Beginner Buying from Ebay

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amandaNYY

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Amanda
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Hello, if you've bought anything from Ebay before, appreciate if you could answer my question!

When buying from sellers based in European countries, will there be custom taxes/ VAT charges that I would have to incur when shipping it into the UK?

I am looking to purchase some things off Ebay and they are from Germany/Spain and I don't know if there are any additional charges that I will incur that I don't know about.

Thanks for your help
 
Germany and Spain are EU countries and so, for the moment, are we. Therefor no additional customs duty or VAT. Delivery charges might be high so check that.
 
amandaNYY said:
When buying from sellers based in European countries, will there be custom taxes/ VAT charges that I would have to incur when shipping it into the UK?
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No. Within the EU there are no tariffs or extra charges. You pay the local VAT with the seller, so is a seller is in Germany the price will include German VAT.

.. for the time being..
 
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With anything high value, especially with international shipping, I'd make sure you pay through PayPal and are covered by the eBay buyer guarantee for refunds stemming from non-arrival or damage in transitz

I recently bought £600 of photography equipment from a seller who thought it was reasonable to send it in a Jiffy bag, then was very difficult about me returning the purchase that arrived completely smashed up - even suggested I'd damaged it all myself then wanted to return it for refund. Never have I been so glad of eBay's guarantee as they stepped in and gave me a full refund.
 
Hi, I live in Greece and purchase a lot from Ebay UK as it is often the cheaper option. To date never had a problem at my end, however on two occassions when I sent packages from here to the UK they have arrived in the UK within two to four days then 10 days to be delivered from the Heathrow hub.
Russ
 
Bluep said:
I recently bought £600 of photography equipment from a seller who thought it was reasonable to send it in a Jiffy bag, then was very difficult about me returning the purchase that arrived completely smashed up - even suggested I'd damaged it all myself then wanted to return it for refund. Never have I been so glad of eBay's guarantee as they stepped in and gave me a full refund.
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It will never cease to amaze me just how many people seem to think it's acceptable to send lenses in nothing but a jiffy bag - I've had more than one arrive that way, in addition to a camera and a flash. Never actually had any arrive damaged, but pretty sure that was due to sheer luck rather than anything else.
 
Yeah I was absolutely stunned. Underwater housing, camera and lens all wrapped individually in a flimsy tiny bit of bubble wrap and then the charger chucked in with some other accessories floating freely in the Jiffy bag. By the time it reached me only the housing was wrapped, the rest all loose and the screen broken (probably from an impact with the charger plug). He didn't even think to put the camera in the housing which is pretty tough. Then had the audacity to suggest I might have taking it diving and water damaged it and thats why I wanted to return it... thank goodness for eBay's guarantee.
 
Just check your delivery costs as sometimes these are horrendously high! Apart from that Ive brought a few items of ebay no issues, not sure I would spend to much on there though just incase I had any issues with it, I like to be able to go and have a face to face if theres any problems
 
Pompeyfc81 said:
Just check your delivery costs as sometimes these are horrendously high!
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...and sometimes, they're horrendously low, which often means they send via Hermes and are to be avoided like the plague. ;)

(I type this as I get the notification that a lens is out for delivery to me today. From Hermes. 50/50 chance of it turning up, then, judging from previous experiences with them!)
 
Fuzzdog said:
...and sometimes, they're horrendously low, which often means they send via Hermes and are to be avoided like the plague. ;)

(I type this as I get the notification that a lens is out for delivery to me today. From Hermes. 50/50 chance of it turning up, then, judging from previous experiences with them!)
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Tempting fate but I have sent 35 parcels with Hermes and no problems at all.
 
I sell a fair bit on eBay and I wouldn't send by My Hermes. Royal Mail or Collect+ for me. And anything even vaguely fragile gets sent in a box in the middle of lots of bubble wrap and newspaper padding.
 
nog said:
Tempting fate but I have sent 35 parcels with Hermes and no problems at all.
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I had three in the past year go horribly wrong from them, including one which was delivered to the wrong town, and one which completely disappeared without a trace, so touch all the wood you can while you're still on a winning streak. :D

Honestly, they're not *terrible* and most things do arrive (eventually) but they are quite possibly the worst company to deal with if there are any issues in my experience.
 
Hermes = avoid like the plague!

I waited in for my 300mm PF to be delivered, never turned up that day, despite coming up on the tracking as delivered! Found it a couple of days later, when a lady from the close round the corner, was in her shed and saw it on her shelf! Lives nowhere me either!
 
We have a double gate across our drive, about seven feet high. I came back and found I'd had a Hermes delivery, with a card saying it was behind the gate. Unless the driver came prepared with a ladder to get over the gate, he must have dropped it over. In fairness to him, it only said "Fragile" on the tape wrapped round the box...
 
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