Given the recent thread
http://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=170852
about another buyer who was surprised by the import duty that he had to pay before
receiving his package. I think it would be beneficial for BL to add a clause
to new membership that must be agreed to before you can complete your membership.
Something to the effect of:
As a buyer you are responsible for paying any and all import fees and taxes
charged by your government on international packages. It is in your best interest
to educate yourself as allowances and taxes charged can vary greatly from country
to country.
I don't know if there are any easy links that will point a buyer in the general
direction he needs to go in order to learn about his specific countries import
fees, but I think that doing what we can to educate buyers at the beginning might
go a long way to keep sellers from getting the brunt of this issue. And the flip
side also to keep new buyers from getting surprised with some of these outrageous
charges.
I think this is a great idea. Some people who just start shopping International
may never even think about duties and taxes, only to get a sticker-shock when
the package arrives. So it is best to prepare them beforehand. It is really in
the best interest of BL as a marketplace. Maybe even add a message when they
check out so they are aware they may have to pay to their local governments.
In Suggestions, AlltRightBricks writes:
Given the recent thread
http://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=170852
about another buyer who was surprised by the import duty that he had to pay before
receiving his package. I think it would be beneficial for BL to add a clause
to new membership that must be agreed to before you can complete your membership.
Something to the effect of:
As a buyer you are responsible for paying any and all import fees and taxes
charged by your government on international packages. It is in your best interest
to educate yourself as allowances and taxes charged can vary greatly from country
to country.
I don't know if there are any easy links that will point a buyer in the general
direction he needs to go in order to learn about his specific countries import
fees, but I think that doing what we can to educate buyers at the beginning might
go a long way to keep sellers from getting the brunt of this issue. And the flip
side also to keep new buyers from getting surprised with some of these outrageous
charges.
Given the recent thread
http://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=170852
about another buyer who was surprised by the import duty that he had to pay before
receiving his package. I think it would be beneficial for BL to add a clause
to new membership that must be agreed to before you can complete your membership.
Something to the effect of:
As a buyer you are responsible for paying any and all import fees and taxes
charged by your government on international packages. It is in your best interest
to educate yourself as allowances and taxes charged can vary greatly from country
to country.
I don't know if there are any easy links that will point a buyer in the general
direction he needs to go in order to learn about his specific countries import
fees, but I think that doing what we can to educate buyers at the beginning might
go a long way to keep sellers from getting the brunt of this issue. And the flip
side also to keep new buyers from getting surprised with some of these outrageous
charges.
Katie
This is a great suggestion. It could even help solve the asking Sellers to commit
customs fraud problem if a statement were added.
Sellers are required to complete customs forms in accordance with their country's
laws.
As a buyer you are responsible for paying any and all import fees and taxes
charged by your government on international packages. It is in your best interest
to educate yourself as allowances and taxes charged can vary greatly from country
to country.
In a way, it is already there as it comes under the umbrella of applicable laws.
Plus, if someone doesn't know about it then chances are they are the sort
of person that doesn't read long site T&C when they sign up.
However, I agree with the general principle of warning people about import taxes
on international transactions. So maybe it is better if a reminder about import
taxes is shown on all international orders.
In a way, it is already there as it comes under the umbrella of applicable laws.
This
Plus, if someone doesn't know about it then chances are they are the sort
of person that doesn't read long site T&C when they sign up.
However, I agree with the general principle of warning people about import taxes
on international transactions. So maybe it is better if a reminder about import
taxes is shown on all international orders.
YES. Whenever I encounter a new buyer I will often include a WARNING in my invoice
that they may need to pay customs on their order.
However, it is extremely rare occasion that a buyer is not already aware of it.
If they dont know, it is most often someone from Canada - where many packages
simply slip through customs anyways. Also, new buyer at BL does not necessarily
mean it's a newbie in buying internationally.
What I really dont like is the point of view that we need to "educate" new buyers.
You dont "educate" someone about how wrong their culture is. And that's exactly
the reason why most buyers dont want to pay fees to their post services + government.
Especially in Asian countries.
A funny situation from my local post office It took a good half of year for
the ladies at my post office to stop paying attention to the value declared on
my packages. Until that happened - whenever the amount was larger than our own
no-VAT import limit (29.5 USD) they would go:
But your client will have to pay import taxes!
Then get "you are really stoopid for doing this" expression on their faces
and proceed handing me over a new customs declaration sticker and a pen - like
I had no choice but to "correct" my mistake.
Even now I am not sure if they understood what I explained to them - that in
some countries people just dont have to pay import fees. Or they just gave up
on me
/rant
As for that buyer from UK (threats of lawyer getting involved etc). That's
an isolated case, no need to pay any attention to it. May God have mercy on his/her
soul.
