AnPost AddressPal -- Any experience?

[james]

Pre-Brexit I used to use Parcel motel but alas it is no more.

I want to buy an item from England. I see AnPost has something called AddressPal and I wonder has anyone here tried it. What strikes me is that I would have to pay the full English price for an item (including UK Vat) and then I would be hit for Irish Vat. Is this the case? Also, are there extra AnPost charges on top of that?

I am looking at at item costing about £150 ..

James

[Sloop John B]

There’s a parcel motel clone run by parcel motel’s original owner oohpod.

Silly name but seems very much the same and it also brings Jonesboro back on the map for us Southerners wishing to avoid double VAT.

.sjb

[Fran]

I use addresspal quite a bit, mainly now from the USA. It works very well indeed.

You will pay VAT and customs (usually miniscule) and a handling fee, I think its 5.99. The way it works - you sign up with addresspal, they give you a UK address. Then when the delivery gets to that UK address, they do the customs clearance and email you saying your parcel is with them, and they take the fee. They do the customs clearance and you get an email on that with a code to log in and pay. An Post deliver it this end.

The big advantage is that they do the customs clearance for you - this is not insignificant as all customs must now be done electronically, and they take all the pain out of it. When you take into account that the shipping within the UK is much cheaper it doesn't cost as much extra as you think.

I've used it quite a bit for the USA as well, and it actually saves you money due to international post rates from the USA.

[Sloop John B]

What about VAT Fran with addresspal?

.sjb

[james]

I had a look at oohpod. Unfortunately they do not do a transfer from Newry to Dublin so I would have to get the train to Newry to collect things.

I am still not sure how the AddressPal system works -- how does AnPost know the value of the item (for calculating taxes)? Usually when something is posted internally there are no custom declarations.

[peelaaa]

I have used UPS in the past for deliveries from GB. There is a collection point in Newry. You would have to drive/train up though to collect.

[Fran]

Addresspal will assess and calculate VAT.

You have to take into account the cost to travel to Newry or whereever - they way the cost of fuel is now, and the chances you will stop for a coffee etc on the way all could add 40e to the cost easily.

Here's an example:

example addresspal.PNG (40.35 KiB) Viewed 550 times

[james]

Addresspal will assess and calculate VAT.

I assume you have to tell them the cost of the item so they can calculate VAT?

[Fran]

Its a mix James.
Some of the stuff has come from ebay and I asked the sender to declare value on the outside. In other cases its from an individual and truly I don't know how they assess. All I can say is they haven't screwed me yet, and as far as I can see the VAT is what you'd expect. I would have thought they'd look for more documents - paypal receipts etc but not so far.

[RichardM]

My experience with them is that if it is obvious (e.g. the seller puts the invoice in the package via a stick on accessible cover) then that's what they use for the VAT calc, but mostly they've asked me to forward an email which shows what it is, the value etc and that's what you pay.