Paul Fellows, Caroline Marston and Jenny Wright on the pitfalls of online purchases now that Britain has left the EU. Plus Ken Vines on fish from UK watersThere are growing complaints from UK consumers about VAT and duties being charged for items bought online from the EU (Britons buying from EU websites hit with 100 customs bills, 21 January). The same applies in reverse for goods bought by EU customers from the UK. This begs the question if VAT and duty is going to be charged by the receiving country, why are they not being sold at source VAT-free and duty-free to customers outside the respective local jurisdictions? Are the HMRC and similar organisations in other countries trying to have two bites of the same cherry?Paul FellowsCounty Cork, Ireland I purchased two British designed and assembled light fittings that turned out to be in a warehouse in Belgium. I have been charged 71.74 in import fees for having absolutely no idea. The website had a .co.uk domain name but, after digging, I realised that I had accidentally imported lights from Europe. I shant be doing that again. Caroline Marston Fulham, London Continue reading...
