and now the washing machine has had it too

Following on from the Tumble Dryer disaster, our washing machine has broken down too. Hardly worth fixing, since the local repair bloke will want something like 1000kr just to look at it, before he even starts with repairs.

Unlike the Tumble Dryer, we happen to have one in reserve (long story), although it has hot and cold fill, so we need some new plumbing accessories.

and now to the shopping bit...spares are a ridiculous price here. A washing machine fill hose is 165 krone (£15), and I can't even find one of those self-tapping washing machine plumbing units you can screw onto the pipe, even though I've measured it up and it's the same 15mm copper as back in the UK! Bottom line - expensive.

A browse around on Ebay solved our problem. There are many UK sellers willing to ship to Denmark for little more than the UK price. So I bought a washing machine hose for £3.85 including postage, and an adapter for £9.53, including postage. So less than one hose at Hjem n Fix. (and it arrived from the UK in 2 days!)

The moral of the story is that there is no need to pay the high Danish prices for anything any more. So please don't do it.

EU VAT Regulations and their absurdity

It has been pointed out to me that there is a Danish regulation here for MOMs limits here.

Well I wasn't aware of the 280,000kr limit regulation hidden in there, but that does shift the onus onto the retailer to manage their business - you wouldn't be charged any more VAT on EU-bought items when they arrive.

Also, I wonder if that limit is even legal since websites like Figleaves and Book Depository make clear they charge UK VAT rate only. eBay previously added VAT to sellers fees at their location rate, and I'd give up selling anything through them since moving to Denmark as a result, but now eBay have felt confident enough earlier this year to move their EU jurisdiction to Luxembourg so that all EU private sellers only pay 15% VAT on their selling fees. See here http://pages.ebay.ie/sell/VAT-ie-faqs/index.html. I'm sure they bought the best legal advice going and you wonder why Germany doesn't do something about this, since they would be the biggest losers...maybe they know eBay have an ace to play?

Let me know if you can find a case where a government has dared to challenge a business regarding this murky rule.

I checked Fleggaard (50 yards into Germany) and they do charge German VAT on pick-ups but Danish MOMs on delivered goods so they're being careful, but then again they are a Danish company so probably have to be.

A shame, since it does mean that any hard-working Danish firm trying to sell on the internet is at an immediate disadvantage against counterparts from other European countries. Hence much business lost for the nation, as proven by my own occasional forays to Euroshop sites.
As I'm self-employed I'd suspect the limit is more likely to be a way of blocking companies supplying personal services rather than flow of goods. With this rule you'd always have to open a Danish branch.

As regards the taxes and blocking - If you read up on the EU, Denmark (and Sweden) are always the blocking countries whenever cross-border trade is mentioned. They are part of the reason it takes years to get the VAT rules shifted for the betterment of the majority. They just know that the taxes on everything are so much higher here than elsewhere that they'll lose out.

Buying on eBay and Paying NO SALES TAXES

Despite what people think, it is possible to use ebay legally to great advantage.

I'll explain this using a recent personal example.

I needed one of those cassettes you insert into your car stereo and can plug an MP3 player or CD player into so that you can listen to a greater choice of music or audiobooks while driving.

In Denmark, these things cost 250 krone or more.

On ebay, Chinese and Hong Kong sellers are selling them on "But it Now", factory direct for 99 pence, or about 11 krone! Even with postage, it still works out to £3, or 33 krone.

The seller doesn't have to charge me any sales taxes because the item is being exported. In the case of Hong Kong, there are no sales taxes anyway. Then, because the item is valued at under 22 Euros/£15, there are no sales taxes to pay in Denmark.

About 14 days later, the item arrived and works perfectly.

You will agree that that is quite some saving!

So top tip is, whatever you are looking to buy new, consider using ebay. My next purchase I'm considering is a USB TV Aerial for my PC, and these things cost 600 krone or more in Denmark. Chinese sellers are currently selling them for 99 pence + approx. £7.99 postage.

The other reason they are cheaper is that you are cutting out all the middlemen who repackage the items and add a huge mark up. So this is definitely a benefit to global direct trade, in my opinion...and global warming too if you consider the amount of wasted packaging you get with these things. The shop direct one from China arrived in a Jiffy envelope, no extra packaging.

And remember that by buying through Paypal you do have some guarantees should you pay but not receive your item.

So remember to check out ebay.