Shipping Internationally? Customs?

[Former_Member]

Hi!

I don't have a ton of sales but of the ones I have had, a number of them have been international. The last order I shipped the poor gal in the UK had to pay $20 customs/duty on a $12 item. I ended up refunding her the purchase price because I felt so bad.

Has anyone else had trouble? Do international buyers just know that they will get stuck with this? Do they always get levied a fee?

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Julie

[Former_Member]

I have never had this issue. From what I understand, they do know this is a possible fee. I guess that's the main reason sellers say the customer is responsible for it.

[Former_Member]

Thank you for bringing this up.

I would make sure to add to your shop policies that you are not responsible for any custom/duty fees. I'm going to add to mine right now. I believe they should know as I'm sure they have ordered from out of country before.

Just my 2 cents.

Happy Selling!!!
Heather

[Netamente]

I've always shipped internationaly I really don't know if they had to pay fees, nobody told me so and I always wonder that. Anyway I have stated in my policies that is not my responsibility.
I received something from USPS this week and paid nothing, some other times from EMS I was charged custom fees.
I guess that when it is shipped by regular mail custom doesn't charge any fee unlike when it's done by courier.

[Former_Member]

I sold on ebay for 12+ yrs....I stopped selling INternationaly after about a year. Why? because packages never seemed to arrive when the customer "expected it". Our PO does not guarantee anything with INternational as far as when it will arrive. Delivery Confirmation doesn't help either as it only keeps track of it until it leaves our US border (except our military with US zip codes). You can't prove they got it. It was a pain in the neck, too many slow packages that were out of my control causing customer complaints that I could not control, etc....even going Priority, so I stopped. I could not provide proof that it arrived either since it was International address's. Just a major hassle I thought, and it did not hurt my sales either by just selling to the US all those years.

[BloomsJewels]

Thanks for bringing this up Julie. I have just updated my shop policies accordingly :)

[Former_Member]

Most of my orders in my shops are International alot of International orders and knock on wood not one did not make it to them and nobody has ever contacted me about having to pay customs fees and were upset. In my supply shop Alot of International buyers will buy small price tag items probably to avoid having to pay fees and alot of the times they pay more in shipping then they do for the item.

Now you used USPS? NOT UPS or Fed ex as I have heard of UPS Fed Ex buyers having to pay some kind of charge and buyers do not like it.
You also used First class International mail and when you filled out the custom papers or if you do it online did you mark how much the item was worth not including the postage just for what the item was as that does not make alot of sense they had to pay so much in fees.

Maybe they get so much annually and they already hit that amount maybe?

[Former_Member]

I live in Germany and if I receive an item over a certain amount (I think it's 100 dollars) than I have to pay a fee on that in Euros (typically a percent of what the package is worth). I always expect to pay a fee in those situations so I'm not surprised. However, for something so small it is a bit shocking.

[WintergreenDesign]

I'll live in Canada and it is possible to have to pay customs on anything over $20. I've only ever been charged once. You are less likely to be charged customs/duties on USPS package than something sent by courier (UPS, DHL, etc). Most customers know the rules in the own country and if they believe they were over charged for customs they can take it up with there customs authority... mistakes do happen. But they are responsible for their fees and you shouldn't feel badly about it.

I do have a customs/duties responsibility in my shop policies.

[Pininkie]

I'm in the UK. Yes, we have to pay VAT on anything over £15 ($24) plus a hefty £8 ($13) handling fee!!! Then customs duty on anything over £135 ($217).

Saying that, it's a bit random when you get charged. Often they don't seem to bother.

I would say not every UK buyer would know this if they don't buy from abroad regularly. However, it is certainly NOT the sellers responsibility. As others said, put something in your policies and maybe in any convos/emails you send before mailing.

[Former_Member]

I live in france and most of the things I order come either from the US or from the UK, I have only ever paid custom duties on items over 100 euros. Most of my customers are from the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, and I have never heard of any of them paying customs duties. I am really shocked

[Former_Member]

thanks for this input, i added it to my policies...

[ReyesRobledo]

I live in Spain, I do a lot of international shopping online plus I have family abroad so we are constantly sending and receiving packages. We have never had that issue, but then again, I have never bought anything over 100 euros. I did enquire at my local post office about this matter and they told me that customs was getting tough on expensive items because they had discovered that a lot of things were being imported by small firms through the mail and these firms were not paying taxes. But this was a thing for big orders.

[KittyBallistic]

I am in the Netherlands, and have found that recently, the customs folks are being much more picky about parcels. I've had to reduce the number of orders I place with a US site for supplies (no other suppliers in Europe, otherwise I'd be using them) as the charges are ridiculous. And recently I ordered some supplies from an Etsy seller and got charged for that too. Almost a third of the value of the items again in charges! It's the first time I've had that happen, so I guess I've been lucky so far, but it is offputting. Especially for supplies, as I have to eat up that extra cost.

[Lissies]

I live in Norway and here will there be added customs to all items with value more than 200 NOK (about 30 $) 25 % persent tax and about 18 $ in costs.

