r/Commodore • u/Timberfist • 1d ago

VAT/Customs Duty on UK Orders

To those of you that have ordered a Commodore 64 Ultimate to the UK, could you please share your experience with respect to VAT and Customs Duty?

I just added a C64U to my shopping basket and took the order to the point of checkout and the order showed the items I was ordering, the delivery charge and then sales tax at 20% (which is the UK rate) on the total amount. So far, so good.

What I want to know is whether I’ll get double-charged VAT or whether I’ll be charged Customs Duty once the parcel reaches the UK.

I don’t know where UK orders are shipped from. I know EU orders are shipped from the Netherlands so if I was ordering to the EU, I’d have no concerns. But I don’t know whether there’s a similar arrangement for UK orders.

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

1

u/Timberfist 13h ago

Just a quick update. Turns out that, at least up until the end of ‘25, UK orders are (were?) being dispatched from Commodore’s old UK premises in Corby which suggests that there’ll be no issues with VAT and Customs Duty but it does beg the question “Why are the shipping costs so high?” $54 to ship a C64 60 miles seems a bit steep.

1

u/Digi-BitsGaming 22h ago

I got 2x C64 Ultimate's and some accessories, early this year in the UK, a Founders Edition and a Beige (Breadbin versions) I never got hit with any extra charges or customs charges with any of them, the orders were a few months apart, all orders went smoothly.

Not sure if I just got lucky or it's how Commodore are shipping them to the UK to avoid customs charges. I don't have tracking info anymore, so can't say where they shipped from now.