Let us just agree that we won’t agree here.
Everyone will have his/her own experience and we will see how it figures out at the end.
The fact that your ONLY argument was that an employee advised you - that the VAT will be paid after delivery, it is a proof that you don’t have any real personal experience. For me this is equivalent with saying that you don’t have any useful experience.
Do you realise that we are talking only about the particular case when the order value is less than £135 and the VAT in not collected when the purchase was made? This is the only experience that matters and as you just said above - you haven’t had to deal with this kind of experience for years. However, unlike you, I do deal with this kind of experience every year.
I am in the same boat. Never had anything before imported . Do we need to do anything else at this stage while waiting delivery ( label created on 1st december). Thanks
Create a fedex account and link your CC so you can save some fees 
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That i did yesterday but not sure what happens next. Would fedex send an email or the VAT has to be payed following delivery?
The argument is that you do get charged VAT regardless of the products value. And I’ve explained this to you, told you to look at any UK duty calculator and linked you to the FedEx document that shows that GL.iNet would have to give VAT numbers if they collected it (which they don’t).
I only mentioned what the an employee told me since that confirms what I was expecting and it invalidates what you’re saying.
VAT isn’t the same as import duty. They’re separate fees!
Either way, we’ll see who’s right when things are delivered.
@silkweb seems to be right, somehow.
In the context of VAT charges on shipments to the UK from outside the country, specifically for orders under £135, the regulations are quite specific:
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UK VAT Rules: For consignments of goods valued at £135 or less that are sold directly to customers in Great Britain, UK supply VAT is charged at the point of sale. This means that the seller, not the courier, is responsible for charging and accounting for VAT. This rule applies to the total value of a consignment, not individual items within it oai_citation:1,
VAT and overseas goods sold directly to customers in the UK - GOV.UK
. Sellers must charge and account for VAT unless it’s a business-to-business sale where the UK customer provides a VAT registration number oai_citation:2,
VAT and overseas goods sold directly to customers in the UK - GOV.UK
oai_citation:3,
VAT and overseas goods sold directly to customers in the UK - GOV.UK
. -
Shipments from Overseas: Specifically, for shipments from outside the UK with a value not exceeding GBP 135, no import VAT is charged. Instead, the supply to the UK customer is taxed with VAT, payable by the foreign supplier. For direct sales to a UK private individual by a non-UK business, the foreign business is responsible for collecting and paying UK VAT. There are exceptions, such as when an online marketplace is involved or the buyer is a VAT-registered entrepreneur providing their UK VAT number oai_citation:4,BREXIT: Shipment of goods to the UK with value not exceeding GBP 135 after 1st of January.
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FedEx’s Policy: If a business does not opt into the Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) for VAT, FedEx will pay the import VAT on behalf of the sender using their own deferment account. This ensures quick delivery of the shipment. The receiver is then invoiced for this amount, which includes an administration fee known as a Disbursement fee. This fee is part of FedEx’s ancillary charges oai_citation:5,Changes to EU VAT Rules | FedEx United Kingdom.
In your situation, if VAT was not paid at the time of purchase for a shipment from China to the UK via FedEx, and the value was under £135, it appears there might have been a case of the seller not charging VAT at the point of sale as required. If FedEx delivered without collecting VAT, it could be due to an oversight, or they may have assumed that VAT was already included in the purchase price. If there’s a discrepancy or confusion, it’s advisable to contact FedEx for clarification on their handling of VAT for your specific shipment.
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But I would say that FedEx will handle the VAT here.
UK folks are just crazy since they left the EU 
I can’t understand that any country would do something like „You have to think about the UK laws while you sell it“ - totally weird.
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That first part where it says “This means that the seller, not the courier, is responsible for charging and accounting for VAT” is the problem. Since we weren’t charged VAT during the point of sale, so when the package gets to customs they see that and apply VAT at 20% of the items value. Then couriers will pay this to get it through customs and later bill you for it while also charging you a disbursement fee.
