Facebook marketplace purchases and importing into EU

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Interesting topic for me.
I have avoided FB all my life for various reasons mostly to do with privacy, but would love to have a look at Marketplace. Have bought and sold tools and equipment mainly on Gumtree but there's not a lot available and what there is is often too expensive, up to 70% of the new price. I'll be posting a topic on a problem I'm having with a bandsaw bought there later today if anyone's interested
 
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Please be aware that Scam items also exist on FB marketplace, quite often power tools that are brand new and selling very cheap. if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...
 
Avoid Amazon - or Scamazon also - they will export and do all the paperwork - but they still charge the UK VAT as well, presumably to go into Mr Bezos's coffers.
I buy a lot from Amazon.jp. I pay shipping duty and vat up front and well known brands like Shinwa, Gokucho, Naniwa andShapton can cost half the price of the UK.
 
It is no longer viable for me to buy from rhe UK. Most UK companies do not ship VAT paid, there are a couple of exceptions, once in Italy couriers add approximately €18 to calculate the VAT which is calculated on the cost of item and the shipping. So an item costing £5 can quite easily end up costing €30. All shipments, new or used, including items I may have owned for years in the UK and have had posted to Italy will have VAT and charges applied to them with no exceptions.
 
I buy a lot from Amazon.jp. I pay shipping duty and vat up front and well known brands like Shinwa, Gokucho, Naniwa andShapton can cost half the price of the UK.
That is the other way - my gripe is Amazon UK do not remove UK VAT - they just add EU VAT. I guess that is how Mr Bezos has $160bn to give away.
 
That is the other way - my gripe is Amazon UK do not remove UK VAT - they just add EU VAT. I guess that is how Mr Bezos has $160bn to give away.
The only charge the customer VAT once. A £9.79 can of mitrebond becomes £9.96 for me in Italy, because our VAT is higher. I'd much rather have Amazon pay the actual VAT at source than pay a local courier €20 to calculate the tax at some invented, rounded up rate. The product is then delivered to me tax paid by Amazon, no having to go online or pay the driver when it is delivered. I don't understand your objection.
 
Then you are luckier than I was. They took the UK VAT inclusive price for me then added EU VAT - which did at least avoid me having to pay a handling fee to the Post Office.
 
pgrbff........
I hate the idea of making the BOZO any richer but for us in Greece the only option is Amazon.....
quite often the same stuff crosses over to DE.......by this I mean what u can get in the UK is generally available in DE..
I also get a few odds n ends from Poland and Latvia via ebay.....never had a problem.....
if it was something big I do have a friend there who would buy it then send it on.....
Also check out Belgium they get a lot of items from the states as they have a faverable import taxation from the US....

we used to buy a lot from eBay.de, Germany but just lately a lot have stopped shipping to the extreme ends of the EU....
might be worth a try.......as u nearer than me........
 
pgrbff........
I hate the idea of making the BOZO any richer but for us in Greece the only option is Amazon.....
quite often the same stuff crosses over to DE.......by this I mean what u can get in the UK is generally available in DE..
I also get a few odds n ends from Poland and Latvia via ebay.....never had a problem.....
if it was something big I do have a friend there who would buy it then send it on.....
Also check out Belgium they get a lot of items from the states as they have a faverable import taxation from the US....

we used to buy a lot from eBay.de, Germany but just lately a lot have stopped shipping to the extreme ends of the EU....
might be worth a try.......as u nearer than me........
 
Then you are luckier than I was. They took the UK VAT inclusive price for me then added EU VAT - which did at least avoid me having to pay a handling fee to the Post Office.
I buy fairly regularly from Amazon.UK and I have never had any issues. Often items on Amazon.it cost literally 3 times the price of UK, so it suits me. You just need to keep an eye on the pricing.
 
Please be aware that Scam items also exist on FB marketplace, quite often power tools that are brand new and selling very cheap. if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...
Yeah you do have to spend some time learning how to spot scams on Facebook, and often you do learn a lesson during the process through falling for one, but overall I have definitely done well in getting some incredibly good deals on there.

There are probably some expert websites on spotting frauds, but unlikely any specifically focussing on tools. In my experience the following applies:

- look at age of the sellers profile (if it is <4 years old be v suspicious)
- look at the other factors on the profile (seller ratings if they are available, how many friends they have - if they have 4 friends and 3 of them are ‘selling pages’ then it’s probably a scam, whether there’s normal stuff on their profile I.e photos etc. also common sense stuff like a profile of an 18YO with a photo of them in a tracksuit kicking a can is unlikely to have a large set of block planes or a rotex that he has used for the past 5 years…)
- look at the other items they are selling (if it’s all new makita/DEWALT power tools with peculiarly familiar pictures then be suspicious, i am much more comfortable buying from someone who also has a few other ‘normal’ (non high-value tool) items for sale like a sofa etc as that’s more likely a real person! On this point, the prosumer/trades tools are the risky listings, as there is a large market for them from DIYErs etc, and also a large amount of stolen tools from vans. More specialist woodworking tools like hand tools, or machines such as planers etc are much less likely to be scams as effectively the market for the scammer is too small).
- used tools are less risky than new tools (I always prefer buying a decent used tool than a ‘supposedly new’ tool on Facebook. Firstly photos of a used tool, you can ask for more photos and easily recognise if it’s the same tool, whereas there’s a ton of new tool photos people can just send you.
- overly pushy sellers when you message them. (You can also ask for phone number etc if that makes you more comfortable, if I think something is a good deal but am not convinced of the profile sometimes I ask if I can call to discuss, sometimes I google names/numbers to check whether they are real and often I can see that the number is listed as a carpentry business etc, which is reassuring if they are selling carpentry tools!, obviously that isn’t foolproof and sometimes it is a random person who’s come into a tool etc and you have to chance it if you want the deal).
- the number one risk is buying ‘popular high value items that consumers want and therefore there is a huge market for the scammer’ (most woodworking tools don’t fall into this category, very few people want a second hand guide rail, or a used thicknesser which would do with a new set of blades, or a rotex with no accessory handle. A lot of people DO want a new DEWALT cordless power drill - much more risky! (The only thing I’ve been scammed on was a ‘new Dyson hairdryer’ for a present, and retrospectively I should have recognised the scam, but learned a load from the experience even though I lost a bit of money).
- does the story make sense? (A ridiculously cheap items price might be well explained if the seller is a wife/partner/daughter of a woodworker and doesn’t know much about the tools but is happy to send some photos (sometimes wives clear out peoples garages etc), it wouldn’t make sense if it was someone who seems well informed about the tool and it’s value, and is guarded about sending any more photos)

There’s a lot more that could be said on this topic, but this is a good starting point I feel.
 

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