RE: UK orders
Yeah. £27 shipping for 3 rolls of filament is sort of hard to swallow especially when £22-26 a roll is already a little higher priced than other places where I can get free shipping.
RE: UK orders
Just looked back through my previous orders.
May 2020 - 2 x 1kg filament and textured sheet - Shipping = £6.04 inc tax.
Feb 2021 - 2 x 1kg filament and 2 x GT2 belts - Shipping = £16.54 inc tax.
Whatever the reasons (not blaming Prusa) that's a huge jump in cost (274%). I have managed to substitute filament from other suppliers apart from Galaxy Black and Galaxy Silver. (Hence the order).
But Prusa filaments seem to be great quality, consistent, well wound, and (for me) have been very reliable. Such a shame that the shipping has increased so much. It's worth noting that the prices on filament seem to have have risen considerably from other suppliers I guess due to scarcity of materials etc. due to the pandemic. This does work back a little in Prusa's favor regarding cost competitiveness, however, hopefully there will be a return to normal operations sometime in the future, easing supply of materials, whereas the Brexit situation is here to stay.
We will see.
RE: UK orders
@stanhd
That £6.04 was probably Hermes, the £16.54 is DHL...
What has happened is the ultra cheap low end shippers have not got themselves sorted for the post-Brexit world yet, so I guess there is some hope the rates might fall once the cheaper guys are back in the mix...
RE: UK orders
@rob-20
All computer time is stored in unix time. Zero for unix is 51 years ago iirc. So its when it hasn't got the proper time and user (yet). Which is why its anonymous. I see that all the time on these forums.
RE: UK orders
@stanhd
Unfortauntely this is the reality we now live in when we vote to leave the single economic market. I have purchased some Prusament Galaxy as it is the best fillament I can get my hands on. I have tried third party fillment and have ended up damaging previous 3D printers as Prusament works like a dream without any hitches I personlly feel it's worth the premium price. As for shipping, the UK is now a third country and therefore pricing schemes for couriers now apply as well as additional fees where required. Switzerland and Norway also have to pay higher shipping fees. However Norway is part of the EEA and Switzerland has had to incorperate EU laws into it's economy.
I asked if items under £135 will be paid delivery duty paid which has been confirmed. Courier companies charge a lot of money to do this as it is a reverse customs charge putting liablity on Prusament for the payment of items being shipped by customs rather than the consumer.
The UK is lucky enough to have Prusa ship to the UK especially with a lot of businesses avoiding sending items/goods to the UK. The main issue is if customers get the items at customs and refuse to pay there are only a few options.
1. The seller pays the customs fees.
2. The items are destoryed.
3. The seller has to pay for the items to be delivered back to the country of origin.
All these options are deverstating for any business so I am extremely greatful that Prusa Research is shipping to the UK as a lot of companies would flat out refuse to send things on those terms.
RE: UK orders
@mark_t
Ah thanks that makes a lot of sense. So that makes it more of a value situation as in my opinion DHL is a far superior service.
@olipicard
Thanks, having placed the order I was already aware of the VAT and basically unchanged process (Sub £135). Also as I said I am aware that the quality of Prusa filaments is superior to most others. I actually do not consider it to be expensive either and it is my preferred supply. I had to go elsewhere whilst the shop was off line to the UK. (Couldn't substitute the Galaxy Black & Galaxy Silver though)
I do appreciate that Prusa are supplying to the UK, I was simply reporting my experience regarding the shipping.
RE: UK orders
Well I’ve just had to pay today just under £50 to the delivery company in uk after buying 11 rolls of filament. So when you add the cost of the £20+ delivery charge on top. So for a £175 purchase I’ve paid £70 in total for the privilege. It’s going to put me off buying direct.
RE: UK orders
I had one in my basket before Christmas. Neglected it and said I'll do it in the new year. When I logged on to do it I was met with great disappointment! but I look forward to the day I can spend my money on a Prusa Mk3S+ I'm ready and waiting!
RE: UK orders
Well I’ve just had to pay today just under £50 to the delivery company in uk after buying 11 rolls of filament. So when you add the cost of the £20+ delivery charge on top. So for a £175 purchase I’ve paid £70 in total for the privilege. It’s going to put me off buying direct.
does the £175 include vat or is it £35 vat + £20 shipping + £15 courier handling fee = £70?
i am thinking to buy the mk3 and need to know about any extra costs.
RE: UK orders
@madasaskaven
The majority of that £50 will be VAT though which you would have had to pay originally anyway...
