vat charge on £3.50 from china ?

[jadie13910]

I am being charged vat on items bought from China ? The seller states on his sales page "vat is included in article price" when I get to PayPal page it then lists a vat charge  on top of item cost ! I have contacted HMRC and they have confirmed that items of £15 or less from China are NOT liable to vat - I have contacted eBay who say they are now obliged to charge vat !!!!  Who is correct  HMRC or eBay ????

Please help as this has a huge impact on future purchases from China ! 

It also causes a problem at the payment stage as you have already clicked "buy it now" you can NOT cancell the order and the seller can then enter a "non payment" charge againsy you !!!!  You have created a contract with the seller ---- Nothing you can do about it according to eBay !

Please help BUT please check the fact`s prior to reply - Many thanks

[ruby*tuesday · Accepted solution]

Since Brexit any Purchases from outside the UK you are charged Import Vat. Not the same thing as VAT.

[jadie13910 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the reply ruby*tuesday - This "import tax" is an awful lot higher than "import duty" from USA and I no longer buy from USA unless I really want/need the item, this is going to hit both China and eBay sales - but hey, so be it !