Shipping from Japan Tokyo issues——- I’m looking at getting some small items from Tokyo from eBay and wondered if U.K. have any issues which accepting stuff from there at the moment due to the pandemic. The seller has noted that some countries are still cagey and I just wondered if anybody has had any issues shipping from there lately?
Thanks in advance.
Also the sale price adds 20% VAT at the Tokyo end . Does this get added again when it hits U.K. customs with VAT? Cheers in advance, it’s only a watch box and only $100 but I thought it was worth checking.
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Last edited by Stilgoe1972; 30th July 2021 at 16:45.
I cant help with whether the UK are accepting shipments from Japan, I would suspect that we are.Originally Posted by Stilgoe1972
But regarding the 20% vat, I believe ebay add this at point of sale as UK vat, and you pay no extra afterwards. Not 100% but pretty sure.
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Not sure about adding Japanese VAT at point of purchase via eBay to UK, but DHL certainly added it, plus handling fee before I could accept delivery once in UK.
Was a couple of years ago, so eBay purchases may have changed?
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Since Jan 1st 2021 electronic customs clearance has come into effect. You can read about here: https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/ead/index_en.html
Additionally, for sending anything to the US, no address may be hand written. All information must be pre-registered on a customs website in advance, and an address label (with barcode) printed from that site. Packages that do not follow this (US requirement) procedure will not be accepted at a Japanese Post Office. Trying to circumvent it by popping something into a post box simply means your item won't get delivered.
It's a bit of extra hassle. I had to return a faulty bracelet to a US seller recently and was unaware of these changes. It cost me more than I thought to return it. It has made me think twice about ordering from overseas.
Not sure about your set up but I have bought a couple of watches from Japan this year (via Chrono24) and both were hit with 20% VAT when they arrived - paid by the courier to HMRC and reclaimed from me. As has been said on other threads, there may well be a significant gap (eg several months) between taking delivery of the goods and getting the VAT bill. (the courier's handling fee was 10gbp or so, so not a big deal in the scheme of things)
I've bought quite a few way watches from Japan over the last year and had no problems. Most have been below the VAT threshold so avoided that hassle. I did avoid bundling several together incase that increased the overall value beyond the threshold.
Threshold was only £15 so they must be cheap watches or you’ve been lucky!
I assume he means the £129 threshold where below that, eBay applies the VAT and pays direct to the UK gov.
Edit: 1st July onwards though...so you're right (nearly, it was £19 I think) if he really does mean over the past year!
I bought a watch from a Japanese dealer on chrono24 last month. He gave me choice of EMS by Japan Post or UPS. I chose EMS as it was over 3 times cheaper.
After shipping it took 4 days to arrive in UK whereby Parcelforce takes over. However it got stuck in UK customs for nearly 3 weeks
In the end I had to pay UK customs and VAT and parcelforce surcharge.
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Some aren't far off that (donor watches mainly) but most are under £135.
Ahhh, I hadn't appreciated that little rule change. In the future I might have to temper my enthusiasm for vintage JDM watches.
Do sellers not have to sign up to that first? A few items I have found on ebay make a note that customs charges will have to be paid in addition while others have it calculated in by ebay
I'm not sure, I think if a seller is using managed payments, as all will have to sooner or later, then ebay calculates and charges it. I could be totally wrong however sorry.
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Well I’ve bought the item - $129 inc postage and 20% tax…. We shall see… thanks for your replies.
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With stuff from Japan I always found it cheaper to use https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/en/ and bid on Yahoo Japan using a sniping bid to for flexibility. They have a calculator, https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/en/estimate, to estimate the total price. Ship using EMS and you may not get caught for VAT. Next time you see something you like on Ebay see whether you can see it on Yahoo Japan or Rakuten Japan.
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