Loads of us have been waiting for the post over the last month, nothing seemed to be coming through, and no Christmas cards, parcels, online shopping, etc.
This last week, it all seems to be coming through, I have seen on social media people says that things are coming that were posted at the end of November beginning of December. Same for me, Christmas cards have come, Amazon orders came that I had refunds for weeks ago so let’s hope the problem has been sorted out, but we pay through the nose for this service, and it’s disgusting that this for whatever reason has happened.
So now what is happening? It seems we need to fill out customs forms for sending anything larger than a card or letter to the UK, and this needs to be done online, or if you do it at the post office it’s gonna cost you an extra 5 euros. The same or people in the UK, they need to fill out customs forms also to post to Europe.
Someone let me know that in the UK the post office has a service, where they will collect your post for 73p and post it for you, anyone had experience with this?
Some Good News
Another friend living here in Madeira, orders a lot on Amazon.co.uk, now it seems you can still do this, but you will not be charged the 20% VAT, instead, you are charged the 22% IVA that is for Madeira. He also has noticed a huge increase in delivery costs, but don’t worry we have a much better option, we can order from Amazon.es/ Spain a much better service. He has been ordering from them for a couple of weeks, and everything has come within a week with CTT, better still if you join Amazon prime on the Amazon.es site, which only costs 36.00 euros a year, you get free delivery to Madeira, so this seems to be a great workaround, plus you get a 1-month free trial.
With all the confusion, I have heard many UK companies have stopped delivering to Europe, until things are sorted out, and made a lot clearer, someone sent me this article from The Guardian.
If you have any information, and other experiences, and online shopping stores you use to be delivered to Madeira, please put them all in the comments below. Especially if you have some good online shopping stores, not just from the UK, but from anywhere in Europe where you might buy stuff cheaper, or things you cant get in Madeira.
If you are reading this on Facebook or Twitter, please click through to my blog, and leave a comment here, so they are all in one place, and could be helpful to many of us.
Now I just have to wait and see if I receive the parcels my brother is sending to me, as he couldn’t get here for New Year, and it’s not possible for me to travel to the UK…. and if you are still waiting for Christmas cards, you might still get them before Easter….