Creation Watches Import Duty

[wjkerfoot]

My SKX007 arrived yesterday with the £6 RM tax free option. No probs with the service and a pretty cheap deal!

Excellent, seems we are all happy customers, seems the most cost effective way to buy modest far eastern watches

[vadiro]

My next one would probably be the SNZH57 to use for a FFF.

[mjoranga]

Had a good read about this and ordered my first watch from Creation watches... The Seiko Sports srpc89, will update when the watch turns up.

[Vas84]

Hi all,
I’m new to the forum.
I used DHL When buying a SKX007J1 and my watch is now in the UK. DHL have emailed me, Will they release the watch and invoice me for duty or withhold the item until duty is paid?

If the item goes back to the sender from unpaid duty, will I be refunded the purchase?

Wish I had used Royal Mail. Can’t imagine why this isn’t the standard option?

Thanks in advance
Vas

[Ruggertech]

Wish I had used Royal Mail. Can’t imagine why this isn’t the standard option?

I cant answer your questions sorry, but royal mail is one of the options you can select at checkout, costs about six quid as opposed to free for the others.

Sent from my SM-A105FN using Tapatalk

[canuck]

I recall creation being cheaper... but their customer service doesn’t always get the best reviews . Good luck with your decision.

[IAmATeaf]

What makes you think you wouldn’t have got duty if you used RM?

[woodruffm]

It's forwarded via a UK address if you use the RM option, hence no duty to pay.

My SKX from Creation was forwarded via Manchester.

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[Kingstepper]

It's forwarded via a UK address if you use the RM option, hence no duty to pay.

My SKX from Creation was forwarded via Manchester.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Strange how they get away with this

[helidoc]

Strange how they get away with this

Quite

I’ve ordered my SKX007J from Rob@Monsterwatches in the Netherlands, as at least I know I won’t have taxes, or a misaligned chapter ring. He’s an enthusiast, but not so businesslike, and with slightly tricky comms, so who knows when it will arrive.

Dave


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[markrlondon]

Welcome.

I used DHL When buying a SKX007J1 and my watch is now in the UK. DHL have emailed me, Will they release the watch and invoice me for duty or withhold the item until duty is paid?

Well, what did it say in the email? :-)

Usually in my experience they'll deliver first then bill you for the VAT and their fee. But sometimes they do it the other way round: Money first, then delivery.

If the item goes back to the sender from unpaid duty, will I be refunded the purchase?

You should be. But Creation are not necessarily the best at non-standard issues.

Did you pay with PayPal? If so then you should be able to get your money back that way.

Wish I had used Royal Mail. Can’t imagine why this isn’t the standard option?

Most people like the extra perceived security of DHL, I think.

Just pay the taxes and fee and be done with it. It will still be a good price.

[markrlondon]

Strange how they get away with this

They may well not be getting away with anything. In other words, they may well be importing into the UK at wholesale rates, paying VAT on the import cost, then charging VAT on the end user sales, just like any other business. They don't even need to have a business base in the UK to be registered for UK VAT.

However...

In the last couple of years, HMRC have investigated a number of far eastern (mainly Chinese) eBay vendors who had set up UK warehouses. Obviously their demand in the UK was enough for it to make sense for them to maintain stock here. Many of them were importing goods, paying no VAT on the imports, not registering for UK VAT, and selling on with no VAT. This is illegal, of course. HMRC found out this was happening and cracked down on it, forcing businesses being run this way to register for UK VAT or effectively be thrown out.

Those businesses who didn't want to cooperate could, of course, go back to doing what they (and Creation) always did: Shipping direct from their home countries with under-valued customs declarations (i.e. perfectly normal practice for all Chinese, Hong Kong, Singaporean, Malaysian, etc. vendors).

Now Creation seems to have set up a UK warehouse. So, have they taken the legal route and registered for UK VAT? Or are they shipping from the UK without registering for UK VAT and thus keeping prices lower? I don't know. Of course, it depends if their volume shipped through the UK warehouse is above the UK VAT registration threshold.

[Kingstepper]

They may well not be getting away with anything. In other words, they may well be importing into the UK at wholesale rates, paying VAT on the import cost, then charging VAT on the end user sales, just like any other business. They don't even need to have a business base in the UK to be registered for UK VAT.

However...

In the last couple of years, HMRC have investigated a number of far eastern (mainly Chinese) eBay vendors who had set up UK warehouses. Obviously their demand in the UK was enough for it to make sense for them to maintain stock here. Many of them were importing goods, paying no VAT on the imports, not registering for UK VAT, and this selling on with no VAT. This is illegal, of course. HMRC found out this was happening and cracked down on it, forcing businesses being run this way to register for UK VAT or effectively be thrown out.

Those businesses who didn't want to cooperate could, of course, go back to doing what they (and Creation) always did: Shipping direct from their home countries with under-valued customs declarations (i.e. perfectly normal practice for all Chinese, Hong Kong, Singaporean, Malaysian, etc. vendors).

Now Creation seems to have set up a UK warehouse. So, have they taken the legal route and registered for UK VAT? Or are they shipping from the UK without registering for UK VAT and thus keeping prices lower? I don't know. Of course, it depends if their volume shipped through the UK warehouse is above the UK VAT registration threshold.

Very interesting, thanks. If they are charging VAT, should a VAT receipt be available if requested?

[markrlondon]

If they are charging VAT, should a VAT receipt be available if requested?

I always thought so but I have seen a number of instances in recent years where this does not seem to be the case and where, as far as I could tell, HMRC did not care. I can only say that you'd need to check. Like a lot of things, I suspect, it depends.

I wouldn't worry personally. ;-)

[Kingstepper]

I always thought so but I have seen a number of instances in recent years where this does not seem to be the case and where, as far as I could tell, HMRC did not care. I can only say that you'd need to check. Like a lot of things, I suspect, it depends.

I wouldn't worry personally. ;-)

Not worried, just curious as to how they are evading (but as you say, maybe they aren’t) VAT by posting from UK.