Given the recent thread
http://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=170852
about another buyer who was surprised by the import duty that he had to pay before
receiving his package. I think it would be beneficial for BL to add a clause
to new membership that must be agreed to before you can complete your membership.
Something to the effect of:
As a buyer you are responsible for paying any and all import fees and taxes
charged by your government on international packages. It is in your best interest
to educate yourself as allowances and taxes charged can vary greatly from country
to country.
I don't know if there are any easy links that will point a buyer in the general
direction he needs to go in order to learn about his specific countries import
fees, but I think that doing what we can to educate buyers at the beginning might
go a long way to keep sellers from getting the brunt of this issue. And the flip
side also to keep new buyers from getting surprised with some of these outrageous
charges.
Katie
I would prefer this to be flagged at point of sale rather than at new membership
stage as per my suggestion below but your idea is also a good one, why not do
both so voted yes.
I noticed eBay have implemented a system of pre-paying import taxes on international
orders..
The person who was a bit disgruntled about the charges would have got charged
the VAT plus the royal mails 'handling fee'
If you use eBay you do not get charged the handling fee..
I assume the buyer was a new member to bricklink- it can be a bit of a shock
getting a package stopped by customs and tax added... The simple disclaimer you
mention is the MINIMUM that should be implemented, bigger sellers on bricklink
might even appreciate something like eBay's system to provide customers worldwide
with a 'what you see is what you pay' checkout system.. I don't know
if there is a website available to manually to prepay customs fees on parcels...
Removing the £8 or whatever fee that is added as a 'processing fee'
I noticed eBay have implemented a system of pre-paying import taxes on international
orders..
The person who was a bit disgruntled about the charges would have got charged
the VAT plus the royal mails 'handling fee'
If you use eBay you do not get charged the handling fee..
I assume the buyer was a new member to bricklink- it can be a bit of a shock
getting a package stopped by customs and tax added... The simple disclaimer you
mention is the MINIMUM that should be implemented, bigger sellers on bricklink
might even appreciate something like eBay's system to provide customers worldwide
with a 'what you see is what you pay' checkout system.. I don't know
if there is a website available to manually to prepay customs fees on parcels...
Removing the £8 or whatever fee that is added as a 'processing fee'
I never buy on Ebay, but I had noticed this when I bought from amazon.com. They
have an option where you pay the import taxes to them and they (or their courier)
pays those taxes to my country's government. This saves some money because
they only charge the 21% VAT and not the 12 EUR handling fee that PostNL charges
when you receive goods from outside the European Union.
I assume that they have a contract with a courier for that service and this would
probably not be available for individuals. Their service is also not available
on their cheapest shipping option, but when I ordered from them the price difference
between the shipping options was less than PostNL's handling fee.
I noticed eBay have implemented a system of pre-paying import taxes on international
orders..
The person who was a bit disgruntled about the charges would have got charged
the VAT plus the royal mails 'handling fee'
If you use eBay you do not get charged the handling fee..
I assume the buyer was a new member to bricklink- it can be a bit of a shock
getting a package stopped by customs and tax added... The simple disclaimer you
mention is the MINIMUM that should be implemented, bigger sellers on bricklink
might even appreciate something like eBay's system to provide customers worldwide
with a 'what you see is what you pay' checkout system.. I don't know
if there is a website available to manually to prepay customs fees on parcels...
Removing the £8 or whatever fee that is added as a 'processing fee'
The prepayment of customs fees is a option some mail delivery companies have
and it depends on whether they have an agreement in place with the mail company
they use in the destination country.
I think the reason that US to UK transactions seem to keep getting flagged is
because the two most commonly used companies (USPS and the Royal Mail) don't
seem to have such an arrangement. Amazon I assume, uses it's own delivery
networks in each country to do this. Not sure about ebay.
I think the main problem is ignorance of the law and although that is no defence,
any suggestion that stands a chance of reducing this ignorance gets my vote.
I noticed eBay have implemented a system of pre-paying import taxes on international
orders..
The person who was a bit disgruntled about the charges would have got charged
the VAT plus the royal mails 'handling fee'
If you use eBay you do not get charged the handling fee..
I assume the buyer was a new member to bricklink- it can be a bit of a shock
getting a package stopped by customs and tax added... The simple disclaimer you
mention is the MINIMUM that should be implemented, bigger sellers on bricklink
might even appreciate something like eBay's system to provide customers worldwide
with a 'what you see is what you pay' checkout system.. I don't know
if there is a website available to manually to prepay customs fees on parcels...
Removing the £8 or whatever fee that is added as a 'processing fee'
TRU in the US allow something similar. They have a third party company that does
international shipping for them where you can pay the import duties up front.
USA, Idaho
United Kingdom, England
Lithuania, Panevėžys
It took a good half of year for
Netherlands, Overijssel