Online bike parts retailer Dutch Bike Bits has announced that with the advent of Brexit, the UK will become the only country in the world to which it will not ship goods. The firm explained that this was because the UK is now asking overseas firms to apply and collect British taxes on behalf of the British government when selling to UK customers.
From January 1, the government introduced a new model for the VAT treatment of goods arriving into Great Britain from outside of the UK.
It says these measures ensure that goods from EU and non-EU countries are treated in the same way and will mean UK businesses are not disadvantaged by competition from VAT-free imports.
The point at which VAT is collected has moved from the point of importation to the point of sale and online retailers are therefore being asked to register for UK VAT and account for VAT to HMRC.
Dutch Bike Bits said that for this service the UK government intends to charge a fee, “to every company in the world in every country in the world which exports to the UK.
On a bicycle parts ecommerce merchant’s website in the Netherlands…https://t.co/NrLgZyH4X1 pic.twitter.com/PG16rv8UV2
— Edwin Hayward ? ? (@uk_domain_names) January 1, 2021
“Clearly this is ludicrous for one country, but imagine if every country in the world had the same idea. If every country decided to behave in the same way then we would have to pay 195 fees every year, keep up with the changes in taxation law for 195 different countries, keep accounts on behalf of 195 different countries and submit payments to 195 tax offices in 195 different countries, and jump through whatever hoops were required to prove that we were doing all of this honestly and without any error.
“Therefore from mid December 2020 onward we ship to every country in the world… except the UK.”
Somewhat bizarrely, the issue was flagged by William Shatner back in October.
It sounds like the William Shatner Store won’t be shipping to the UK any more either.
to absorb or we would have to raise prices considerably. Unfortunately unless something happens to change that we will suspend accepting orders from the UK at https://t.co/RXigeY1iOJ starting January 1st. I’m sorry.??♂️
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) October 15, 2020
The EU will introduce similar rules in July – albeit these will of course cover 27 countries and not just one.
Late last month, Canyon announced that it was pausing shipments to customers in Great Britain and would stop accepting orders entirely from those in Northern Ireland, citing uncertainty caused by Brexit.
The company, headquartered in Germany, said that the move was a temporary one and that it would resume deliveries after January 11 once the situation became clearer.
77 thoughts on “Dutch bike part dealer shipping to every country in the world except UK because of Brexit VAT change”
Did anyone notice that the
Did anyone notice that the new rules came into effect on 11 pm on the 31st, not “our” midnight…
Only when I heard fireworks
Only when I heard fireworks at 11pm New Year’s Eve. It wasn’t until I checked the news that I worked out they were celebrating leaving.
Can’t say I noticed that
Can’t say I noticed that around here…primarily because the useless idiots near me set fireworks off at 5.30pm, just after 7pm, 8.20pm…..
My dog is not a fan of fireworks (not terrified of them thankfully)…
I got a couple of very old
I got a couple of very old yet NOS acccessories from a seller in Portugal on eBay yesterday, eBay applied VAT at some point, according to the blurb.
The massive stuffing of the
The massive stuffing of the UK by the EU is only just beginning, and all those Mail, Express and Sun readers voted for it- along with the removal of cycle lanes to make parking easier, etc
wtjs wrote:
I think that this is self-inflicted by the UK, rather than any stuffing by the EU. We’ve taken back control which means that there is no blaming “foreigners” any longer.
Glen C wrote:
Surely we can still blame Johnny Foreigner if he doesn’t do as we tell him.
Glen C wrote:
Depends on your perspective. I don’t suppose UK based retailers are losing sleep over it.
Who benefitted from the VAT
Who benefitted from the VAT component of the price paid previously?
HMRC
HMRC
So you say the VAT paid on
So you say the VAT paid on foreign (EU) orders was previously remitted to HMRC? The VAT must have been collected by the foreign retailer – how did it then get paid to HMRC – if the retailer was not registered for VAT with UK authorities? Or if they were, how is the same too much trouble now?
Previously if A Dutch VAT
Previously if A Dutch VAT registered company sold to a custumer in the UK it would have either paid Dutch VAT to the Dutch tax authorities (if selling to a consumer) or made the sale vat free (if selling to a UK vat registered business).
