Maybe don’t use Amazon, but look at other sites?
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Well said.
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I do for gifts for UK family . I now look first at a FB site called ’ not on Amazon 'a great site for individual hand made gifts and small producers who don’t use Amazon. But sometimes finding what you want is difficult enough without having to spend 3 hours trawling through individual webpages. I do use Amazon sometimes as a site to find things on. If it says the supplier/manufacturer I then go straight to their own website.
You can at least make your own marmalade and it is coming into Seville orange season.
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Last year there were marmalade making tins in hyperU. Just add sugar and boil. No idea where they were produced, but if in Spain rather than UK they may well be there again this year. When I down tools and refuse to slice more marmalade peel OH prefers this to Coopers.
Also try sites like Etsy (lots of French and UK people) and Not on the High Street (UK only I think).
65% EU / 35% UK
Also, we attended shows and exhibitions in Europe where we took a stand to sell direct - that isnt going to happen now as we would have to account for every small part, piece and widget that we took out of the UK and same back in and any difference we would be charged VAT on because the difference had been ‘exported’.
I dont want to go VAT registered as that is a whole new can of worms…and we are well below the threshold at the moment.
I’m an American here with a daughter in London. Spent Christmas there quarantined. My daughter just shipped box of gifts too heavy for an extra bag on flight back. Unfortunately she had to wait for an exchange of one item. In retrospect wished she shipped before Dec 31st. But post there said they weren’t ready for “Intl” shipments to EU. So I was just hit with 52 Euro bill from UPS for govt & tax fees. Contents not even worth that!
Last time I ship anything to her and vice versa. What a horror!
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In the past I ordered a camera bag from the US, without thinking of taxes, customs etc, and had to pay charges almost equivalent to the price of the goods. It’s just not worth it. Europe is full of businesses selling stuff. I’ve got a coffee machine from Italy, a handrail, organic rice and honey from Spain and a camera from Germany - good service and perfectly delivered. Plus a bit more vocabulary for next time.
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Not forgetting that the import charges are based on the purchase price AND the shipping charges. Plus the import charges cary from one EU27 state to another.
O’ve given up o buying from the UK and now make sure my purchases are sourced from EU27 states or are minimal value from the Far East.
One of the “plus” points of Brexit I guess.
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Still not managed to find one yet.
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At present it certainly seems to be a very variable situation and perhaps in part, depends upon the shipping method as to what happens. I’ve just received some new cushion suspension straps for a couple of Ercol chairs from the UK, which were sent “Royal Mail Tracked and Signed For”. Customs declaration was plainly marked Upholstery Equipment with a value of £100. The package only took 4 days to arrive and there were no additional charges at all.
I expect that the situation will normalise to a more sensible and consistent level over the coming months.
I used to ‘export’ camera equipment from UK to X - be that Europe, the US, wherever and return. As long as you are organised it’s not complicated or arduous.
I used two methods. One ‘informal’ for Europe, the other ‘formal’ if crossing multiple borders or going further afield.
The ‘informal’ method was simply a complete and accurate list of everything being taken out. In my case, made easy because almost everything had serial numbers. This list was produced at the ‘commercial export’ desk at LHR. The officer would pick one or two items … “Show me these.” Once confirmed that the items were indeed present and not on the list but non-existent, to be bought and imported tax free, the list was stamped and off we’d go.
The reverse on return - a pile of ali boxes and a list stamped on the way out. Picking two or three items on the list - “Show me these”. Once confirmed present, waved thru …
The ‘formal’ method was the ATA Carnet. A list of items and the same procedure of presenting it and the items but with the obligation to be stamped formally by the export dept.
The carnet one was holding had to be stamped in and out of each border crossed. If you missed one you were deemed either never to have ‘checked in’ your stuff or never ‘checked out’, depending on which was missing. Either way would spell trouble but it never happened to me, tho’ leaving Spain one time, after waiting for 1/2 hr at a deserted export desk, I had to find my way to the airport staff canteen and start yelling about “Call this an International airport … !” It worked. A guy got to his feet, plodded off with the Carnet and reappeared with it , stamped.
