What a hassle. I mail a lot of stuff around, I suppose roughly 70% to the home market and 30% to Europe and USA. Prior to Christmas US postal charges were raised and I didn't want to raise my own because it just seemed so expensive and I'm sure some potential buyers must think I'm ripping off. Anyway I had to increase them eventually and now I've got to adjust our home charges because Royal Mail increased theirs and now we've got the additional problems being caused by Brexit, with EU countries imposing taxes on packages which the buyer gets confronted with or they don't get the goods. It's a bit of a mess.
The problem first came to light for me when my local Post Office told me
we now needed to put customs declarations on all mail sent to EU
countries. Then I got an order for stuff from the Netherlands and the
buyer asked me to put a low value on the forms to avoid him being
charged VAT. Now I don't mind doing that at all but what about if you've
mis-stated the value and the package gets opened by Customs, who gets
into trouble? If anyone? So who takes the risk. I don't know, apparently
taxes only become payable over a certain value.
For now, until carriers get their act together and explain clearly how
additional charges are levied, I'm just going to state a low nominal
value on the paperwork and hope that recipients understand that the
value stated not being the same as the amount paid is for their
benefit:)
Stay safe.
Have a good week.
Ronnie
xx
7 comments:
Hi Ronnie, oh gosh, it does sound like a bit of a shambles. Good luck navigating all the changes.
Hugs
Roz
I used to mail items, mostly to US addresses, sometimes foreign. The rates made no sense. It might be $10 to a US address, but triple or more to a foreign address for the same item.
Some of your customers might benefit by paying you in international postal money orders.
We've always put a value of $20 on anything mailed to the US, and the same people mailing to us. That way we avoid paying duty.
Postal rates are astronomical for us here.
Hugs,
Haermione
Truly a problem. Newest thing here is you have to fill out the form online, not at the post office. found this out when I braved going into the post office. Once entered, you get a bar code to show at the post office, and the product can then be sent, with appropriate postage. could be a tad worrisome for some, as now a record exists of what you are sending. Good luck whatever you do.
bottoms up
Red
Sometimes I really feel like everything is going to hell in a hand basket - and they're making us pay for the basket!
I learned the hard way. Don’t exactly remember what I said but it cost way too much. Now I put a low value on things too.
Roz - It's a mess. Thanks.
OBB - It used to be cheaper to send to EU countries than to send a parcel to the UK. Not too sure on the International money orders. Thanks.
Haermione - That's what I'll be doing. Thanks.
Red - That sounds complicated. I'll just put a lower value on.Thanks.
PK - LOL. I know what you mean. Thanks.
Minelle - It costs way too much to send gifts out now. Thanks.
Love,
Ronnie
xx
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