Advice needed.

I recently sold an item on eBay here in France for delivery to UK and was surprised to find that the buyer had been charged VAT on the sale price. Reading articles on the internet I thought that all sales between private individuals were VAT free if under £135 or have I got this wrong 

If I lived in the UK the buyer would have paid no VAT so saving them some money, if in future any UK buyer of items I'm selling has to pay VAT then that is the end of me selling on eBay as the listed price would have to be less for the price to be realistic with the VAT included.

Only posting this as it seems that UK buyers may need to pay more than listed price if buying privately from Europe on eBay.

Yup, any imports to the UK from anywhere are now subject to UK VAT. As I understand it (i.e. not a lot) the £135 threshold applies to duty, for items that are dutiable. The old below £15 VAT exemption has been abolished. Exporters from the EU to the UK may be able to not charge their local VAT, but this obviously doesn't apply to private sales.

Quote from: Dancess on February 23, 2021, 06:51:31 PM
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if in future any UK buyer of items I'm selling has to pay VAT then that is the end of me selling on eBay as the listed price would have to be less for the price to be realistic with the VAT included.
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No, don't stop listing. You list and let anyone who wants to bid, bid.

Look, it'll take a while for the penny to drop for a lot of UK buyers - not just buyers on ebay, but buyers from retail stores too. On a lot of purchases we're gonna pay VAT twice, at source and again at the border. We we're fool enough to allow a majority to vote for this, so we've gotta suck it up and accept it.

Yup, Brexit has put the kibosh on cheap EU imports now  The only way around it I can see is the same as my mate in the 'states used to do for me re: motorcycle parts. Mark the packages as gifts, not valued at (used to be about £35) whatever the rate is to qualify for no import duty.

The only issue with that is the insurance (if any) will only cover any damage up to the gifted amount.

Quote from: ShakyZZR on February 23, 2021, 08:04:29 PM
Yup, Brexit has put the kibosh on cheap EU imports now  The only way around it I can see is the same as my mate in the 'states used to do for me re: motorcycle parts. Mark the packages as gifts, not valued at (used to be about £35) whatever the rate is to qualify for no import duty.

The only issue with that is the insurance (if any) will only cover any damage up to the gifted amount.

And when HMRC randomly choose your parcel to check and prosecutions start for tax fraud.......

Fair enough I wont buy any more goods from anywhere outside the UK then. That's that sorted!