In your case, you would have to devise a method of each item being identifiable. Etching a serial number? A serial number on a plate glues or riveted to the piece?
I was running two VAT reg companies at once, at one stage. For a small biz with very low sales volumes it’s easy. In fact, being VAT reg’d made me keep meticulous books. I was VAT checked 3 times. Two were accurate to the penny. One, Customs owed me!
Discovered yesterday that the Rules of Origin, which attracts duty on an item deemed to have been made, or made of materials sourced ex UK, only kicks in at £135+ per item. So my pal’s efforts to make stuff look used is pointless as none of it is £135+/item.
But marmalade is still ‘fruit’. 
You are getting things confused. 1] ‘Import charges’ aka duty and VAT, if applicable. Based on the price and the category of the item. 2] Shipping charges 3] Admin/handling charges at the import end of the delivery. This could be the Customs Dept of the country’s Border Agency or a commercial company on their behalf.
All of those charges are summed and it is on the grand total that VAT is charged. Note that if VAT has been added to the value of the item, the result in the end is a tax [VAT] on a tax [VAT].
Anyone buying fuel in UK, at least, has this tax-on-a-tax imposition. Fuel has duty levied on it. This duty is then +VAT. And then it’s [fuel+duty+VAT] x VAT!
Back in about 1990 I had to go and do some work for a German client. It involved taking an(at the time) very expensive Silicon Graphics workstation - about £40k’s worth as I recall (pausing only to note that my phone is probably 20x more powerful a computer these days).
I needed a carnet, took the ferry to Zebrugge and drove to the client in Essen.
The carnet was processed correctly everywhere except the return crossing at the German/Belgian border - I spoke only a little French at the time, no German and definitely no Flemish/Dutch so I could not persuade the customs person to do the paperwork.
Apparently it caused the company months of trouble - even though, on my return to the UK, I took pains to get the thing signed back in and made sure I physically showed UK customs the box to prove it had, indeed, been repatriated.
It’s one of the reasons I never bought the “less red tape” line (well, I could see that it might benefit employers removing workers rights, throwing away EWTD etc - funnily enough I was right about that).
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Yup. If you miss a stamp - it is only a rubber stamp - the next border or wherever you end up deems you not to have passed ‘Go’ at the point you missed the stamp.
I never had my rights removed. I have never been employed! And a lot of what was supposed to be ‘work’ was little better than unpaid jollies. Not good for the N.I. contributions … paying for that now.
I did manage to get it stamped back in to the UK or I suspect we’d never have got it sorted.
You were fortunate. The rule is [was?] if you missed a stamp, the next lot would not stamp you in/out.
Amusing incidents with customs…
Los Angeles airport, export desk. A large box of Levis cowboy boots after a ‘Levi’s For Feet’ shoot.
“Levi’s, officer … made in the USA” Customs offices peers down a boot, offers us a view - printed inside ‘Made In Mexico’. “Gaarrn! Git yo’ ass outta here before I …”
Arrive off the ferry at Dieppe. My location vehicle loaded with photographer, assistant, models, stylist, magazine art director and several enormous boxes of Lee Cooper jeans and shirts.
I had warned the magazine that an ATA Carnet was the way to deal with this stuff but was told ‘I’ll be fine …’
Gaston waves us to one side. Pierre waves all the tourists on. Gaston asks me to open up the back doors.
“Ahhh! Hmm! Dans les boites … qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans les boîtes?”
“Oh! Les vêtements de mes amis!”
“Vos amis ont beaucoup des vêtements … montrez-les-moi, s.v.p …”
“Err… Madame Art Director! Over to you… !”
We were there for about 3 hrs while Gaston & Pierre thought up one big number after another.
This document spells out the situation.
Still waiting…but are told by the seller that if UPS contact us and ask for payment of duties/taxes etc they will be paid for us.