.

[Mayner]

5 hours ago, Sean said:

just got one of those scam "click this link and pay 2 euro in VAT" dodgy texts for the first time in a long time, first time in a long time im actually waiting on uk post too so i almost clicked, seems a bit too coincidental if you ask me.

Probably a co-incidence rather than a security breach at An Post, scammers know that An Post/Customs are collecting vat on almost every parcel that arrives in Ireland which makes it worth setting up  Vat and Customs clearance scams.

The move to on-line transactions has been a boom for scammers, last year I regularly received scam e-mails from bogus parcel companies, banks and government departments the common thread was a dodgy e-mail address, a demand or an offer of money, within a seemingly authentic looking message.

[Sean]

I wouldn't call it a security breach per se but I dont think it would be a massive stretch for an employee somewhere along the delivery chain to be casually harvesting data from the outside of envelopes as he goes about his ordinary daily routine handling said envelopes?

 

I too had been bombarded with them daily for a good few months but they had all but stopped until this today, and as i am literally due a delivery today it does make me a little suspicious.

I would say i am more tech savvy than most, part of that generation that grew up with computers and the internet. the scams become more and more sophisticated over time and a couple in recent times have had me doing a double take for the real thing.

 

Its probabaly me being a little paranoid too but at the same time it definitely wouldnt surprise me, gonna keep an eye on it for the next order i make from outside the eu zone.

[GSR 800]

13 hours ago, Sean said:

just got one of those scam "click this link and pay 2 euro in VAT" dodgy texts for the first time in a long time, first time in a long time im actually waiting on uk post too so i almost clicked, seems a bit too coincidental if you ask me.

Thats what they are betting on, same with the bank text scams, half the time they are telling me theres suspicious activity on an account in a bank I dont have an account with.

Not to say it's impossible but they only have to get it right once.

 

[Mayner]

2 hours ago, GSR 800 said:

Thats what they are betting on, same with the bank text scams, half the time they are telling me theres suspicious activity on an account in a bank I dont have an account with.

Not to say it's impossible but they only have to get it right once.

 

 

I loved the old days when someone phoned (usually from a Call Center in South Asia) claiming there is a problem with our computer or bank account and playing them along till they realised that they had a "false positive" before going totally ballistic shouting and swearing before hanging up. It was pretty obvious that the operators were paid by results and got pissed off with time wasters. 

These days the scammers use automated phone messages and phising e-mail.

Its possible the scammers are harvesting e-mail addresses from posts on social media site or actually buying data from businesses that harvest and sell our personal data for marketing purposes (large social media platforms, banks and postal operators?)

https://www.anpost.com/Security#:~:text=Security Hub,help you stay safe online.

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by Mayner

[irishmail]

Hi,   Has anyone had any experience of using the Border parcel motel in Belcoo?  

https://www.facebook.com/borderparcelmotel

May be of use??

[Noel]

Just before brexit we switched online purchasing away from UK sites to mainly German and other EU sites. Amazon.de now has good postage rates to Ireland, the likes of modelbahnshoplippe have excellent service and keen prices. Hattons have DDP as they are registered for VAT in Ireland so should be no an post requests for UK import fees anymore.

 

[jhb171achill]

I've read the above posts with interest. Me too; in terms of scam texts, delayed delivfery, catastrophic mistakes, inefficiency and so on with An Post....etc.

What I do now is buy locally when I can - in person (Mark's Models). Not everyone can do that, of course, but they can post within Ireland. Odds and ends from mainland Europe, despite all being in the EU, seem to be subject to longer delivery times than before. Much, of course, of what we all buy is in Brexitstan, so I have them delivered to an esteemed friend who lives within UK borders.

[murphaph]

When I send parcels to Ireland from Germany using the normal post they usually take 1 week or slightly less to arrive. I sent a parcel to a forum member on Tuesday and it got there yesterday (Friday). That's the fastest I've ever had a parcel arrive from here it has to be said. That's only a day more than I'd expect it to take within Germany!

[Mayner]

10 hours ago, murphaph said:

When I send parcels to Ireland from Germany using the normal post they usually take 1 week or slightly less to arrive. I sent a parcel to a forum member on Tuesday and it got there yesterday (Friday). That's the fastest I've ever had a parcel arrive from here it has to be said. That's only a day more than I'd expect it to take within Germany!

Transit times to Ireland and An Post customs clearance appear to have improved significantly since this thread 1st opened.

We recently shipped an item (from New Zealand) to a customer in Ireland in exactly 7 days including Customs clearance.

While some of the larger UK retailers such as Hatton's export items to the EU Vat paid, its not a viable option unless a business has a high volume/value of export trade to the EU.

Some of the smaller specialist UK suppliers are not registered for UK Vat because of low business turnover.

As a small retailer I looked at the option of offering a DTP (delivery and tax paid) >$150 & IOSS (import one stop ship) <€150.00 service to customers in the EU and UK, but it actually worked out cheaper for the customer to pay the An Post (or Royal Mail) fee and Vat upon arrival than up front in the purchase price, as a result of higher admin costs. 

 

[StevieB]

It’s the inconsistency that gets me. The first time I bought from John in NZ, I had to pay a whole load of import, for want of a better expression, but the second time there was nothing to pay. Either way, the models were worth the wait. Thanks John.

Stephen

[irishmail]

Looks like Anpost are back to thier antics once again!   Got an order from Hattons, say they were unable to deliver, but have never tried, it has not left Dublin!

01 March 2023 01:12

Your post has left An Post DUBLIN MAIL CENTRE, DUBLIN 12

24 February 2023 16:26

We could not deliver your post. We will try to return it to the sender. DUBLIN MAIL CENTRE, DUBLIN 12

 

[amdaley]

14 minutes ago, irishmail said:

Looks like Anpost are back to thier antics once again!   Got an order from Hattons, say they were unable to deliver, but have never tried, it has not left Dublin!

01 March 2023 01:12

Your post has left An Post DUBLIN MAIL CENTRE, DUBLIN 12

24 February 2023 16:26

We could not deliver your post. We will try to return it to the sender. DUBLIN MAIL CENTRE, DUBLIN 12

 

Have you contacted An Post. They're usually very quick to reply if you contact them on Twitter.