I`m not 100% sure how it`l work, I did look into it and read several .GOV documents on it but it`s still unclear, as far as I could tell from one of them the Tax (theft) will be at the point of sale rather than at customs when it enter the country. China is listed as a Friend as far as trade is concerned so there`s categories that are exempt.

It shouldn’t change anything with regards to China, as China isn’t in the EU. So should just be the same as it is now.

Soon they just might open AE warehouse in da uk.

Tariffs with China will be the same.

Cabotage between the UK and EU will end. Yes that is a real word.

Some shipping may take longer.

Hopefully one in the Eu also , China post is super slow at the moment

Personally I’d say cancelling would be a major over reaction. Or are you talking seriously big orders worth £1000+ type of thing?

As for your answer….. nobody knows as of yet. As no decision has been taken. Until such a time that it is, this will remain the same. However even once a decision has been taken, there will be a lead time before anything actually changes. And I’m willing to bet that by and large things will remain largely the same. As least for the short to medium term.

TMaxxJJ wrote:

It shouldn’t change anything with regards to China, as China isn’t in the EU. So should just be the same as it is now.

It effects all imports to UK from all countries outside of UK. Whether ordering from China, the States or France, tax will be collected at point of sale and payable directly to the UK by those non-UK outlets.

There is no minimum threshold, all goods will be taxed.

Jasetaylor wrote:

TMaxxJJ wrote:

It shouldn’t change anything with regards to China, as China isn’t in the EU. So should just be the same as it is now.

It effects all imports to UK from all countries outside of UK. Whether ordering from China, the States or France, tax will be collected at point of sale and payable directly to the UK by those non-UK outlets.

There is no minimum threshold, all goods will be taxed.

Jasetaylor wrote:

There is no minimum threshold, all goods will be taxed.

This is the first time I’ve heard this. Do you have a source?

Currently there is no VAT on imports under £15.00 and gifts under £39.00. My reading of the guidance is this will continue in 2021.

Currently customs duty only applies to parcels valued over £135. Is that changing?

Under the new 2021 tariffs, the world-wide import duty on flashlights and flashlight parts will be 0%. It has been 2.5% from WTO countries.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-tariffs-from-1-january-2021?utm_campaign=...

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

https://www.check-future-uk-trade-tariffs.service.gov.uk/tariff?q=flashl...

That’s not my quote

My personal opinion is that, certainly in the short run, nothing in this case will change after Brexit. Brexit only affects the parties directly involved, that’s the UK and the rest of the EU. NOT China (or US).

If & when taxes are collected by Ali, and transferred to the country of the buyer is not specific Brexit. That’s a thing of the future and also applies to US and other countries that sign the treaty involved.

I do think Brexit might affect the shipping duration, especially when the AE plane lands in Amsterdam. I foresee some delay because of procedures, red tape and other formalities. But maybe I’m wrong because the Schiphol is a tax-free area, and it is only a transfer.

TheAuditor wrote:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/business-55263177

It seems that Royal Mail is already under huge pressure due to Covid and the surge in demand for their services. With Xmas about to kick off and No Deal all but certain, I think I will cancel my orders and wait. It’s not like I don’t have enough flashlights!

What is the problem you are actually trying to avoid. It all seems rather bizarre if honest.

TMaxxJJ wrote:

That’s not my quote

Sorry bad edit on my part. Fixed now.

Andrew_Debbie wrote:

TMaxxJJ wrote:

That’s not my quote

Sorry bad edit on my part. Fixed now.

It looks like aliexpress has started charging tax….

UltraMagnus wrote:

It looks like aliexpress has started charging tax….

!https://i.imgur.com/2TUtGZt.png!

I guess the best course of action would be to refuse it. Fighting customs is a mare, though I did do it and won triumphantly lol!

TheAuditor wrote:

So far everything I had ordered from BG and AE prior to Xmas has shown up. Some Vapcell batteries came via Turkey and have just made it to the RDC. I will be interested to see what happens there. Stuff ordered this year seems to be moving along as normal. However I did order a knife and the supplier had to refund me as his shipment was sent back to the US because of (he says) Tier 4 restrictions.

I ordered battery’s from aliexpress and mine went to turkey
And said at turkey , aliexpress refunded me

Seems a lot of battery’s goto turkey from China, someone else had this also

Postman just dropped my blitzwolf light in the box, no charges for my received first order of the year

some sites haven`t added the VAT thing yet, I bought a P60 host from Lumens Factory After Jan 1`st and wasn`t charged VAT, so how will they know when it arrives? and worse what`s to stop them charging you VAT twice!? at the point of sale AND when it arrives in the UK.

Just received a Convoy delivery this morning, no problems. It should be only EU to UK is affected. Some Chinese companies have warehouses in the EU, but it shouldn’t effect them if the end to end sale is China to UK. It might highlight some VAT fiddling if it has been going on. I’ve never been charged duty or VAT on a delivery from China. The invoice value is always below the £15 limit or sent as a gift.

From what I can figure out, EU companies now need a UK EORI number and UK companies need a EU EORI number to get shipments through EU and UK customs. These are given with VAT numbers, so as a UK company we now need a UK and EU VAT number. This is why some EU companies are not shipping to the UK at the moment. They don’t have a UK VAT number and there are delays in issuing VAT and EORI numbers.

‘The invoice value is always below the £15 limit’
But I believe that changes now, everything gets VAT, or at least that’s how I read it. Couldn’t make it nice and simple could they lol, I’m not sure anyone really understands!

apparently BoJo`s making another anouncement at 5pm, this time it`s about Borders, so maybe that will clarify things or not? who knows! LOL

Katherine Alicia wrote:

apparently BoJo`s making another anouncement at 5pm, this time it`s about Borders, so maybe that will clarify things or not? who knows! LOL

G0OSE wrote:

‘The invoice value is always below the £15 limit’ But I believe that changes now, everything gets VAT, or at least that’s how I read it. Couldn’t make it nice and simple could they lol, I’m not sure anyone really understands!

You might be right:

Low value consignment relief (LVCR), which is an import VAT exemption for goods valued at £15 or less, has been removed in:

Great Britain for goods imported from outside the UK.

Northern Ireland for goods ordered remotely that are imported from outside the UK and EU.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-and-overseas-goods-sold-directly-to-customers-in-the-uk

That is correct and also applicable for all of the EU:
https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/news/new-form-customs-declaration-...

Various countries have already implemented this change or will in the near future. So if you live in Europe or the UK, you have to declare VAT from the first penny spent. I don’t know how the actual process in each country would look like though. If there is a high “handling fee” by the national post operators (like Royal Mail), then it wouldn’t make sense to buy low cost items from overseas any longer.

Not sure if this is related to Brexit or Covid or none of the above.

But I did notice some weird shipping prices on Banggood two nights back.

I wanted to order some bits. But they had shipping rates of $25 other similar items with the same shipping option and location were more like the normal $1.50 shipping. Not sure what is going on.

I wanted a Convoy S2+ to use as a host. The host kits are $11 with $1.50 shipping. The flashsale S2+ with driver and LED (shipping from CN) was $9 with $25 shipping.