Lotharek - Sales to UK suspended indefinitely

[rubber_jonnie]

Just tried to login to Lotharek and got this:

Screenshot 2025-01-31 at 09.52.49.png

So if you're in the UK RetroLemon looks to be the only place for Lotharek items.

[mrbombermillzy]

Damn. :(

I wonder if there are more EU Retro computer companies that are now stopping postage to the UK?

[exxos]

I know he was looking for a UK distributor a while back because I was tempted to put my name forward, but he wanted a VAT registered business and I think that its why retrolemon started reselling the stuff. I don't really remember why all that happened though. Might have been related to the whole thing of companies collecting VAT and submitting it to UK government etc.

[rubber_jonnie]

I know he was looking for a UK distributor a while back because I was tempted to put my name forward, but he wanted a VAT registered business and I think that its why retrolemon started reselling the stuff. I don't really remember why all that happened though. Might have been related to the whole thing of companies collecting VAT and submitting it to UK government etc.

Yes, RetroLemon is the UK supplier, but doesn't have the upgrades that I want for my A500.

I suppose I could use my VPN to pretend I'm in France, have stuff sent to my French address and then pick it up when I go over.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster though...

[alexh]

Send retrolemon an email and see if they have or are getting the 8MB FastRAM + IDE adapters any time soon and a price as RetroLemon add a markup.

[exxos]

Yes, RetroLemon is the UK supplier, but doesn't have the upgrades that I want for my A500.

I guess you could ask him ?

I suppose I could use my VPN to pretend I'm in France, have stuff sent to my French address and then pick it up when I go over.
Sounds like a recipe for disaster though...

Shipment of goods either way has turned into a total disaster lately :( I don't even know what people shipping within EU going to be doing any more nevermind people shipping outside of the EU. The whole VAT thing while has some advantages for me personally, but it would create problems for small businesses as they wouldn't be forced to collect VAT on behalf of the UK government. I assume that's why people like Lotharek and others no longer ship to UK. I know Louis Rossmann made a video on all that a while back..

Ironically just yesterday my girlfriend went to the post office, it was recently taken over so there are new people there now, but the new person even commented that we don't ship anywhere near as many packages as we used to.. Mostly because I think the retro boom seems to be ending and with cost of living problems and rules and regulations crushing small businesses from all directions, it all adds up :(

As I said in another thread, really don't see how any retro stores whatsoever are going to survive from now on. When I asked Lotharek how he is coping with all this stuff, he only really said that there are companies to take care of everything for you .. While this is true, he only seems to list Germany shipping numbers on his website.

As I pointed out previously, it will cost somewhere around £14k a year for full compliance with company to take care everything for you.. So either he's making phenomenal profit in order to pay a third party to do with everything, or he's simply unaware that he needs to be registered in all 27 states.. I did not want to start questioning what he does and doesn't do as I don't want to lead into arguments.

You either have to plough monumental time or money into fixing those problems.. He does appear to have people working for him, so maybe does make a lot of profit in order to pay third party, but a lot of the small sellers are just simply not going to survive all this :( Basically we are all being "regulated to death" .

I don't want to hijack this thread any more than I already have, but I also have concerns that Trump will likely add tariffs onto UK to USA shipping (***). Apparently 95% of trade with the UK is "services". So Trump does not really care about the impact on the 5% of businesses, again like myself.

Shipping to USA is already extremely expensive and tariffs on top is going to put people off buying from the UK even more. It's like 5% of businesses like myself cannot ship to the EU any more because of the rules and regulations... Nobody cares about the 5%... The problem is, 5% here 5% there, it all adds up into a rather large problem IMO.

(***) I'm not wanting this to turn in this into a political debate about Trump or anyone else, I'm merely stating what is happening and the outcomes.

[rubber_jonnie]

I may ask RetroLemon, see what the chances of getting one are. They do sell it seems like almost all of Lotharek's stuff, but not what I want.

The trouble is there are so many great retro things out there that suddenly we won't be able to get them anymore because of broken trade boundaries.

Just bloody awful.

[viking272]

This is all really crazy, can't believe we're at this point with our trade agreements.
Would be interested to see what RetroLemon say/can do.
They've been pretty helpful and great shippers when I've ordered stuff.

[rubber_jonnie]

This is all really crazy, can't believe we're at this point with our trade agreements.
Would be interested to see what RetroLemon say/can do.
They've been pretty helpful and great shippers when I've ordered stuff.

I have asked RetroLemon specifically about this: A500 8MB IDE2 so lets see what the reply is. They do seem to have a lot of Lotharek's stuff, but it isn't an exhaustive list.

[alexh]

Isn't this more about them signing an exclusive deal with retrolemon than choosing to not ship to the UK?