Source: https://www.fedex.com/en-gb/billing/duty-tax.html#pay
Of course I’d like to be wrong, since that’ll make things cheaper, but I’ve received customs charges when ordering something from China before now. And yeah, that item was less than £135.
Yeah. And nothing good has come out of it either lol
If you get an email or a text message then you should check your FedEx account first. That way you should avoid getting charged twice like admon did.
I’m not sure if the trick to avoid the disbursement fee will actually work, but I guess we’ll find out soon.
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It did. At least in Germany.
I got my money back and paid only the VAT without additional fee.
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I even got charged duty tax on a FREE (obviously HMRC put a different value on it) device that was sent to me by GL.iNET from Hong Kong for beta testing purposes. I have to say that GL.iNET were very good in kindly refunding it straight away and without me asking them to do so. Is this proof enough for you?
The only relevant experience / proof is if you had to pay VAT after delivery (or at the time of the delivery) for goods that you bought and were declared under £135.
Any other experience or proof is just irrelevant. Duty fee for a free sample or anything else is really irrelevant.
BWAHAHAHAHA…Mine has arrived. Five days from leaving the factory to my doorstep…Wound up coming via FEDEX the entire way with one stop in Japan before arriving on the west coast
… I was running my motorcycles (Possibly last warm good day for a while) when the FEDEX dude went blasting past me in my drive.
EDIT: UGH. Another 3ft. cord on the AC adapter…GL.iNet I’d be happy to pay a little extra for a longer cord. 3ft. cord is useless.
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Just received mine in the UK (5 days after the label was generated). Haven’t been asked to pay any VAT or any other duty yet which is consistent with the several packages I’ve received from overseas this year with a value of less than £135. I am not familiar with import taxes and duties at all so I won’t comment on the previous discussion but my experience is no duties are charged as long as the declared value is less than £135.
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Got mine in less than 6 days to EU.
Seems to work fine, but the LED is blinking all the time. It has internet access and updated firmware already. MT3000 blinks only when there’s no internet connection, so this is weird.
Just received Flint2 dec. 3. Bought in mid oct. I’m super pleased, wish I would’ve bought more. My wireguard problems seemed to have disappeared.
Mine is stuck at “Label Created” since December 2 as well. GL.iNet blames FedEx and says the package has been picked up but not yet processed.
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that can’t be true: the moment package is picked it will be scanned so it should have the status changes from label generated to one like package is with courier… mine has the same status and glinet just ignored my last two emails even though both have been marked as read/opened…
Honestly, calm down.
12-02 was a weekend day when FedEx is not working. In concrete terms, this means that the label has only been printed for 2–3 days - which does not mean that it has been dispatched.
If nothing happens for 2 weeks, OK, but please don’t panic about 2–3 days. China is not Amazon.
11/29/23 6:40 AM: Label Created - SHENZHEN CN
11/30/23 7:41 PM: On the way- SHENZHEN CN
12/6/23 12:31 PM: Delivered - Czech Republic
Got my hands on the router on Dec 6, 2023. Good news – no surprise VAT or duty charges, and it had an “EU” label, even if it came from Shenzhen.
Expected a bigger box from the pics, but it’s cool. The packaging was top-notch, and the router itself is a bit heavier – a solid piece.
Setting up was easy, though the WAN’s DHCP client hiccuped initially. Luci came to the rescue, suggesting a fix for wonky network interface names. A quick reboot, and all systems were a go.
Tried the 5GHz Wi-Fi@80 MHz, hitting 876 Mbps down and 853 Mbps up on my gigabit line with speedtest.net. With the 160 MHz I am fully utilizing my gigabit line. Not too shabby.
Just unboxed it, no tweaks made yet. I’m saving the tweaks for Christmas!
To introduce the size of the router I am sending a photo with EdgeRouter X, iPhone 11, Brume and AR750S.
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I agree, it’s definitely fishy