EBMA files an anti dumping complaint on chinese e-bikes.

D

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I didn't say that. Do you want me to be sued?
Sorry, you're right, you didn't say that. Let me put it this way:
What's to stop Chinese companies who are setting up in Germany, and selling into the UK, from setting up in the UK to do the same?
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
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Sorry, you're right, you didn't say that. Let me put it this way:
What's to stop Chinese companies who are setting up in Germany, and selling into the UK, from setting up in the UK to do the same?
I can sue them in Southend County Court. No sweat.
 

russ18uk

Pedelecer
Sep 18, 2018
71
23
Interesting to see some example numbers Woosh. Aren't you able to reclaim the VAT that you paid when you imported the kit?
And on the topic of VAT, I bought a bike tool from the States recently and had to pay duty and a customs agent charge but no VAT, I wonder why not..
I know zilch about the workings of VAT, please excuse my ignorance.
You shouldn't have paid duty, but you should have paid VAT. £15 (Ebay says £18) is the threshold for paying VAT on import; £135 for duty. You got screwed or you misread the invoice.
https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

DHL, UPS etc disregard the law because most don't know nor check and they are happy to charge the extra "admin" charge.
 

anotherkiwi

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 26, 2015
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When you buy from PSWPower's German warehouse you are paying German VAT because you are in the EU. They say on the web page that:

If you from Europe country,We will send it from Germany warehouse. free shipping,NO taxes,Taxes is paid by us, also we will send it by DHL with tracking number,delivery time about 4-6 working day

My bold text
 

anotherkiwi

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 26, 2015
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you've got it all wrong, AKW.

Let's take an example.
I pay $250 for a hypothetical kit + $10 delivery.
After delivery to my door, the kit costs me: 1.05*(250+10)1.20 USD ex VAT
The 1.05 is the import duty. The 1.20 is VAT.
Total: $328 or £262.08
If I want to sell on Ebay, I have to sell it at at least £399.
subtract the various cost centres:
Goods: -£262.08
ebay fees @ 10%: -£39.90
Paypal fee @ 2%: -£7.98
Post & packing: -£10
VAT:- £66.50
10% fixed running cost (premises, insurance, guarantee replacement,admin etc): -£39.90

Net sale proceed: £16.32

At that selling price, I cannot afford to spend more than 15 minute on support time before I start eating into my net profit before tax!

Now, let's see what happens if I don't charge VAT (ie when I sell to someone living in Jersey/Guernsey):

subtract the various cost centres:
Goods: -£262.08
ebay fees @ 10%: -£39.90
Paypal fee @ 2%: -£7.98
Post & packing: -£10
VAT:0
10% fixed running cost: -£39.90

Net sale proceed: £82.82

No comparison, is there?
The problem with the Chinese is some treat commercial invoices as something you find in a fortune cookie. They send you a Word document. You edit the details if you want to. If you don't want to pay import duty, then you just tell them to invoice you for a lesser amount.
If I buy more than 150€ worth of goods the French customs will add duties (if applicable) and 20% VAT.

If I am a company that has over 91 k € revenue in sales I have to add 20% VAT to my bills but in return I recover the 20% VAT I paid on the goods. That is how VAT works in France.

Import ebike from wherever for 500 €, cost to me = 600 € VAT included
Sell to EU client for 1000 + 20% VAT = 1200 € VAT included
I send 200 € to the tax man
Several months later (at the time is was 3) the tax man credits me 100 €
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
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Import ebike from wherever for 500 €, cost to me = 600 € VAT included
that's correct if you buy from a trader who is VAT registered and who chose to charge you VAT.
If you have an EU VAT number, I can ship to you at better price than my Chinese competitors that I moan about.
If you buy from some Chinese operator who does not charge you VAT, there is no VAT to recover.
It's made even easier when some logistic company runs for you a 'bonded warehouse' fulfillment. You only pay EU import duty when you sell, ie after you have the cash from customer.
 

anotherkiwi

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Foreign companies are supposed to charge VAT and then reverse to the French govt. Most don't. If your box of goodies is controlled during shipment and the bill does not mention VAT don't worry, the customs man will add it and you will get the goods when you pay that tax.

French customs seem to be more efficient than HMRC?
 

Woosh

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May 19, 2012
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Foreign companies are supposed to charge VAT and then reverse to the French govt. Most don't. If your box of goodies is controlled during shipment and the bill does not mention VAT don't worry, the customs man will add it and you will get the goods when you pay that tax.

French customs seem to be more efficient than HMRC?
No, that's not the situation I am moaning about. The fault is with the EU in this situation. They should crack down on those operators, making sure VAT is paid when leaving the bonded warehouse.
The main loophole in the SM rules is to allow Chinese businesses to sell to EU consumers online.
The customer actually buy from a supplier based in Zhenzhen for example, the EU logistic companies hold their stock in bonded warehouses.
Customers have no EU protection. No VAT is chargeable.
If I ship from my bonded warehouse in Heathrow to a customer in London, my forwarder will make sure that I have issued commercial invoice with VAT because it's intra national. If I ship the same to Woosh in France, I don't charge VAT because it's an EU rule.

