David Ayers

So one EU retailer I use seems to have signed up for the eBay VAT regime. Good. I’ve also got something coming from another source. We’ll see what happens in each case. Meanwhile, the nightmare for some has only just begun: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55887043 Bear in mind that the BBC is pretty cowed these days by government threats to their funding and accusations they are anti-Brexit. But they still were willing to report these facts.

I’m so far from being a completist that I could be considered an incompletist. That said, I don’t even like this Mosaic to be even mentioned, as I missed it. I want the boring extra takes even if though I don’t like them. The only person I went complete on was Ornette, and even there I deliberately didn’t finish. He’s quite an easy one though except for a couple of things. Most of the artists I like I couldn’t keep up with. Like others here I long ago concluded that collecting and listening aren’t the same thing. I have no time to listen! I’d also say though that collecting has a dynamic of its own. Especially for those of us who started pre-internet, when you really had to work hard to track things down, and grab it when you saw it. Even if you knew what was out there in the first place...

Is there some reason for not using amazon.com.br?

maybe better than the ‘solution’ to the ‘problem’ of The Kicker...

More UK businesses looking to jump ship. Or rather to jump back on the ship. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jan/30/uk-firms-plan-to-shift-across-channel-after-brexit-chaos

Part of me wants to wait and see - but the other part wants to make orders just to see what happens...

Posted my response in the rival thread! Can’t we combine them?

I’m confused too. It looks to me like, when these regulations bed down, imported goods valued under £135 will need documentation to show that VAT has been paid, or will be sent back. FWIW my non-music order from France is still sitting on the other side of the pond. It took them ten days to send it to the shipper who has now had it for three days and not moved it. The website showed (and still shows) VAT paid, but the invoice shows it not paid. I suspect that a lot of players don’t yet know what they are supposed to be doing.

Here’s how ebay.co.uk are now handling the new laws: https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/paying-items/paying-tax-ebay-purchases?id=4771&st=2&pos=2&query=Paying%20tax%20on%20eBay%20purchases&intent=tax I haven’t looked at detailed examples yet. Obviously ebay.co.uk are a legal entity in the UK. But I wonder how non-UK businesses, especially smaller ones, are going to treat this. Please lets continue to share experiences/information.

Only very small numbers over 65 were included in the trial. People with many conditions were excluded. The most relevant category is the immunocompromised.

Well I am under 65... The German response though does confirm my assumptions about the level and degree of testing.

Oh! I forgot about that. I also had a Mingus live one consisting mainly of bootlegs which have now been removed.

This is going well so far...

Share your Spotify playlists here. I haven’t got any. But you might. So - share them here please.

Maybe one for nobusiness?

I also have only just picked up that the exemption for goods under £15 has been abolished. So now the smallest purchase has to be treated in this way. By the way, I really don’t get how this requirement for non-UK sellers to register for UK VAT is going to work. Does any other country require this?

Bit washed out and achy but basically fine. I can see how this might do some damage to a frail person, though, the same way that flu does. Flu, that is, not the flu vaccine. If there have been deaths in Norway that must have occurred elsewhere - but it is not reported.

At least Norway are collecting data on reactions. Not so in UK where there is no follow-up and not even a contact number.

I documented the effects of the AZ vaccine on me in the other thread. It was flu-like but certainly not mild. The worst part was a severe headache and high temp, but my whole body hurt though I was only mildly nauseous. The vaccine information leaflet did list my symptoms. The NHS website emphatically did not, and even said that if you did get a high temp after the vaccine it could be Covid and you should get a test. I conclude from the false account on the NHS website that there is a conscious strategy of playing down the potential side effects. People are reporting these effects on social media, including hospitalisation. I think that I should have been properly warned what to expect (and how to deal with it) at the point of vaccination. The aim of suppressing the facts is to ensure that uptake remains high. I get it, but as reality conflicts with the official version suspicion will be increased. I also checked to see whether the vaccines had been tested on people who like me are defined as ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’. They have not.

Um...so I’ll respond to my own post by saying that this looks like a disaster for our kind of thing. We’ll have to see how many retailers will be willing and able to set up a VAT relationship with HMRC. It’s pretty clear that private sellers will not be able to do so. Meanwhile I have a (non-musical) package that was prepared for shipping a week ago in France, while they figure out how to get it to me. There are shipping problems involved here too, of course.

So here’s the relevant law for sales into UK from outside. WTF. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-and-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-in-the-uk-using-online-marketplaces

Nightmare

Ha ha. I got it for medical reasons not age, so you’ll have to keep guessing... 😉

Maybe they could include The Kicker - ?

I didn’t think you were but I just wanted to say it for the record! The objective of the vaccine program is to suppress the virus generally. It does not make you safe just maybe safer. I for one will continue to be as cautious as I was before. AZ vaccine gives maybe only 62% protection on average but even if you have the Pfizer which is claimed to be 95% effective you would not take those odds every time you get on an airplane.