eBay and VAT post-1 Jan. 2021

[M9reno]

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8 hours ago, pedaes said:

As the prices are high to start probably will make their stuff a no no!

Just as classic Nikon gear (mostly coming from Japan) is priced when sold in the UK, UK-sourced second-hand Leica gear seems likely to become more desirable - and pricier - thanks to the tidy margin created by VAT. 

Brexit might well turn out to be the most powerful treatment against my GAS ever invented.  What a depressing thought. 

[zeitz]

This post is a little bit off the topic because I am not in either the UK or the EU, but I wanted to underline the complexity of importing and duty/tariff determination.  I attached a page from a US customs document (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) that covers some items of interest to this group.  You will notice that there are three rates of duty - 1 General, 1 Special and 2.  And you will notice that the breakdown itself is rather bizarre; I think it reflects items that used to be made in the US and were intended to be protected against foreign competition, such as instant print cameras and 110 cameras.  Updates to the schedule must be seldom except for the rate.

For an expensive camera and lens that I won at the Wetzlar Auction in October and that was shipped by FedEx, I actually talked to the customs agent on the phone.  FedEx gave me the e-mail address of the agent to start the process!  After an exchange of e-mails, she called me.  Wetzlar Auctions made two errors.  First the description was inadequate because it didn't use the words "camera" or "lens".  The agent didn't know what a Leicaflex SL2 was or what a Telyt was.  And because the camera and lens were on one line item, the classification would be based on the most expensive of the two.  The second error was that Wetzlar Auctions listed the buyer's premium on a second line.  The buyer's premium is not an imported thing so it should not be on the customs form at all.  The result - no duty or tariff, the shipment was released fast enough that it arrived on time.

What US Customs really wants is the code from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, the country where it was made, the country it was shipped from, the price and if was new or used.  They don't care who made it or what the model is.  That is the only way they can navigate through the process of assigned duty/tariff charges.

 

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