Any VAT payable to the UK authorities on imports (from outside the EU) would have been collected by HMRC on importation.
Either way the paperwork is a nightmare. Previously monthly and quarterly forms ahd to be completed by businesses listing all EU customers and the tariff codes of the goods sold and purchased.
Having said that a system whereby the HMRC have to chase overseas suppliers for money and information seems hopeless.
I agree – how on earth are
I agree – how on earth are HMRC going to enforce this? It’s not like our HMRC’s influence extends beyond our sovereign boundary.
I can see an awful lot of companies around the world not giving two hoots about what the UK HMRC say they ought to do, and just stuffing some widgets in a package and mailing it to the UK. Presumably it will then be up to the person who ordered it to cough up the VAT owing and get it released by customs (or more likely the courier)? Tbh that seems like a much more practical arrangement.
You may be wrong.. FYI, every
You may be wrong.. for comparison, every business that ships into Australia collects GST from buyers on behalf of the Australian government.
https://www.ato.gov.au/business/international-tax-for-business/gst-on-low-value-imported-goods/who-charges-gst/
When I clicked thorugh the
When I clicked thorugh the links I got to a vat document:
“we will be moving the point at which VAT is collected from the point of importation to the point of sale”
so I guess this makes it easier* for hmrc or easier for the buyer who doesn’t have a holdup at customs
* that is if anyone sells to the uk
hirsute wrote:
Believe so if the value is £135 or less, otherwise it will also be subject to import duty, which may or may not lead to hold ups at customs. I think the value is on the shipment total too – rather than the individual components within a shipment.
hirsute wrote:
The odd thing I’ve bought from Bikester (Germany) shipped direct to my door by post, no excursion via customs. I paid VAT at the point of purchase to Bikester, not at the point of importation. Baffled as to how it would have got to HMRC.
I’m dredging up a very old
I’m dredging up a very old memory here but I think this was why the EU pushed for VAT harmonisation. Your VAT on a small purchase might have gone to the German treasury on the assumption that it would be balanced out by Germans buying from the UK and the tax heading to HMRC.
Otherwise it’s not much of a single market – everyone would buy from abroad and save about 20%. Anyone buying from AliExpress etc knows that not much is caught at the border.
Despite my disappointment at the loss of the single market and customs union, I think the retailers just need to add this to the costs of trade and raise their sterling prices to match. Free trade is more complex than “oven ready” implied and will never be as free again.
just the tip of the iceberg,
just the tip of the iceberg, wait for more and more companies to apply this, and I can’t blame them.
Add bike-discount.de &
Add bike-discount.de & Bikester.co.uk (ironic url) to the list already
Brexit; the gift that keeps
Brexit; the gift that keeps giving. Even when you don’t want it to.
Strangely enough, there’s a
Strangely enough, there’s a French bike-parts business which has taken the opposite approach; XXcycle appear to charge zero VAT for UK customers. I suspect that this is not the correct approach, but the changes to VAT rules have been confusing and last-minute so it’s inevitable that some people will get it wrong.
Maybe customers will get a nasty surprise and some extra costs when their parcel of cheap bike parts is held up at the border…
I think the target of these
I think the target of these new rules are the low value importers (under £15) who were previously VAT exempt while their UK based competitors still had to apply VAT.
Shops can avoid any registration charges to UK government by using a portal like Etsy, eBay etc but the VAT will still be payable.
This will actually benefit UK bike shops who previously were undercut by the VAT exemption. It will also help fund public services.
exactly, countries like
exactly, countries like Australia and the US already do this so this Dutch firm would have to register in exactly the same way if it wanted to ship goods there, every US retailer I know who ships stuff to the UK/EU has been aware this VAT change was happening for the best part of a year and had already started to price it in.
So its not a Brexit thing, it was actually an EU ruling the UK would have had to adopt anyway if it were part of the EU still, the EU simply delayed their implementation 6months because of Covid to give their member states more time to do it.
the difference not being in the EU makes is this Dutch firm has to register on the UK portal now, as well as the EU portal, as well as any other country in the European continent or around the world it wants to sell to who have adopted this change.
theres a cost associated to that registration, which is why they are really complaining about it, but you balance that extra cost out to your customers in those countries, thats the business sense thing to do, thats what the vast majority of businesses will do or have already done.
my guess is this Dutch firm barely sells any bike parts to the UK, certainly my first port of call is not to google around Holland for bike bits, and so it doesnt cost in for them on the amount of UK business they have, to register on the UK portal, hence they cant sell bits to the UK anymore.
but that is fine, thats their choice surely ? and they should be able to freely admit that its a business decision, instead of trying to blame Brexit.
