Post-Brexit wine delivery from EU

So - an interesting update on an order from idealwine. The order was a collection of auction wins over Dec and early Jan.

They emailed me saying that I had to either pay the VAT, or collect it myself from France. I replied saying that I’d like to hold it with them until the summer when I might well collect it. They said that OK.

On Tuesday, UPS email me saying it’s been shipped, to arrive next week. It arrived this morning, no mention of any additional VAT or anything to pay. Either way, I now have the wine in my possession with no plans to give anyone any more money.

Who knows what happened...
 
I think it is basically a lottery as to whether customs does a check on a parcel or not. I have had a packet stopped and charges applied.

One interesting (worrying) thing is that there is no process of appeal against whatever figure you are charged. If you don't pay the number they come up with, the parcel gets sent back. This means you could get into a sticky situation if there were two boxes on the same invoice - if they both get stopped, I think you could be charged twice!
 
So - an interesting update on an order from idealwine. The order was a collection of auction wins over Dec and early Jan.

They emailed me saying that I had to either pay the VAT, or collect it myself from France. I replied saying that I’d like to hold it with them until the summer when I might well collect it. They said that OK.

On Tuesday, UPS email me saying it’s been shipped, to arrive next week. It arrived this morning, no mention of any additional VAT or anything to pay. Either way, I now have the wine in my possession with no plans to give anyone any more money.

Who knows what happened...
Russell,
I hope that is an end to it, but recently Debbi has received post delivery invoices for duty and admin fees from several of the carriers that have delivered goods to her 2-3 weeks previously.
 
I think it is basically a lottery as to whether customs does a check on a parcel or not. I have had a packet stopped and charges applied.

One interesting (worrying) thing is that there is no process of appeal against whatever figure you are charged. If you don't pay the number they come up with, the parcel gets sent back. This means you could get into a sticky situation if there were two boxes on the same invoice - if they both get stopped, I think you could be charged twice!
Steve,
The situation re duty and admin fees is particularly unfair if the goods turn up damaged or unsuitable....it really is so unfair .
 
Russell,
I hope that is an end to it, but recently Debbi has received post delivery invoices for duty and admin fees from several of the carriers that have delivered goods to her 2-3 weeks previously.
I've heard several similar accounts. Of the many suppliers I used to use not one is yet prepared to deliver to the UK; nothing seems to have changed since Jan 1st.
 
I wonder how much of that can be bounced back to the supplier?
You can just refuse to pay anything except the VAT and duty component. I did this with FedEx. You have no contract with the delivery firm and therefore they have no way to make you pay anything, though of course paying the VAT and duty does seem the decent thing to do. I called them and they immediately cancelled their extra fees. If you arrange a courier yourself it would be different.
 
You can just refuse to pay anything except the VAT and duty component. I did this with FedEx. You have no contract with the delivery firm and therefore they have no way to make you pay anything, though of course paying the VAT and duty does seem the decent thing to do. I called them and they immediately cancelled their extra fees. If you arrange a courier yourself it would be different.
VAT wasn't mentioned previously. In that case, the EU VAT should be reclaimed by the supplier, AIUI
 
Just to say that I've been sent a bill for £135 by Fedex. This is about £80 of VAT, £40 of other excise charges and £24 of Fedex admin.
Unlike Gareth, I've not been able to call the invoice enquiry line (the usual Covid excuses) but did speak to someone in their customs clearance team who seemed insistent that by ordering the wine, I was "the importer" and hence liable to any relevant (and some irrelevant) charges.
I've emailed the invoice enquiry team, but suspect they're playing more hardball here.
Just wondering where I stand legally here!
 
I think you're on weak ground, Alex. There can be no doubt that VAT and duty are due (from someone) on import, and it's quite difficult to argue that the someone shouldn't be you. As FedEx say, you ordered the wine, you're the importer. It can't be the seller as they're not in the UK*.

There is a separate question of whether the supplier should have covered the VAT and duty. It's probably covered in the T&C that none of us read.

All of this may change again. We're a limbo period until 1 July because systems/processes/rules weren't ready for 1 January.

---
* Unless seller has a branch or some other legal form, or a customs representative in the UK
 
I only disputed the £24 charge FedEx levied as I had not agreed to that and they had no contract with me so couldn't enforce it given that they had delivered it. Had they sent an invoice prior to delivery it would be a different matter as I could chose to pay it.

Obviously duty and VAT are payable from 1st Jan 2021 on wine coming into the UK from the EU. Only option if whether you or the seller pay it, and also if the seller reclaims any local VAT to reduce the overall cost to you.
 
I’ve had my IDealwine purchase shipped under bond to Seckford, even though it had already had French VAT paid on it. Still waiting for it to arrive but it does seem as though it’s passed customs. Sadly I think my days of buying from merchants in France, Germany and Spain are over. Can’t be ar*ed with the hassle. I would love it if that was my main Brexit concern.
 
Order from Tannico in Italy arrived on time (about a week or so after ordering) last week unharmed, incl free delivery
Yes, well they (and Decantalo, etc) know what they're doing. The people sending wine to me are a winery and so sending wine, especially outside of the EU is not a speciality. Indeed they delegated that to "a shipping company" whom I expected to be a little more with it....
 
I meant to say, although this sounds crazy, that an Austrian producer I was speaking to this week said (paraphrasing) “we can’t send anything to U.K. right now, not even ordinary Mail”. Can’t believe it’s true but she said it (in English).

The book I ordered from Paris on 10 December still hasn’t arrived.
But surely, David - A lot of the stuff that is being ordered daily from Amazon starts is fast journey from its home in the EU and gets direct to the consumer in the UK within 24/48 hours. How is this achieved?
 
Yes, well they (and Decantalo, etc) know what they're doing. The people sending wine to me are a winery and so sending wine, especially outside of the EU is not a speciality. Indeed they delegated that to "a shipping company" whom I expected to be a little more with it....
Alex, this could be because you live Deep South Cambridgeshire. Consider moving back to London and get your wines from these obscure wineries quicker.
 
As an exporter of wine I get to specify whether any duties and other charges at the destination end come back to me or get paid by the recipient. I actually have to pay an additional fee to have the charges come back to me. You never know what the charges will be or whether they will be applied at all. Traditionally the UK hasn't been too bad.

I am only talking about a case or two here, not a container load, which is a whole different story.

So if I am sending a case of samples to Tom for review I don't want him to have to pay anything so I would ask for any extra charges to come back to me, but if I happened to send a case of wine to a customer in another country (which is unlikely as it is incredibly expensive these days) the customer would be responsible for any duties etc. And I would already have paid excise tax on that case of wine as that is the way the NZ system works, but that wouldn't stop excise tax having to be paid at the other end as well.

I am not sure if this helps at all, but I imagine that any European winery that you order from directly will have no way of knowing what is likely to happen regarding duties etc once the wine arrives in the UK, so any uncertainty in that area will be the concern of the customer.
 
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