More Customs fun!

[irishmail]

More  fun for every one, the EU from  July will be imposing  €3.00 customs charge per item  for  items  from  outside the EU on  any  orders  under €150.00.  This will include  items  from the  UK unless they  are  delivered  duty  paid.

https://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/individuals/relief-low-value-consignments/index.aspx

[amdaley]

If anyone is buying from either Rails or The Model Centre in the UK beware.

If you are buying items from The Model Centre with a value under €150 you can pay for them but have them stored in a trunk system for you for up to 3 months in order to build up the value of the order to €150. Once the 3 months are up or the value of your items reaches €150 you can have them shipped together & therefore avoid the extra €3 per item customs charge.

If you are buying from Rails of Sheffield your items will be shipped straight away as Rails don't provide any kind of trunk service for customers. This means if your order contains say 5 different items you will be charged €3  Customs charge plus Vat on each item which is this instance would cost you an extra €15 plus Vat. This could make the order very expensive very quick    If your order contains 5 of the same item the charge will be €3 on the whole order plus vat.

Both The Model Centre & Rails ship items with British vat removed so you will pay €3 per each different item in the package plus Irish vat plus An Post handling charge of €6.95 if the total is less than €150. If the value of the package is over €150 you will pay Irish vat plus An Post charge of €6.95 as normal.

I know a lot of people will already know most of this but the information may be useful to those who don't.

Tony. 

Edited 2 hours ago by amdaley

[pjpbo]

It was bad enough ordering from the UK after Brexit but this just adds to the pain. I have used ModelbahnUnion in Germany for items but sadly no Irish products on there but they have OO gauge items at least from Hornby/Bachmann/Dapol.

Pat 

[Mol_PMB]

Rails are also introducing a new ordering and payment platform called Purple Dot. I don't usually use Rails and have no direct info or experience of this, but there's a fair bit of comment on this RMweb thread. One of the present issues seems to be that even multiple similar items ordered at the same time are being sent in individual parcels. 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/201248-purple-dot/#comments

[DJ Dangerous]

44 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Rails are also introducing a new ordering and payment platform called Purple Dot. I don't usually use Rails and have no direct info or experience of this, but there's a fair bit of comment on this RMweb thread. One of the present issues seems to be that even multiple similar items ordered at the same time are being sent in individual parcels. 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/201248-purple-dot/#comments

Jaysus!

Why are they all losing their minds, now? It’s almost July, and here’s an extract from an email from Rails of Sheffield, sent in late April:

 

”ABOUT 'PURPLE DOT' PREORDERS

Our New Purple Dot pre-order system will offer various benefits over our existing pre-ordering infrastructure. We'll be trialling it with this new Maxons Van, but then it will be rolled out sitewide in the near future. Do let us know if you have any feedback.

SINGLE CHECKOUT FOR IN-STOCK & PRE-ORDER ITEMS

With Purple Dot, you will no longer need to check out separately for in stock and pre-order items on our website - as they will all be unified into one process!

UPDATE YOUR DETAILS MORE EASILY

We will be offering a simpler way to update your card details, addresses and other information - right up to the point of your item processing.

INSTANT ACCESS TO YOUR PRE-ORDER HISTORY

There will be no more waiting for your preorders to appear, as you will be able to view details of any pre-orders you've made immediately using the Purple Dot portal.

️ BESPOKE OPTIONS AVAILABLE ON PRE-ORDERS

Finally, you will also be able to specify Rails Bespoke item customisations such as weathering, digital/ sound fittings and more where applicable. This isn't available right now but will be available during the full rollout.”