“my guess is this Dutch firm
“my guess is this Dutch firm barely sells any bike parts to the UK, certainly my first port of call is not to google around Holland for bike bits”
Your guess is wrong.
Dutch Bike Bits describe themselves as “Tried and trusted parts for Dutch Bicycles, or bicycles that would like to be a bit more Dutch”. They’re not a Dutch version of Wiggle. They’re a retailer that specialises in parts for utility bicycles of the sort that the Dutch do so well.
If you have a bakfiets – and as a stroll around Cambridge or Oxford in non-pandemic times would show you, plenty of people in the UK do – then retailers like Dutch Bike Bits and Hollandbikeshop are invaluable. I’ve ordered from them several times – the child seat mounting for our cargo bike, for example – and I know others who have.
Me too, they were good for
Me too, they were good for things like NOS quill stems and the like.
Not cycling, but DVDs my
Not cycling, but DVDs my daughter bought from France in December cost £20, if ordered now the price is £30.
Extra cost attributed to “documentation”.
Not sure what the problem is
Not sure what the problem is here, they ship to Australia which also requires registration and collecting value added tax at the point of sale. They’re probably only using the simplified registration, but that still requires registering for identification as well as registering for the tax. If their sales exceed $75k a yr then they have to register as an Australian business and have standard tax registration. In terms of the regulatory environment, the UK doesn’t seem too different.
Yes but Brexit
Yes but Brexit
When Australia introduced it
When Australia introduced it in 2018, Amazon went and sulked in a corner for a while. Then they realised how much trade they were losing because they arrogantly thought they could bully the government, gave in and complied. It will be the same in the UK with these online retailers. They’ve had a good run but it was inevitable that countries would act to close tax loopholes. Nobody is forcing them to trade in these countries.
It doesn’t matter if a
It doesn’t matter if a similar situation pertains in Australia – it is a extra unnecessary cost and admin as a result of Brexit, and that can’t be denied even by Brexit voters with an agenda.
I posted a calendar to friends in France yesterday, and had to fill out a Customs Declaration. Also the price had gone up from £5.10 in 2020 to £7.80 in 2021 – a 53% increase.
I don’t remember anything about extra paperwork and making people poorer in Vote Leave propaganda, or the Tories 2019 GE manifesto.
So Britain is off the EU
So Britain is off the EU gravy train.. enjoy the independence.
I felt a couple of points
I felt a couple of points here needed to be clarified, because road.cc don’t seem interested in finding out what the true situation is, preferring to quote an incorrect statement from a Dutch retailer’s shipping policy, and a wildly inaccurate figure from William Shatner’s twitter feed:
Hey! Don’tet the facts get in
Hey! Don’tet the facts get in the way of a juicy anti Brexit story!
Zjtm231 wrote:
Only seems fair – the pro Brexit campaign wasn’t exactly famous for its adherence to the truth, was it?
Brexiters haver never been
Brexiters haver never been the slightest bit interested in facts, just lies and propaganda.
If we all close our eyes and believe, that border in the Irish Sea will disappear, I’m sure, because Johnson said it doesn’t exist.
‘Brexiters haver never been
‘Brexiters haver never been the slightest bit interested in facts, just lies and propaganda.’
…Just like remainers. Remainers have, by and large, been rude, obnoxious, and spouted facts and lies, whilst calling Brexiters thick and uneducated racists. There were lies on both sides. Whichever way we all voted, the result was democratic, and we should all put aside petty name calling, and get together to back our country, Great Britain. In recent years, anyone who is patriotic has been branded a right wing racist by the woke generation. We holiday in Switzerland regularly and have done for decades, everywhere you travel there, you will see the Swiss flag. Homes, hotels, even tiny restaurant shacks high above villages such as Zermatt and Saas-Fee, you will see the Swiss flag proudly flown, yet if someone flew the flag of St. George, for example, they would be denounced as a sweaty vest wearing right wing gammon. It saddens me what this wonderful country has descended into. It is a wonderful country, ruined by people.
biker phil wrote:
Why? Not the name calling bit, the backing our country bit? Nationalism can be a dangerous thing, and sorry if you don’t like it but I’m European first, British second. I’d rather focus on tearing down borders rather than putting them up.
