[Arm-netbook] pengpod

[peter green]

Neal Peacock wrote:
> You are going to have to pay the VAT regardless, if you buy direct UPS 
> will collect it.  If I had a reseller in the UK, he would just be 
> charging it to you and in fact would have to prepay most of when 
> importing which increases his risk since I dont think he gets it back 
> if he reexports for any reason, I'm not 100% about EU law though. 
Assuming your hypothetical UK reseller is a VAT registered buisness he 
will be able to claim back the VAT he is charged on import. He will then 
have to charge and pay VAT when he sells it to a non-vat registered 
entity in the EU or any entity in the UK. He will not have to charge and 
pay VAT if he sells it to a customer outside the EU or if he sells it to 
a VAT registered buisness in another EU country.

If the reseller isn't a VAT registered buisness then afaict they will 
have to pay VAT on import and wont be able to claim it back even if he 
sells it outside the EU :(
>
> There is no way to avoid it.
It's not just about the VAT itself, its about what surrounds it.

Firstly there is a  handling charge for collecting the VAT. In my 
personal experiance it's been arround £10 but i've heard of it being as 
high as £30 in some cases. You don't know what this charge will be until 
the package arrives (and yes I have looked on carriers websites and 
failed to find any details of their charging schemes for this). For a 
£50-£100 item this is a fairly substational addition to the total price.

And then there is the hassle of dealing with it. UPS want the driver to 
be paid then and there which is workable if the package is for you 
personally and you personally will be there when it arrives but can be 
problematic otherwise (and given the uncertainty of international 
delivery times it's rather hard to ensure you will personally be there 
to meet the driver). The post office will just put a small slip through 
the letterbox and wait for you to pay before delivering adding another 
day to the already rediculously slow international post. Fedex send you 
a bill a week or so after yoru item arrives, better hope you don't miss 
it and end up with the debt collectors calling. Personally I find the 
fedex system the least horrible to deal with but I don't like any of them.

All in all unless the seller manages the VAT (and if applicable customs 
duty) from their end (which some do but most don't) buying items whose 
price is over the VAT threshold from sellers outside the EU is a PITA 
involving both unclear costs and extra hassle.

The real questions are
1: whether the cost of bulk delivery to a UK reseller, markup of the UK 
reseller and final delivery would be more or less then the delivery cost 
(including the VAT collection fee) for direct delivery
2: if it's more whether the extra cost is sufficiantly small to be worth 
the reduction in hassle.

P.S. in the UK with the exception of a few special categories of product 
(tobacco alchohol, perfumes and toilet waters iirc) you can legally 
bring back up to £390 worth of goods for personal use or as a gift (but 
not with the intent to resell) when returning from abroad without paying 
any duty or VAT. It's probablly not worth making a special trip to take 
advantage of this but if you are travelling outside the EU anyway it may 
be worth considering.

P,P.S, i'm not blaming you for this screwed up situation, i'm just 
explaining it to you.