Import duty

Well @MARJIT2205, I can surely understand your frustration about this extra expense.

Unfortunately, I think it's a side effect of Brexit.

While you did not say what the 400 is for, exactly, I am guessing that customs decided that your "goods" came from outside the EU ("from an English company"), and that therefore they had to levy a combination of import duties and Spanish VAT.

You might be able to decline the goods (and not pay the duty/VAT)... Or immediately re-export them (and then ask for a refund), but otherwise I don't think you can get this money back.

I used to order a lot of stuff from the UK (including eBay and Amazon), but I now (since the end of the transition period 31/12/2020) avoid doing this for exactly this reason. Easier and quicker to find what you need in Spain itself or another EU country.

Unless, perhaps, you found something on AliBaba / AliExpress (usually from China), and it's so dirt cheap that it's still worth the delay and extra cost of the customs process.

PS Sitges is lovely, so it's a small price to pay really. :-)

Thanks, this is what we may have thought would be the answer.!

Thanks for your reply!

This is one of the joys of Brexit and has caused a lot of trouble. I can only recommend that you buy goods from the EU in the future.

Lesson learned! We are now buying from EU countries only!