Buyers' e-mail available, please! It is important to be included in CN22/23, shipping doc...

bricksbytheriver

Hello everyone,

I do not understant why the seller do not see the buyers' e-mail on their profile.
It is very important to access it, because it should be included in the CN22/23 export doc, in the shipping companies doc and to send Tax Office doc attached.

The worst that I found is if buyers send it by messages, then their e-mails are automaticly erased from the BrickOwl internal messages.

@Lawrence, can you please change this?

Hoddie

It is recommended to include an email address or a telephone number on a CN23 (but not CN22), though it is actually optional (and I think it says as such). This is because it cannot be assumed that an importer/customer has a telephone or access to an email address.

You can use the email address given by BrickOwl on a user's contact page. This is to ensure all messaging goes through BO in case of an issue later, and delivery updates sent out by shipping agents may well help with this.

For example, your BO email address is (removed my brick owl)

Mine is available here:
https://bricksbytheriver.brickowl.com/user/4413/contact

Vosblokjes

Hoddie, if we ship from the Netherlands to outside the EU we have to add a phone number or e-mail address, both are not needed, but one of them has to be filled in, otherwise we can't make a shipping label. So nothing optional there (for 23 and 22). At least with PostNL, don't know about other shipping couriers.

For BO orders we always include the BO e-mail address ([email protected]) and never had a problem with that.
We also always include the buyers phone number if it's present in the buyer's info.

And remember that no BO user has just 1 BO e-mail address, I will see another address for you then someone else will. For every user-user combination there is a unique address for both users.

bricksbytheriver

@BasKrie @Hoddie, for the Portuguese Post Office (CTT) & Portuguese Costumes it is mandatory to add at least an e-mail address on CN22 and CN23. It is highly recommended to include the buyer's phone number. The BO e-mail address ([email protected]) is not acceptable as a personal e-mail. I use to include our store's e-mail, but it is not the best solution and it should be avoided. It is of the buyeres best interest to receive the costumes information as soon as possible and on their own personal e-mail and not throught our store message.

Colorado Bricks

As a US seller I don't understand why the email is not showing in the buyer profile.
My payments are with Paypal and Stripe and I get the buyer email in the transaction details anyway.

Calibrick

I think there is an old thread on this that addresses this, I don't recall the specific reason... I feel like it was a privacy thing or some such.

Hoddie

It's not a privacy thing, it's to ensure that all messages can be seen by BO to ensure fairness to both parties in case of a dispute.

@bricksbytheriver - why isn't the BO email address acceptable? It may not be easy to read but it meets industry standards (length, characters, etc.).

@BasKrie and others - it is not mandatory to put an email address on a CN22/23 according to UPU standards, but that doesn't stop the shipping agent making it mandatory. If the BO address does not suit, use your own.

Hoddie

I should add that customs should not insist on an email address for the reason I already mentioned - not everyone has one! Imagine customs refusing to let an order pass through because it's on its way to a remote Scottish island where someone manages to live without the internet. I imagine it's the digitalisation of processes that has resulted in someone trying to insist on an email address, but there's probably a non-digital way to do it without - using an old fashioned CN22 label for instance.

bricksbytheriver

@Hoddie, in Portugal (and I think all over Eupean Union) there is no CN22/CN23 on paper anymore. Or you do it online or you will not do it at all, including individual persons (not only for companies)...

Hoddie

Not in Belgium at least, though I suspect it's probably coming.

But how does an elderly Portuguese gent send a gift to his friend who lives in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland (and who has neither an email address or a telephone number)?

Thousands of businesses don't use email - what about the British window cleaner who insists on buying his leathers from a company in France? He can't do that anymore?

Maybe you should enquire what you're supposed to do if you can't provide an email address. The form may require one but I suspect the law does not (if only because the EU goes to very extreme lengths to ensure access for all).

bricksbytheriver

Many persons need help of course. Everyone have to submite year tax online... [in Portugal] so everyone needs an e-mail...

Vosblokjes

I think that even British window cleaners (not sure how you came to this example) have an e-mail address nowadays. Maybe not a business one, but they sure are on social media, so they have to have an e-mail address
But I get your point.
In the rare cases you are describing the post office will have some sort of solution for it (I guess).

And it's nice to hear that the UPU standard doesn't require it, but they aren't a shipping company, PostNL is and they made it mandatory, so I have to deal with that. Sure I could sue them and maybe win after 5 years, but maybe the standard will have been changed by then

For PostNL (and at least DHL) the BO address is just fine, as long as something is filled in what could be an e-mail address ([email protected]). So no problem there (for me).

I just looked at the PostNL consumer site, and when sending something as consumer, there is no need for an e-mail address or phone number, only when shipping as business it's required. Maybe the same goes for Portugal (and other countries)

Hoddie

You don't have to sue them haha, just find out what the alternative process is for those orders where you don't have an email address (though this doesn't apply to you as you can use the BO email address).

The window cleaner is one of my best mates back in England, he buys his chamois leathers from a French company, always has. He's only just joined the last century after his new girlfriend bought him a smartphone - I almost fell off my chair when I received a FB friend request from him - but he's always ordered them by mail order, using the order form sent with his previous order. I've always ribbed him about still using slate and chalk. Writing this I'm now curious how he pays that company, I shall have to ask.

Vosblokjes

Maybe he sends the money (in banknotes) together with the order form

Calibrick

Thanks for the reminder on the reasoning, Hoddie! :-)