Purchase of items from Great Britain | Help Among Users

aviloria76 · 2025-05-01T13:08:20.368000Z

Hello,I’ve been buying on eBay for a long time, and what I’m going to tell you has only happened to me when buying from sellers in Great Britain. When I buy something from a seller in Great Britain, eBay calculates a VAT amount and adds it to the price I pay for the item (so far, so good). The problem is that on EVERY purchase I make from buyers in Great Britain, when I receive the package, I have to pay another additional amount (in person, in cash, and the exact amount since they usually don’t have change) so that they can hand over the package to me. I’ve asked many times at Correos and in other forums what this additional charge is due to, and everyone tells me it’s because of a VAT adjustment and customs handling (this is also reflected in the invoice they send me when I make these additional payments). The problem is that, in addition to this "VAT adjustment" or "customs handling", Correos always charges a fee for the processing. This fee ranges from €5 to €30 depending on the cost of the item. This "processing" appears on the invoice as "Total advances (not subject)"... (no one has been able to explain it to me exactly, but it seems like Correos is fronting that missing money in the VAT charge or customs handling, and charging you for that advance)The thing is that many times the final cost for me of an item ends up being 40-50% more than the purchase price (between the VAT + the "adjustment" or customs handling + the processing)... My question is: would this "customs handling" be necessary if eBay calculated the VAT correctly?As I said at the beginning, when I buy in other countries, and they include the IOSS code, this has never happened to me. Can anything be done about it?Best regardsAlejandro

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