Scrappers in the UK - ordering abroad from 1st Jan

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Scrappers in the UK - ordering abroad from 1st Jan

I hope this is OK to post here as I don't really have anywhere else to try and talk to anyone about it. I know lots of planner shops have already said they will no longer ship to the UK from the planner group on FB I belong to, and I know of just 1 designer in the scrapping community that I have found who has said they will no longer be selling to anyone in the UK after 31st December (that includes digital) and I'm now stuck wondering if I will be able to buy anything from any digital scrapping shops due to the Value Added Tax rule coming in, in just a matter of days. I haven't found any information on some of the other digi shops I purchase from.

Luckily for those in the rest of the EU, theirs were postponed until 1st July but ours is going ahead as was originally scheduled, so at least they will get an additional 6 months before the rules come in for them - and hopefully, all the shops will be able to find a solution as it will be affecting more countries by July, but not sure where that leaves us British scrappers in the coming months, nor am I even aware of any UK based digital shops - only physical products. I'm wondering if I will need to head to those shops and buy a bunch of bits from my wishlists while I am still able over the next few days!

I will probably sound a bit dense, but I am not even really sure what this is. I guess I will need to do some research.

Currently, packages go through customs when they enter the country and then that gets past on to us before we can receive the package. As per the new rules:

"Unlike today, when the import scheme is used, the seller will charge and collect the VAT at the point of sale to EU customers and declare and pay that VAT globally to the Member State of identification in the OSS. These goods will then benefit from a VAT exemption upon importation, allowing a fast release at customs."

You can Google "EU tax customs" and find out some more, the difference being (as I understand it at least) ours was not delayed. Googling "UK customs tax 1st January" also shows that it is on imports and doesn't appear to be for digital goods as they are not being imported, but it seems too confusing for those outside of the UK who weren't really aware of it sooner and has had no time to look into it better and be able to sort something out and have decided that it would just be easier not to sell to the UK for now.
Having looked more this morning it seems to be that only one shop who has said, which makes me think it definitely doesn't apply to digital goods because you can't import those into the country in a traditional sense and they just seemed to be a bit confused about the whole thing.

To be honest it's just a big mess!

I just read up on this. There was a mention of digital goods but it sounded like it was saying it doesn’t apply to those goods, as you say.

Sounds like a right pain though. I can see why sellers are preferring to refuse to sell goods to the uk rather than register for Uk vat especially small businesses of physical products.

It’s certainly confusing

VAT was always paid by the seller, but now has to be paid by the customer on receipt as far as I can tell. if you go to GovdotUK and look for "VAT and overseas goods sold to customers in the UK using online marketplaces." It explains what happens from January 1st.
If I read it properly? You don't get charged VAT unless it's over £135? If it's over £135 you may be liable for VAT and Customs Duty. I hope that will help.

Faith, I think the problem is that if the goods are below £135 then the seller has to pay the VAT. This means they need to be registered with HMRC to pay the vat directly to them. Which basically means that international small businesses won’t sell to UK buyers except through Etsy ebay etc.

Yes it's exactly as Kat says.
Previously anything under £15 (I think?) was exempt, you'd get a card through your door to pay customs on anything over that amount and they would hold it until the amount was paid (20% plus admin fee of about £8?) Now they are having it that the seller pays and it applies to all amounts and it does cut down on the RM admin fee which in a way is good, but it still means a lot of places aren't selling to the UK - There are a lot of digital shops that are still selling to us and the original shop I mentioned above took the notice off their shop so I'm guessing they are selling to us again so I would assume it only applies to physical goods entering the country.