Ebay is finally putting the last nail in my international bidding coffin. I have just won two boxes of cards and have been charged for customs duty. This, according to Ebay, makes the whole buying experience easier because I won't have to pay anything when it's delivered. Who suddenly made them agents for Royal Mail? The postage and customs charge is roughly $20 more than I would have paid if the parcel had been charged (not every parcel gets charged - it really is a lottery). Although we, in the Uk, moan about the Value added Tax (20% of all costs including postage) and the £8.00 handling fee charges, it is felt that it's a bit of a win if the parcel gets through charge free. If there's an opt-out for this system, I suggest those who want to sell to the UK do so.

As far as I know, eBay are still only trialing this system with sellers they can con into using it. If eBay make a load of money out of it, then expect it to become compulsory at some point in the future for US Sellers who want to sell overseas. In the meantime, from what I've heard so far every seller who's taken it up has almost immediately lost all their international customers due to the extra cost of using the prepaid system. The handling charge that gets added on makes the Royal Mail cheap by comparison.

I refuse to use this new "service" even though I've been invited 3 times now.

I can see the lazy sellers liking it because you don't have to deal with a little bit of paperwork and a trip to the Post Office. But honestly, with eBay's label printing doing international shipments isn't tough at all.

So, you won't see me using this service any time soon. And if they make it mandatory then I guess we'll all be in the same boat and have to go along, but I'll go kicking and screaming.

Ed

What paperwork is avoided by using this service?

Sometimes its better to buy from a UK seller/dealer for a slightly higher cost and save the hassle of paying fees or hoping that your package escapes through the system.

We already find it hard enough to compete with US prices however I guess sometimes buyers forget that we have to pay hefty import taxes etc. when we import the items from the States to sell on in the UK.

We always urge our customers to weigh up the pros and cons of buying from an International seller.

Fingers crossed this system doesn't work its way towards Ebay UK as I can see it damaging UK sellers who ship outside the EU.

I really hope they can work on to a free trade union between US and EU so we could skip the customs and other hassles. I read that they are going to take that matter up soon, lets hope for the best , right now I´m payin 24% on items caught up in the customs.

quote:

Originally posted by Card Owner:
Sometimes its better to buy from a UK seller/dealer for a slightly higher cost and save the hassle of paying fees or hoping that your package escapes through the system.

We already find it hard enough to compete with US prices however I guess sometimes buyers forget that we have to pay hefty import taxes etc. when we import the items from the States to sell on in the UK.

We always urge our customers to weigh up the pros and cons of buying from an International seller.

Fingers crossed this system doesn't work its way towards Ebay UK as I can see it damaging UK sellers who ship outside the EU.

I do support and buy from UK dealers, but I've yet to find one that can sell me DC52 boxes at an average of £35 including all costs (before this new system hoved into view). I do however get emails from several US dealers on a regular basis letting me know what is coming out and when. Apart from one UK dealer who texts me when something comes out that he thinks may interest me, the UK market is largely silent. It's at least 3 months since any UK dealer sent a newsletter. As you said, it's expensive to import, so we rarely see things that are bought on speculation. This means that most of what's imported has already been purchased.

The free trade agreement would be great, but there are things the government could do now. The very low import limit of $18 before charges may as well not be there. This is well overdue for review. The biggest con is charging for the full cost once the $18 window is reached.

quote:

Originally posted by STCardGeek:
What paperwork is avoided by using this service?

The seller sends the goods to a handling company in the US, they in turn handle the international shipping with customs and all. So you save having the deal with an international package and you can ship within the US with tracking which satisfies eBay's tracking requirements.

I'm not keen on somebody else unpacking an item and repacking it for shipment to the international destination. Seems to be a weak point in the chain of custody to me. Unless they just put the item in a bigger box. But if they are doing the customs, they have to be able to say what's in the box so I think it's repackaged.

Ed

I've just recieved two boxes of DC52. They slipped the customs net and cost me $114. The latest two boxes from the same dealer with customs added at source has cost me $155.07

I too would love to have a regular UK dealer, all the people and websites I have bought boxes from (Alias, Charmed, Tudors) in the past for example have just faded away.

I wouldn't mind paying £40-£50 max for a box; but looking for them based in the UK it's just impossible.

I'd like something good for Open That Box day but the best I can find is a Thor retail for under £15!

The eBay US site has a help page with an explanation of the Global Shipping Program and what it means for buyers:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/shipping-globally.html

This page explains the program for sellers:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sel...ipping-globally.html

I can see why a seller would want to use the program. It eliminates a lot of the risk of shipping overseas. On the down side, it increases the delivery time and is more expensive for buyers, which makes for poor customer service.

quote:

Originally posted by Graham:
I've just recieved two boxes of DC52. They slipped the customs net and cost me $114.

