Questions for International Sellers

[clarry100]

When you send items to other countries where they collect GST (or their equivalent) upon arrival in that country, do they also charge a collection fee over and above the actual tax amount? For lower value items the tax collected would not cover the cost of collection.

Which countries do this?

Is the item held up in their customs pending payment of the tax/fee by the recipient?

What happens if the buyer does not pay/collect?

Is it returned to the seller and at whose expense for the return postage?

Is there some kind of value threshold for the tax/fee for lower value items?

[jellybirddesigns]

From my experience, I know that Canada and the UK are problematic in terms of the value of declared items. I'm sure there are other countries that have low thresholds, but I only post to a limited number of places.

In the UK, the value is GBP18.00 and anything over that they take 20% plus a handling fee.

In Canada the value is CA$20.00 plus a handling fee (if I remember correctly)

In my case, I've stopped sending to Canada as they are having major delays in their postal system and anything I send to the UK I try split into 2 packs if I see the combined value will be over GBP18.00.

If the buyer does not pay, I believe the article is returned to you. I think that outbound postage also covers a return of that item if it is refused.

[lyndal1838]

If a parcel to the UK is not collected then it is returned to the seller by the cheapest postage method available...in the case of the UK it comes back by surface mail.

I had to return an item to a seller in the UK many years ago and declared the value at the same as he used when it was sent to me.  It was apparently above the threshold and he did not want to collect it.  He kept saying it had not arrived but I had sent it with tracking as was required by paypal in those days.  He eventually refunded me and 3 months later I received the item back with the notation that the recipient had refused it.  I was very annoyed that he had forced me to pay and arm and a leg for tracked postage to return an item that he had no intention of collecting.

[englishrosegardens · Accepted solution]

I've seen plenty of discussions about how in the UK they have to collect it from the PO, and the PO charges a hefty administration fee for collecting the VAT on the govt's behalf. The PO holds it until the person pays the charge when they collect it.  I have a feeling the admin fee used to be equivalent to about $20 AU but I could be wrong, and it's probably changed by now anyway.  I do know it was a substantial amount, which is why so many ebay sellers don't sell much to the UK and similar countries with low threshholds.

I assume this is still the case but there are plans in the pipeline that require online sellers (who post to Europe) to collect the fees and remit the fees to the relevant authority, which would work out cheaper for buyers as the PO wouldn't be involved.  This has been in place for digital items sold to European citizens for well over a year now but will eventually be extended to physical goods.  I thought it was going to happen this year but I haven't kept up with it and I don't know whether it's happened yet or when it's likely to start.  With digital goods the online selling platform (eg. amazon, etc) actually do it on behalf of the sellers.  You put in the price you want but the software adds the tax so that the buyer sees the price + tax.  I wouldn't be surprised if this is why ebay is now showing the gst amount on relevant items in Australia - the govt knows the technology is available to do the same thing as Europe and it'll save them having to enter any amounts or do any paperwork at customs - the gst will be collected before the goods even arrive in Australia.

I'm pretty sure that in Europe buyers are allowed a cooling off period, so a buyer has the right not to accept the goods when they arrive, which is bad news for sellers if they have to refund.

[tank.metal.upgrades]

If the buyer does not collect, the parcel will be returned to you

Ebay will issue a full refund to the buyer

Ebay will also charge transaction fee on you

AUPOST will charge return postage on you

I posted a parcel to France in March, using EMS. The parcel was returned and I lost $350, plus 3 negative feedback. My feedback was 100% for a long time, and this buyer ruined it in one second - although I have done nothing wrong in it.

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

I had to return an item to a seller in the UK many years ago and declared the value at the same as he used when it was sent to me.  It was apparently above the threshold and he did not want to collect it.  He kept saying it had not arrived but I had sent it with tracking as was required by paypal in those days.  He eventually refunded me and 3 months later I received the item back with the notation that the recipient had refused it.  I was very annoyed that he had forced me to pay and arm and a leg for tracked postage to return an item that he had no intention of collecting.

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These days you get the option to mark a package as returned merchandise, which are supposed to be exempt from the import duties etc 

Clarry - I've had one returned package (from the UK) due to refusal to pay the import fees - in addition to the import taxes, there's an 8GBP processing fee added to the total, so it can significantly increase the cost of a lower value item. The really annoying thing about the one I had returned, was the buyer told me the item didn't arrive, and I paid for tracked postage out of my own pocket to resend (it was several months after the sale etc that I got the original one back, needless to say I was mightily p'd off with that particular person ).

There are different MBG policies between different sites, unfortunately, and the buyer's take precedence over the seller's here, so while the following forms part of the MBG policies in AU and US, it's not in the UK policies 😞

I haven't checked any other sites thus far, though...

"Generally, the buyer is responsible for accepting the item when it arrives. If the buyer refuses delivery, their claim is not eligible for eBay Money Back Guarantee.

• Exceptions:
  The buyer can provide, via written proof from the carrier, that they refused the package because it arrived empty or was damaged in transit
  The item arrived COD because it didn't have enough postage on it
  The buyer is responsible for paying any customs and duty fees for international postage.
• Exception:
  The seller overstated the value of the item, which caused customs fees to be higher"

[*tippy*toes*]

It makes you wonder how many sellers would underestimate the cost of the item to try and avoid these situations of buyers not wanting to collect. I know one foreign seller I often buy from, it doesn't matter how much I spend ($10 or $200), the package always says the value is $US10. I wonder if they've had parcels returned from the UK and Canada one too many times due to the low threshold.

I haven't sold overseas for a few years now, but if I did, I'm not sure I could tell a fib on the declaration. I'd be too scared of getting caught!

[digital*ghost]

Some of my OS suppliers actually have an option during checkout to select the declared value of the goods, and whether or not to include postage in the declared value.  (The first few times I ordered from them I didn't even notice it , but once I did I always made sure both were set to 100% as the default is set to 60% - none of my purchases would have had any import duties etc, but I can't see anything good in being complicit in under-declaring).

I get the odd request to lower the declared value, mostly from EU buyers, which I always refuse, but just earlier this evening someone asked me if they could A) make a single order to take advantage of my combined postage amounts, but B) get me to send separate packages so each one would come under their import threshold. I'm not 100% sure if that's really kocher (the declarations themselves wouldn't be false, but I'm pretty sure that's still not allowed), and in any case I had to explain that combined postage rates are based on single-package prices. 

The other site I sell on is not making this stuff any easier for sellers, having just recently decided to put [local tax] included under the price on listings (so, on my listings, if an Aussie buyer looks it says "GST included (where applicable)" and if a UK buyer looks it says "VAT included (where applicable)" - it's making a lot of sellers, myself included, pretty frustrated because it's horribly misleading, and I'm not even sure if it's ok legally to imply GST is included in my prices to Aussies when I'm not registered to collect. 😞 (Their reasoning is that it's intended to clarify to local buyers that nothing further will be added to the price at checkout, and in checkout they have small, faint and very un-noticable writing that additional import charges and taxes may apply....so it clarifies nothing and with programs like GSP relatively well-established, it's not unreasonable for people to think all the import stuff can be taken care of and all they have to do is buy).