Buying on ebay.de - Import tax/VAT etc??

andyspencer

andyspencer

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Hi guys, I'm loosely looking at buying something LGB related from german Ebay. I can't really find the answers I want on any governement websites - Do I have to pay any extra on top of the loco price and the quoted postage rate? The postage is around £15. Hopefully somebody with experience of buying from Germany/EU countries can help :)
 
You shouldnt have to pay anything other than the postage as it come fom the EU i have never paid anything else.
 
I'm pretty sure that there is no duty or vat on any model rail stuff purchased from the E.U. provided the vat has been paid in the originating state at that state's vat rate. This has always been the case with my purchases.
 
The only thing to beware when buying from the continent is that some want payment by bank transfer & that costs most of us a lot of money. Make sure you can pay by card (usually 2.75% or thereabouts charge) or Paypal.
 
There are no extra costs involved over and above the purchase price + p&p.

I have found German eBay sellers, both private and business, to be honest and very easy to deal with.

Many German sellers now accept PayPal, but there are still some that expect a transfer direct to their Euro bank account, which can be expensive depending on your own banking facilities. I now only deal with those that accept PayPal, but in the past I have sent Euro banknotes through the post and have not once been cheated.

Most Germans have a reasonable understanding of English, but I always try to correspond in German even though my knowledge of the language is fairly rudimentary. I started by including an English copy of my communications, but don't bother now. Earlier this year I bought one locomotive from a dealer that turned out to have no motor in it, and managed to negotiate a refund of £43 (the cost of a new LGB motor from my local dealer in England). The dealer said that he doesn't test any of the second hand locomotives he sells on but will generally refund what the buyer thinks is reasonable if a part is broken or missing.

Hope this gives you the confidence to try.
 
I've never been charged anything, you should be ok in the EU. Some of the German dealers are as fast as UK, bought two coaches on Tuesday - here today. That has been through uk ebay selecting LGB and then European Union.
 
andyspencer said:
Hi guys, I'm loosely looking at buying something LGB related from german Ebay. I can't really find the answers I want on any governement websites - Do I have to pay any extra on top of the loco price and the quoted postage rate? The postage is around £15. Hopefully somebody with experience of buying from Germany/EU countries can help :)
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There is no VAT or import duty for purchases within the EU. You are deemed to have paid all taxes at the point of purchase (note that German VAT is now less than UK's - 19% vs. 20%). You will only have to pay extra for a purchase from Germany if you buy from someone who does not accept Paypal and requires a bank transfer (Uberweisung) since, as the UK is outside the Euro zone, you can (will) be charged for the currency conversion. I would recommend strongly that you only buy from persons offering a Paypal facility. If you buy from a person who insists on a bank transfer then you have no way of getting your money back should the transaction prove a "bum deal".

For purchases from Switzerland, you will normally find that they are cross-bordered to Austria and put in the post from Austria, thereby avoiding cross-border taxation. All business sellers advertise this prominently in their listings.
 
Echoing everyone else here, I've had no problems at all buying from Germany via German eBay - in fact I've only recently got some great deals on stuff that I just couldn't find in this country at all (the remaining Flascherlzug cars to complete my set, see my post in the "wanted" section). Having said that, I do believe that all my eBay.de purchases so far have been from dealers, rather than from private individuals.

Jon.
 
Also a lot of things i have brought from Germany have come with free sweets:thumbup::thumbup:
Shipping is as fast as uk if not faster most sellers post next day as standard, and even the ones that want bank transfer can be cheaper, if you add £20 transfer fee to the item then you can work out if its still cheaper than the uk if you can find it here.
 
Not bought anything from German ebay for a while, but no problems at all when I did. Like Doctor M, I used to send euros in the post if seller didn't take Paypal.
 
Thanks for all the responses guys :)
All advice understood and will be acted on, but can see a new toy from over the channel if ebay.co.uk doesn't come up with the goods!
 
You shouldnt have any problems Andy could even be here by the end of the week:thumbup:
 
Dooh!!

Just remembered its a bank holiday weekend so may take a little longer
 
I'd like to think it'll be here before the second bank holiday. Then I can get some testing in at a local friendly line prior to it going into the workshops for modification :)
 
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