[MythOfTheWild]

Customs fees are a real pain. I've only had to pay one so far, and I knew nothing about it until the card arrived through my door. What irks me the most is the handling fee on top of the customs fee. Still, I quickly discovered that it is always the CUSTOMER'S responsibility, so I swallowed my irritation and payed the fee. It was certainly worth it, either way, because the item was beautiful and something I'd been after for quite some time. It's not made me wary about purchasing from overseas, though, I just make sure that I can afford the item atleast twice over, just in case.


While I'm sure it was appreciated, you shouldn't have refunded any money. The customs fee is there for legal reasons, and you've just lost out on a sale as far as finances go.

[Former_Member]

Thank you everyone for the input and great advice. I am definitely going to update my policy page to include something about this. I am very happy to hear though that it is not an "everytime" situation and seems to be based on the dollar value.

Thank you!

[envydesignsjewelry]

Thank you Julie for posting this, as I have just had a similar experience. I added that it is the customers responsibility to cover customs duties in my policies, quite a while ago, but I must say I think people do not read that. I actually once had someone tell me I should lie about the value of the item so they would not have to pay. But then insurance will only cover what you claim, so clearly that is a bad idea.
It worries me that if someone doesn't like that they have to pay customs they could leave a neg. and that is really daunting. I sometimes see why people do not ship internationally as it can be nerve wracking hoping it gets there, will they have to pay customs, how to know/prove they got it, ect.
I wish there was a way to ship internationally with tracking and delivery confirmation that was not an arm and a leg. In this growing ever smaller world I am surprised at the lack of tracking abilities.

Since I live in a no sales tax state, I do not pay sales tax for anything I buy online, but I wonder do international buyers have to pay sales tax if they buy from a state that charges sales tax?

[Indounik]

Wow, I'm pretty shocked by the size of that levy on a $12 item. Once upon a time they would have been shipped to Australia for that sort of highway robbery, lol.

Most of my sales are overseas. I have a customer in Portugal who buys my beads regularly. She has to pay tax if the value of the package is over a certain limit so she opts to buy smaller volume and lesser value more often and to pay more for the postage. It's the lesser of two evils.

This is what I posted in my shipping policy -

CUSTOMS: Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility. Please check with your country’s customs officials to determine what these additional costs may be prior to purchase.

[Spellbinderie]

Julie, if you sent your item by FedEx or UPS or really any private company, your customer might be paying for brokerage fees. These fees are charged by the shipping company, not the government, and are for handling the package thru customs. As a buyer, I'd be upset about that and expect those fees paid by the seller IF I hadn't agreed to this method of shipment ahead of time and been forewarned that this method would cost me additional shipping fees.

I had this happen to me before and the brokerage fees were higher than the VAT I had to pay (I''m in France, ordered supplies from the US). I refuse to order if a shipment comes from a private company!

If you sent it by USPS, something seems odd if the item was only $12. Vat is added for items over that price so your item should not have been taxed if the package was marked as worth $12.

[Former_Member]

That is what I was thinking Spellbinderie, I was wondering if the items were shipped by either UPS or Fed Ex as that might make sense of the fee's. I had no idea that they charged brokerage fees until I read it on here so I keep all shipping to USPS First class one time I did had to ship Priority mail and I did get a tracking all the way up to the door with delivery that part I liked but not the price of it LOL.

Is UPS cheaper to ship Internationally? Not taking into account the brokerage fee

[Spellbinderie]

Charley, the company I deal with in the US, for supplies, says they prefer UPS for international shipments (for large orders) because UPS will clear it thru customs and therefore there is less issues for this company to deal with in regards to buyers not getting their products. They told me they feel it's worth the extra fees...which of course the buyer pays. I've talked extensively with the company because they are my only real source for some thread I need for my work. My first order with the company came with the shock of a large fee but I thought it was VAT & customs. Learned about brokerage fees thanks to the forums :) Also there was a big to do in the forums about google shopping ads because google says sellers MUST disclose brokerage fees up front in order to be included in the ads. (How they check, I don't know ;)
Google shopping considers these fees as part of the shipping and they're right. It really pisses me off that most companies never disclose this info. Sorry for the rant and getting a bit off topic... Gray and rainy in France, making me a bit cranky :)

Anyway, UPS is not cheaper, more expensive in most cases, from what I understand. In France, UPS and FedEX are so expensive to use that I never ever consider the option to ship with them!

[Former_Member]

So the company is using UPS to save their butt and the customer has to pay for it:(
The only thing that is appealing is the fact that someone is making sure it clears customs.
Not enough to pay for that service they should tell you before ordering as that would effect if I bought something or not.

[Former_Member]

I am based in the UK and agree with what Tanya has said with regards to the VAT charges.
I have been charged before, and would like to offer you some advice.

Please make the customers form with the correct value (excluding postage) - over valuing can make a huge difference to what the recipient is charged (I was charged for a $6 item because the sender marked it as $25(!)

Also, if you mark it as 'gift' the recipient is unlikely to get charged as well - but this is a at your discretion.

Hope this helps - in the UK we are taxed on pretty much everything (sometimes even twice!) grrrr

[MellowMoonSupply]

I have always wondered about those fees. I have never had to pay any customs fee when something was sent to me, I am in the US.
I have a lot of over seas sales. I have recently asked a few over seas customers if they get charged for receiving my packages, all said no. Maybe they get charged when they feel like collecting?