RE: UK orders
Well I’ve just had to pay today just under £50 to the delivery company in uk after buying 11 rolls of filament. So when you add the cost of the £20+ delivery charge on top. So for a £175 purchase I’ve paid £70 in total for the privilege. It’s going to put me off buying direct.
The rules now when purchasing from a non-UK seller are that for any purchase of value no higher than £135, the VAT (20%) will be collected by the seller who will then pass that tax onto the UK government. That's what happened for my sub-£135 order of filament that just arrived today with no problem or additional charge. All costs were evident up-front.
However, for goods of value over £135, the tax is not added on by the seller to pass on to the UK government - You pay the tax-free cost of the items to the seller, and the tax you owe is instead collected from you by the government when the parcel is in the country but before final delivery. So if you order something that the seller charges £175 for, you are actually ordering something worth £210 (because you also owe 20% VAT which is £35) but the cost is being split between payment for goods at purchase and payment of tax at delivery. Legally, you would be required to pay the additional £35 of VAT to the delivery service before you can be given the goods, whether that's DHL, Hermes, FedEx, Royal Mail or whoever. And that's just the tax that goes to the government's coffers. When the United Kingdom was part of the EU, anything coming from another EU country was assumed to be taxed correctly and could be waved through customs with no issue. Now we are no longer in the EU, that assumption is no longer true and requires proving. Someone at the delivery service has to intercept your parcel and pull it out of the postal system; someone has to go get the right documentation, fill in all the details of your identity and your purchase correctly and ensure you get charged the correct amount; someone has to submit that documentation to the government and forward the collected taxes to them; then someone has to put the parcel back into the post afterwards. A fair bit of that is probably computerised nowadays but people still need to oversee the process. These people have to be paid for their work. I can see the admin costs easily approaching £10-£15, especially in the early days trying to recoup the costs of restructuring their systems. Before Brexit, paying VAT on imported goods as they arrive had been normal practice for anyone importing goods into the UK from non-EU countries - I've had to pay similar charges when buying items from the United States in the past.
RE: UK orders
@theprintbutler
They are accepting UK orders again as I placed an order last Sunday
RE: UK orders
@jon-17
On page 4 moojuiceuk went through the tariffs/charges and it looks vat + £11 (unless vat > £440). I should hopefully know in about three weeks (ordered last Sunday)
RE: UK orders
@ken-11
Yes! Thanks for letting me know. 🤩
RE: UK orders
@ken-11
thanks ken
madasaskaven paid £50 to the delivery company in uk. £35 of that must have been vat(on£175 order)
so i can only think the other £15 was the handling fee.
and i presume the shipping cost(£20) was paid at the time of purchase. £70 in total.
couriers must charge different handling fees i suppose.
so you are getting the mk3s ?
RE: UK orders
@jon-17
yes mk3s on order - I didn't want to wait 8 weeks for a mini
RE: UK orders
Ouch, was just going to order a new steel sheet and some Prusament but £16 for delivery, small order is over £60
RE: UK orders
Joe & team,
This is a belated thank-you for all the extra effort you made when shipping my Prusa mini.
I had ordered the mini back at the end of October, when shipping was estimated as 12-16 week and no one had any idea how Brexit would turn out.
At start of December I was monitoring deliveries and could see that mine would probably fall after 1st January and had resigned myself to extra delays and costs due to the new Brexit arrangements. So imagine my surprise on 27th December to get an email saying the mini had been shipped and giving the DHL tracking number.
Over the next 36 hours I followed the package as it went from Prague to Germany, flew to East Midlands airport and onward to the DHL distribution centre near Cambridge and finally arriving at my front door earlier than predicted. 😀
You guys certainly went "above and beyond" to get product out to your customers.
I've now ordered more filament and received my DHL tracking number this morning. I'll report back on how this goes but I've every expectation of a similar service.
In the mean time thanks for all you are doing.
RE: UK orders
Well having got my email as I’m sure we all have to say why we are been charged what we are, I went and had another look at the website. I placed some filament in my basket and then proceeded to the check out. It’s here I get all confused as they show vat twice. Well that can’t be right we pay vat once. So is the price displayed on the website vat free! I find it all very confusing. No mention either of the admin fee you have to pay the delivery company either. Which will come as an additional shock and cost.
I think it would be so much easier to have a drop down box on each item telling the buyer what the total cost including vat will be. Then we get to make a choice if we are prepared to pay or source elsewhere.