The point of democracy as you call it means we have the right to disagree.
He’s also forgotten Northern
He’s also forgotten Northern Ireland. Which is not in Great Britain. Something similar seems to have happened in the minds of Brexiters for a while.
And not forgetting that NI is
And not forgetting that NI is slightly less part of the UK now…
Just had a request at work to
Just had a request at work to update our VAT registration number.
If you move or sell goods from NI, then you need to have XI at the beginning of the vat reg for EU sales.
slightly different to the
slightly different to the rest of the U.K. but not slightly less U.K.
well said that man.. schools
well said that man.. schools seem to be indoctrinating students to think they are global citizens and that nationalism is akin to facism; IMO, the tweet from the dutch business is intended to be a politically motivated anti- Brexit jibe.
We knew why we were voting
We knew what we were voting for… !
Sovereignty, innit?
That’s a shame, I’ve bought a
That’s a shame, I’ve bought a few things over the years from DBB and enjoy reading his ‘view from the bike path’ blog.
I imagine the owner, as an expat Brit, finds the added complexities Brexit brings to his life unwelcome. However, this just seems to be a bit of added admin that is annoying, but not too difficult to overcome.
Dutch VAT is actually slightly higher (21% vs 20% in the UK), so there ought to be room to recover the admin costs without affecting prices too much.
1% of a retail sale is not
1% of a retail sale is not likely to cover ADDITIONAL transaction costs of managing tax for another country, over an above the taxation admin overhead of the country the retailer is based in.
The obvious natural outcome here is British consumers will:
– buy more from British-focused retailers (some of which will be the bigger EU-based ones)
– which will be a smaller set of retailers, reducing the market distribution of many of the specialist/smaller scale brands
– in return for higher prices, given an inevitable reduction in number of retailers that British consumers have available to chose from and the addition of one more layer of markup for smaller brands
Unfortunately my conclusion from this is your politicians are taking British backwards in time, at a point where many countries are moving forward. but that is the underlying point of Brexit isn’t it: better domestic exploitation of your own people? The term “rip-off Britian” comes to mind here, from many years ago when I lived in the UK
I say this BTW as a consumer now living in an EEA country that has in recent years greatly benefited from improved harmonisation of VAT collection procedures from online retailers in the EA. You’re being taken where we just came from, and are grateful for having escaped from. Scandalous really.
Can’t be a great amount of
Can’t be a great amount of business they’re losing otherwise they’d do something about it other than not doing anything.
If you need dutch bike spares
If you need dutch bike spares or indeed a new bike, hollandbikeshop.com & bikester.co.uk (Germany) is operating normally.
There are much longer
There are much longer delivery times for Bikester.
ktache wrote:
…which they attribute to Covid border issues. Let’s not muddy the waters, eh?
Of course you missed this
Of course you missed this from the banner, I mean it’s only at the top of the homepage…
And every page I go to, but
And every page I go to, but hey easy to miss…
ktache wrote:
Mea culpa. But in my defence, it [b]is [/b]easy to miss – [i]I don’t see it at all.[/i] See full screen shot below. Neither do I see it on any other page.
Moreover, the closest the FAQ comes to specifically Brexit delays is this:
[I]Will delivery of my package be delayed in case of a hard Brexit?
[I]We expect significant delays with deliveries because of restrictions due to COVID-19. Additional delays are to be expected in case of a hard Brexit. Should your order take longer to arrive, we kindly ask for your patience and understanding.[/i]
App vs Website I guess.
App vs Website I guess.
It was mentioned when I did an order before new year, as some have mentioned, they do have some stock that UK sites don’t seem to do, I’m back on my Getting to Work Bike at the moment, and quality 8 speed and 26 inch stuff for my wonderful early 90s Marin Pine Mountain was required.
hollandbikeshop.com – We are
hollandbikeshop.com – We are temporarily unable to deliver orders to Great Britain. Bikestar not shipping to UK either.
