BREXIT and taxes

[David DeTenyo]

I'm mad (and I don't get angry easily, trust me), and I need to 'ventilate' ...

With all due respect to everyone in the U.K who voted for Brexit, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I respect that, but in this miserable situation Mr. Boris has created (again, with respect), I will not buy a lot of magic (or Lego for that matter) in the UK anymore.

I bought a magic trick from Alan Warner (The Lightning Box) last year and as always it took a couple of months for him to make it. I need to pay DOUBLE in custom taxes

I also suspect Belgian/EU customs to deliberately check UK parcels. I bought a bunch of fake-Lego trees and plants (sorry, they are for my little boy who loves dino's and forests ) from China. 3,5 EURO delivery costs, 2 weeks to deliver, no custom taxes whatsover (total value was 40 EURO).
Magic Wagon (Thailand)? Almost never custom taxes.
Tenyo from Hitomi (Japan): Never custom taxes.
USA: a chance of 1/10 for custom taxes.

Any opinions?

[Chris Wahlers]

Hi David,

I sympathise. I run a business that trades across the EU - fortunately we only have a couple of different products (for import/export purposes), we work closely with a large forwarding agent and have a small team focussed on it, but even so it’s been a nightmare. For a relatively small magic dealer it must be incredibly difficult and frustrating. I purchased some tricks from Italy recently, and they arrived without a hitch, but that was largely because they’d fudged all the claims of origin on the shipping documents (unless Tenyo is now being made in Italy!). For those trying to follow the rules it will be difficult, but I’m sure we’ll work our way through it collectively in time. Another unnecessary headache at an already difficult time though...

Best,
Chris

[Rob Rand]

Must admit that I’ve become very hesitant in ordering magic items from the UK since 1-1-2021...

Luckily many items I want are available at the Dutch magic shops, for instance Dynamitemagic sells lots of Alakazam stuff.

But yes, the Brexit sucks. A lot.

[Olaf S]

I'm mad (and I don't get angry easily, trust me), and I need to 'ventilate' ...

David, I can totally understand you, I feel the same way. I had just bought a MW trick from England
and had not yet internalized the new regulations. Now I also expect high import expenses which of
course make the purchase very expensive and of course much longer waiting times due to customs
clearance until the package then finally arrives with me.

I also had to pay 4 € to > PayPal for a transfer to a friend and this amount is also due for smaller
amounts. Previously, such a payment to a friend was not associated with any costs - For me, this
means that buying something from England should no longer be attractive in most cases. I think
for both sides this is a big disadvantage and many smaller retailers will suffer a lot and some will
probably even have to stop their activities.

[Ralf R]

I ordered a Vorso MK1 spinning top (well, not a magic item, but quite close) from the UK manufacturer just before the new customs tax rules came into effect. Not only did the delivery take a long time, also the customs fees made the purchase much more expensive. I used to order regularly from Alakazam and Big Blind Media but I've stopped this after this negative experience.

[Chris Wahlers]

Not to get too political, but...

150936921_1682692828581820_5815123467594303200_o.jpg

Funny, so long as you're not the butt of the joke...

[Olaf S]

Not to get too political, but...
Funny, so long as you're not the butt of the joke...

Maybe alternative facts help to avoid custom tax

Will England still be above water in 10 years

[Olaf S]

I need to pay DOUBLE in custom taxes

What do you mean with > pay double ?

Tax as high as the magic trick ?

[BillD]

Just recently I was looking at bidding on an eBay UK listing for a MW item……the shipping to France was going to be £20.45 and then the UK Global Shipping Program wanted to add another £64.96 as an up front tax making it a total of £85.41 (38%) on top of the starting bid price. Obviously, if the item sold for more than the starting bid price then, the tax would have also increased.
Needless to say I didn't bid on the item.

[David DeTenyo]

What do you mean with > pay double ?

Tax as high as the magic trick ?

After rereading that was unintentionally indeed a bit misleading, so no and yes, I don't have to pay twice the price in taxes of the trick. It is more like (almost) the price of the trick in taxes.
- 21% VAT
- extra 'custom administration cost' ( )
- extra customs duty tax because it was more expensive than 150 EURO
- some 'extra cost' I have no idea what's it all about ... .

Luckaly this was the last Alan Warner I wanted to complete my 'most wanted list of items' from Alan. The total is still less than some prices people ask for certain (second hand!) Warner items on Ebay ... . I suppose this has to do with the waiting time when you order directly from Alan, which is considerable - absolutely no point of critisism whatsoever - he clearly states the production time when you order and always tries to improve that. These items are made by hand and he has a lot of orders!

As Bill wrote, the relative total tax does decrease when an item gets more expensive of course ... .

[Olaf S]

Brexit not only makes the purchase much more expensive, but also delays the receipt enormously.
My order arrived after 3 days in Germany, which is relatively fast but now the package is processed
at customs in Frankfurt and that will take about 3 weeks until it is released !! This means that from
purchase to receipt of the goods pass 4 weeks - which is a logistical disaster - and is for me every
time again very deterrent to make such a purchase.