At the same time a $25 sketch card has cost me £11 ($16) in customs/handling

Thanks for everyone who contacted me about UK dealers- hugely helpful!

Just seen a case that has got customs attached - $202 I don't know why this seller has decided to go with this method. Even if this was stopped by customs, it would (only ) cost me $150! I need to get a bigger wallet to make room for more hands in it

quote:

Originally posted by Graham:
Just seen a case that has got customs attached - $202 I don't know why this seller has decided to go with this method. Even if this was stopped by customs, it would (only ) cost me $150! I need to get a bigger wallet to make room for more hands in it

The seller is using this method of shipping because it's easier and he/she fulfills eBay's shipping requirements with a successful delivery to a US address. Have you contacted the seller to express your concerns? He may not even know you're getting hit with higher charges.

The recent change has Surprised me greatly and making me seriously considering my future in collecting Trading Cards.

I recently purchased a card for around $35 on the U.S. site and when I went to pay for the item with shipping of around $14 also included in the automated payment process was the payment of U.K. import Duties (VAT) $14 which had to be paid at that time. So a $35 card was costing me around $63

I did not proceed with the payment and contacted the very reputable dealer who stated that due to recent losses from international sales this was the only method he would now send outside the U.K.

As I have made very large purchases from this dealer without any problems he stated I could request an invoice in 1 week and he would adjust invoice.

I understand that U.K. law states all import items over a value around £18 ($26) is subject to charge. This usually, is only incurred on larger purchases. If the future means paying all Taxes upfront even on small items it will totally kill the purchase of items from the U.S. site. I suppose as mentioned by others ebay will start claiming the £8 Royal Mail charges for collecting the tax and make lots and lots of more cash!!!!!!

Just my two cents on this issue:
after never having a problem with customs in 10 years last year it hit me too and the German customs charged me on a TRADE! Yes, a trade! I called my lawyer and he confirmed that even trades will be charged because only shipments declared as gifts are free of custom charges and a trade is not considered a gift although no money was paid because the card I receive is in return for the card I sent to it's considered a business transaction under federal law.

This led me to ask my school friend who emigrated to the United States 13 years ago if I can ship all my purchases from US dealers to his US address and he will collect my cards until there are enough cards for a package which he sends to me declared as a gift. It works perfectly and I never had problems with customs again. And sometimes even his parents, who visit my school friend several times per year, bring along my cards safe & sound from the US to Germany.

So if you have family or friends in the US why don't you just do the same? It safes a lot of shipping costs (many US dealers ship for free within the US) and you get rid of the hustle with your customs.

I shall certainly be curtailing my spend if I keep getting caught on relatively small transactions like I did the other week. Postage costs alone are hurting when you are paying $5 postage for a $3 card.

Having recently moved to the UK temporarily, I am still having all my card purchases and trades shipped to Australia. I will open when I get back.

A free trade agreement may not actually help. Australia has one with the US and imports from the US are dealt with in the same way as from anywhere else. We have a generous tax free threshold ($1,000) and a 10% tax on the whole value for anything that is higher than the threshold. I can (and have in the past) import a case, but it's not due to the free trade agreement.

quote:

Originally posted by tangent:
Australia has one with the US and imports from the US are dealt with in the same way as from anywhere else. We have a generous tax free threshold ($1,000) and a 10% tax on the whole value for anything that is higher than the threshold. I can (and have in the past) import a case, but it's not due to the free trade agreement.

Wow, now that is a cool tax free treshold. In Germany it's quite complicated, there are three different tax free tresholds that count.

When you travel from the USA to Germany you have a tax free treshold of € 430.00 (~US$560.00). This limit only applies if the goods are for your own personal use or are a gift for family members or friends. No money may be exchanged for the goods and no intention of selling the goods may be made.

When you receive mail from the US to Germany, there are two different tax free tresholds. First there is a tax free treshold of € 45.00 (US$58.60) which only applies if the US sender marks the content as GIFT on the custom declaration.
If the US sender marks the content as MERCHANDISE on the custom declaration there's only a tax free treshold of € 22.00 (US$28.60).

I just got off the phone with the customs and the guy said once again, that's it's important that a sender only states the content's value, but not the grand value. Because if a sender would state the grand value including postage (e.g. US$20.00 for the card and US$10.00 for postage which is a grand total of US$30.00), one would also be charged for the postage because the stated grand value is now slightly over the tax free treshold of € 22.00 (US$28.60).

However, the nice customs guy on the phone, who happened to be a coins collector, "mentioned casually as a thought" (he wouldn't be allowed to say that officially) that in my case he would tell the sender to mark the content as a GIFT on the custom declaration and the sender should keep the content's value just below the tax free treshold of € 45.00 (US$58.60). Like that my cards (no matter if traded or purchased) would slip through customs and clear because no customs duties would apply.

No matter how much I usually hate customs, this phone call just showed me that there are still good people working for the customs.