Purchasing from ebay UK - import charges

Forums › Off topic › Purchasing from ebay UK - import charges

dafman

4054 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2651

Trusted

#279654 30-Oct-2020 11:08

I'm looking to purchase an item from a private seller on ebay UK for £85.99. Postage is £15.90 (fair enough) but then ebay is adding a whopping £24.09 for import charges (being 28% on purchase price!).

I'm not up to play with current rules, but would have expected no GST on this purchase as is from a private individual in the UK, or 15% at a maximum?

Can any regular ebay buyers enlighten me?

lxsw20

3689 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2174

Subscriber

#2593897 30-Oct-2020 11:29

https://www.customs.govt.nz/personal/duty-and-gst/whats-my-duty-estimator/ - what result does that give you?

Oblivian

7345 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2117

ID Verified

#2593901 30-Oct-2020 11:35

Pretty sure Ebay add it regardless to NZ. Same as Amazon etc. Being the middleman and handling the money they do the ~$40K threshold

And likely add VAT thinking you are a UK resident too. Which shouldn't be.

Depending on the pre-determined classification of the item I think they can add duty too?

I chucked mens clothing in to the calculator under GBP. And it did a NZ exchange conversion, then x .10 'duty' based on clothing classification. So while you may not pay more when it arrives. Could be tacked on as part of the checkout now perhaps?..

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9996

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#2593903 30-Oct-2020 11:39

dafman:

I'm looking to purchase an item from a private seller on ebay UK for £85.99. Postage is £15.90 (fair enough) but then ebay is adding a whopping £24.09 for import charges (being 28% on purchase price!).

I'm not up to play with current rules, but would have expected no GST on this purchase as is from a private individual in the UK, or 15% at a maximum?

Can any regular ebay buyers enlighten me?

Makes zero difference if a product is new, 2nd hand, sold commercially, or sold privately - everything imported into NZ is liable for GST and/or duty. The only exception to this is products that are genuine gifts which have a NZ$110 threshold.

The "loophole" (if that's what you call it) is that it's up to the sender to collect this for orders under $1000, and it's only sellers that sell more than $50k worth of goods into NZ that are required to be GST registered. As eBay is GST registered they will collect GST and/or duty on all goods sold via their platform.

If you purchased the product from a seller who sells less than $50k worth of goods annually into NZ, or private individual, there is no requirement to collect GST and/or duty. Customs make the assumption that all orders under $1000 have had GST and/or duty paid.

tripper1000

1648 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1176

#2594047 30-Oct-2020 15:59

If Ebay is way off the mark with their import duty charges, it may be better to get it sent to youshop and sort the duty out through them instead.

Oblivian

7345 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2117

ID Verified

#2594069 30-Oct-2020 16:58

I wouldn't be surprised if Youshop tack on a higher fee rate this week and nullify that idea.

Outgoing is now 100% volumetric as a result of air forwarding costs.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/nz-post-hikes-international-postage-charges-changes-the-way-it-calculates-prices/2BVWQHWK5QETA5646EKAJQKFOM/

dafman

4054 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2651

Trusted

#2594088 30-Oct-2020 18:10

tripper1000:

If Ebay is way off the mark with their import duty charges, it may be better to get it sent to youshop and sort the duty out through them instead.

Good suggestion, thanks, will look into

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

dafman

4054 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2651

Trusted

#2598090 5-Nov-2020 08:56

Ok, by way of update - I purchased from ebay and took a punt on youshop.

On a purchase cost of $176, youshop charged $47, being $22 postage and $25 gst.

This compares with an estimated $80 had I posted via ebay.

Still expensive though.

tchart

2396 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 577

ID Verified

Trusted

#2598103 5-Nov-2020 09:18

Oblivian: I chucked mens clothing in to the calculator under GBP. And it did a NZ exchange conversion, then x .10 'duty' based on clothing classification.

Interesting, is it the fact that youre buying off ebay.co.uk or that its clothing. Ive bought a couple of items off ebay.com which are from UK based sellers and I only get charged GST.