With all the closures, online shopping has taken over our lives. When Brexit kicked in it completely changed how we shop online as it brought extra charges and waiting times.
Since the United Kingdom is no longer part of the EU anymore, you may have to pay additional VAT on certain items on top of your shipping if the item costs more than €22. This has impacted many people who shop online. Items that cost over €150 might be liable for import duty, depending on what you have ordered.
For Siobhan Flannagan, a TUD student, she finds it harder to shop online as it is no longer as simple as clicking ‘checkout’ when you find something you like.
“When I’m buying anything now, I have to look to see if the shop charges extra customs and if I can buy it anywhere else in Ireland or the EU,” she says, “sometimes it doesn’t even feel worth it ordering from certain places because of the charges.”
Before buying anything online, the Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) recommends that you find the address for the retailer. If the business is located in an EU member state, then your consumer rights will not be affected.
One of which consumer rights, under the EU consumer protecting legislation, is the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD). The CRD includes the right to cancel your order within 14 days of delivery, in most cases. When buying from businesses residing in the UK, you automatically lose these rights.
While it is daunting and a bit off putting buying online now, there are still a number of online stores that won’t be charging additional taxes.
If you’re looking for clothes there are a lot of fashion favourites that you won’t have to worry about additional charges. This includes Boohoo; Nasty Gal; Missguided; Pretty Little Thing; Bershka; Stradivarius; Pull & Bear; H&M; ASOS; Zara; River Island; Zalando; New Look; Superdry; M&S; Next and; Littlewoods.
Flannagan is a big fan of makeup, buying most of her products from UK retailers. “It’s actually so hard to find certain brands on other websites after relying on British ones for so long and sometimes it’s hard to tell if they’re definitely coming from the UK when I’m on their websites.”
In terms of buying beauty products you can shop on Beauty Bay; FeelUnique; CultBeauty; Boots and; LookFantastic VAT free. With LookFantastic, some of the products will have to be shipped from the UK, which you will be charged for.
For any sportswear fans, you can still shop on Nike; Gymshark; Sweaty Betty; JD Sports; My Protein; Lifestyle Sports; Adidas and; Puma.
While all of the post-Brexit rules regarding online shopping and customs are daunting, there are still a large number of retailers you can buy from that won’t cost you any more than you expect to pay. Happy shopping!
Note: This article was reuploaded on 04/04/21 due to a fault with The College View website.
Emily Clarke
Image credit: Huffpost.com