I don't know if you read much on BBC news website. They did a recent reportage on Just Eat and Deliveroos, they allow unscrupulous operators to cook and sell food from converted containers parked on industrial sites without H&S inspection.
People buy online: good. People get cheated: bad. Nobody does anything about it.
 
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anotherkiwi

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Jan 26, 2015
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No, that's not the situation I am moaning about. The fault is with the EU in this situation. They should crack down on those operators, making sure VAT is paid when leaving the bonded warehouse.
The main loophole in the SM rules is to allow Chinese businesses to sell to EU consumers online.
The customer actually buy from a supplier based in Zhenzhen for example, the EU logistic companies hold their stock in bonded warehouses.
Customers have no EU protection. No VAT is chargeable.
If I ship from my bonded warehouse in Heathrow to a customer in London, my forwarder will make sure that I have issued commercial invoice with VAT because it's intra national. If I ship the same to Woosh in France, I don't charge VAT because it's an EU rule.

I don't know if you read much on BBC news website. They did a recent reportage on Just Eat and Deliveroos, they allow unscrupulous operators to cook and sell food from converted containers parked on industrial sites without H&S inspection.
People buy online: good. People get cheated: bad. Nobody does anything about it.
OK I get you now. Like the bonded warehouse bmsbattery uses in Belgium for example.

pswpower on the other hand state clearly you are buying from Germany so there must be EU customer protection. Maybe they have made a strategic error? Maybe they do pay VAT? But we can imagine they won't be declaring much value on the goods they are selling so as to keep the VAT as low as possible...
 

Woosh

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May 19, 2012
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OK I get you now. Like the bonded warehouse bmsbattery uses in Belgium for example.

pswpower on the other hand state clearly you are buying from Germany so there must be EU customer protection. Maybe they have made a strategic error? Maybe they do pay VAT? But we can imagine they won't be declaring much value on the goods they are selling so as to keep the VAT as low as possible...
read the webpage more carefully, goods are shipped from the EU warehouse but not sold by an EU company. Tax (in this case EU import tariff) is paid but not VAT.
They just exploit a loophole for intra EU trans shipments and count on EU couriers not to check the paperwork for intra EU parcels.
As I said, after brexit, UK customs will charge VAT for parcels coming from EU27, same as parcels from Shenzhen, same for goods leaving UK bonded warehouse to UK addresses. That loophole will be plugged.
 
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Woosh

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May 19, 2012
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I have gone through the first provisioning cycle after paying provisional 37% anti-dumping duty last July.
It costs me on average £17.50 per bike more with assembly done in Southend than buying ready made before anti-dumping era. I can absorb that.
The only other negative is we run out of space. This is because the bits take on average 30% more space than the assembled bike.
There is also a side benefit. I spent a fair amount of time researching easy to fit kits so that I can buy bikes elsewhere than China and convert them to e-bikes...
 
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MikelBikel

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Jun 6, 2017
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OK I get you now. Like the bonded warehouse bmsbattery uses in Belgium for example.

pswpower on the other hand state clearly you are buying from Germany so there must be EU customer protection. Maybe they have made a strategic error? Maybe they do pay VAT? But we can imagine they won't be declaring much value on the goods they are selling so as to keep the VAT as low as possible...
Pwspower state in their Amazon ads that returns must be sent by buyer to China! So buying from Germany doesn't seem to confer EU warranty. But don't quote me ;)
 

Woosh

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May 19, 2012
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they operate from China but keep goods in Germany for quick fulfillment, you actually buy in China, so yes, warranty is in China, faulty goods must be sent back to China.
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
19,517
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Southend on Sea
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we have just got a £13k refund cheque from the EU via HMRC.
As it turns out, anti dumping levies are divided into countervailing value duty and anti-dumping duty.
The anti-dumping was in force since July last year but reduced when the countervailing duty was introduced, so we could claim back the difference in anti-dumping rate.
 

Kudoscycles

Official Trade Member
Apr 15, 2011
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Some say that tariffs will be deleted after 'clean break brexit' ,according to Farage and Co.
He often quotes Article 24 of GATT as a solution if the EU wont play ball with zero tariffs but Article 24 clearly states that both sides must agree. The EU and UK wont agree to zero tariffs otherwise they will have to zero tariff all other WTO members,they wont agree to that and in many products nor will we.
Google 'brexit article 24' house of commons library.
As always Farage is strong on rhetoric but weak on detail,just cant understand why others are not challenging him.
I voted Lib Dems for the first time in my life in the EU elections.
KudosDave