Recently i viewed a short video regarding people who order goods from the EU. The upshot of it was simply this, if you order something from the EU to the UK you will likely be stung with the third of the price you pay for the goods as a tax. Call it what you want, VAT, import duty, Its a another rip off tax and probably designed to teach the UK lesson for wanting to be out of the EU and rule itself. The guy in the video ordered an item for £300, he was not told about the tax until UPS sent him a card to say, we have your parcel but you have to pay £80 in tax before he could have it, almost a third of the price. I was reluctant to believe it but it also happened to two people i work with and now, as i understand it, one of our fellow forum members has also been stung for this tax.
I myself have indeed ordered a film from the EU so i will shortly find out if i am be stung or whether it gets through. I guess all this will do is ensure we think long and hard before ordering from the EU, after all, they have show their true colours more than once since we left.
I know we already pay taxes when ordering from overseas but this has been bought in so fast and all that bollocks about a deal is proving to be nothing more than hot air. It will certainly make the hobby more expensive especially as new prints are generally printed in the EU, perhaps someone coming up with printing our own stuff isnt such a bad idea, after all, we did it better than most countries.
These costs are generally shown on the US sales, you know what yuor going to pay at the time of buying,(or winning on ebay) but this lot dont tell you until you get a note in the door from the courier. This seems very wrong to me, surely this cost should be made aware to the buyers at the point of paying.

One way, as Tom says, is to use the Global Shipping Program for buying films from the US. This way you pay all fees, including the film cost, when you click to buy. This ensures that the parcel comes "straight through" without any worries about a surprise request for a payment before delivery.

I bought a Buy It Now film from California on 17 February. It reached the Global Shipping unit in Kentucky on 25 February, and it was delivered to me by Hermes on 5 March.

As regards buying "straight" from abroad via eBay, I don't understand about the eBay deduction of 20% for VAT. When that parcel arrives in the UK how do the import/customs departments know that VAT has already been paid?

Thanks Maurice, it sounds like someone, somewhere is making money when they shouldn't be.

Tom,

Hasn't that always been the way, the big buisnesses get bigger, and the smaller ones get smaller, unfortunately that has always been the way, and the UK leaving the EU has just put it into perspective once again!

Anyone bought from Italy recently and got stung with extra charges,thinking of buying and wondering what I am going to be hit with besides what is advertised ?