Probably because a major
Probably because a major courier companies have temporarily suspended sending packages to UK from Germany…..because of Corona.
It was you who voted Brexit.
It was you who voted Brexit. I claim my £5.
Are you by any chance Spa
Are you by any chance Spa Cycles? If so, please let me know, as I have been a customer of yours for many years.
Article neglects to mention
Article neglects to mention the Netherlands has near identical rules:
“Supplying to private individuals or foreign entrepreneurs
Do you supply goods to private individuals or other foreign entrepreneurs in the Netherlands? Then you must charge VAT. You are also required to file a VAT return in the Netherlands. In order to do so, you must register yourself with the Netherlands Tax and Customs Administration.”
Now the complainant could be excused for not knowing this as they are within the Netherlands, however I’m sure they sell to Germany which also has similar rules, so the concept shouldn’t be new to them.
Yes, it is strange how the
Yes, it is strange how the detail gets neglected in all the banging of drums. See also how it all works within the EU:
https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/taxation/vat/cross-border-vat/index_en.htm#withintheeusellgoodsfinalconsumer-1
winstonpushbike wrote:
You’re misunderstanding. Inside the EU, each country has a threshold that has to be reached before you as a foreign company need to register for VAT in that country. In both The Netherlands and Germany the threshold is 100,000€.
So a Dutch shop can sell goods to German customers amounting to 99,999€ before they would need to register for VAT in Germany. If you are a German customer buying from that shop, you simply pay Dutch VAT (21%) instead of German VAT (19%) on your order.
It hardly makes any difference to you as a German customer, and it makes life a lot easier for that Dutch shop, as all the German orders need no special VAT declaration, but are simply bundled with all the regular, Dutch orders.
The same goes for orders the Dutch shop ships to other EU countries. As long as they are below that (relatively generous) threshold in each country, only Dutch VAT needs to be collected and accounted for. Simple.
Indeed, and you have alighted
Indeed, and you have alighted upon the two outliers. Every other member of the Single Currency has a threshold of €35,000.
https://www.avalara.com/vatlive/en/eu-vat-rules/distance-selling/distance-selling-eu-vat-thresholds.html
I understand there are plans to simplify the handling of distance-selling VAT within the EU to a “One Stop Shop” so retailers need only one accounting for all their EU VAT, which should make life easier.
But at the present, accounting for VAT separately for each country of export seems to be the norm, so I don’t see what all the palava is about.
Well this company still ships
Well this company still ships to Australia, which requires ALL international purchases to have GST added to the purchase price by the seller, who then passes the tax to the Australian government; I suspect this company is engaging in a bit of Brexit bashing.
This is the same rule that
This is the same rule that Switzerland implemented in 2018. The only downside was that Amazon.com stopped shipping to Switzerland but we can still order from the .de and .co.uk sites. The huge benefit is that Swiss VAT is already paid at pirchade so the post and courier companies can’t charge you the crazily expensive import admin fee to add do the import and you get no nasty surprises. TBH, it’s the best thing to happen with respect to buying mail order from the EU to Switzerland.
It is all project fear I tell
It is all project fear I tell you – yeah right sure it. This is just the tip of the rather large iceberg we are just about to crash into.
we (some of us!) voted for it so we have only ourselves to blame.
Over the summer the only
Over the summer the only places with good parts stock were the DE retailers (Bikester, BikeDiscount, etc.) If that continues, expect higher prices here and longer delivery times – time to stock up on cassettes and chains perhaps.
We returned to Paris
We returned to Paris yesterday. We all have EU passports except my daughter who still travels on her UK passport. (She is an EU citizen but we haven’t got around to getting her passport) Anyway we all sailed through French border checks at St Pancras except my daughter who was stopped and asked to explain why she was going to France and for how long. We had to produce evidence (which we had prepared for) as to her reason to travel to France. Her passport was then stamped with a warning that if she outstays her permitted stay she will be ‘illegal’. (She is 10 years old) On the train, as we approached Paris, the carriages started to fill with on-board Customs Police. Everyone was asked what they were carrying etc and some people had their baggage checked. It was great. It was like being back in the 1970s. Can’t wait to return to London and get the full UK Border Force treatment – probably get called a ‘w+g’ or ‘paddy’ or similar just to add to the authenticiticy.
Maybe feel a dose of national
Maybe feel a dose of national pride that Brits are getting special treatment..
I’ve been buying online long
I’ve been buying online long enough to remember the days of the single market without close alignment of VAT rates between the member countries. It always created distortions – for example, at the turn of the century Holland had preferential taxation on new cars and so there are a ton of Dutch imports around from that era. And from memory it was cheaper for a while to buy electronics from Germany rather than in the UK. There were also companies exploiting taxation rules for the Channel Islands and Isle of Man – remember Play247? That’s still going on – recently bought some dirt cheap SD cards from a company in the IoM. Point is, retailers will find a way to game the taxation system to offer lower prices on commodity goods, because online trade is largely frictionless (price first, then returns policy, then convenience is what governs where you buy).
If one supplier exits the
If one supplier exits the market, another may see the opportunity to fill that gap. The one thing that is sure as shite is that any additional costs will eventually be picked up by the customer.
Ha!
Ha!
https://singletrackworld.com/2021/01/brooks-temporarily-suspends-shipment-of-uk-made-saddles-to-the-uk-due-to-brexit/
When buying online within the
When buying online within the EU the retailer automatically applies the VAT of the country of delivery rather than the VAT of the retailer’s country. It has been so for a few years already, at least with the larger retailers. Therefore tax collection in one country on behalf of another already happens within the UE. My understanding is that retailers report to their respective tax authorities and VAT clearance is then settled in aggregate between nations (rather than each retailer answering sale-by-sale to twenty-six foreign tax authorities, which would be bonkers).
Brexit happened, cake and
Brexit happened, cake and eating it etc etc.
BUT
Imho what the UK Gov is doing here is the ONLY way to do things and ensure that VAT will be collected at all. They have the right idea, it’s the EU who should emulate this for all third-country sales that are entering. The seller or his platform register for VAT purposes, collect VAT and transfer it to the MS where the buyer lives. Their registering the transaction generates a code which is printed on the label and can be checked. No valid code: seizure of the package.
In all other scenarios, the treasury gets robbed blind and domestic sellers face an insurmountable disadvantage because the goods will simply be sold without VAT, through a seller who goes ‘missing trader’ after a couple of months, undervalued so as to abuse all kinds of low value consignment relief rules (Chinese speciality) etc.
So although I’m glad to be finally shot of the UK and continue to believe that with leaders like Boris you’re in for a rough ride, someone had a moment of clarity there.
Bloody hell, now even bike24
Bloody hell, now even bike24 are showing as not shipping to U.K.! It gets better and better. Keep winning!
https://www.bike-discount.de
https://www.bike-discount.de/en/info/information-for-our-uk-customers-327
£175 minimum order to the uk. Brexit – the gift that keeps on giving.
I got an EM from Superstar
I got an EM from Superstar components saying that they are not fulfilling orders to the EU due to complications from the Brexit agreement.
This trade stuff is going well at the moment isn’t it?
I have been buying from Dutch
I have been buying from Dutch bike company Mantel for a few years now. They have things that UK sellers don’t sell or are much cheaper.
Over Christmas they stopped shipping to the UK due to ‘ heavy traffic at our carriers’
I have looked at their customer service page where they explain how the free shipping on orders over £35 was free will be changing.
Are the shipping costs going up?
Yes, the new shipping costs will be £ 9.99 for all orders.
When are the shipping costs going up?
The implementation date of the new rates will be on Monday Januari 18. We have chosen this date as for the period from 24 December 2020 up until 4 Januari our carrier was unable to provide shipping labels due to the shipping stop caused by the corona virus. As a consequence we have extended the use of the old rates for a period of 14 days. This way you can still place your order for the old shipping rate of £6,49 for orders under £35 and free for orders over that amount if you failed to do so before 31 December.
Why are the shipping costs going up?
UPS must import all parcels one by one into the UK. This means that they all have to be declared at customs and our carrier will charge extra for this.
But why are we all buying from Europe?
For me, Ribble has gone. Wiggle and Chain Reaction seem to have lost their top spots since they joined forces. Same products, same prices, most items out of stock and prices are no longer competitive. Merlin are still a good retailer and I use them regularly.