Problems with IOSS/tax/told AGAIN :-(

Malnaborg

I am out of words. I simply do not know what to do anymore.

New shipment, this time from TorontoBricks, and again my shipment has now been stopped in the danish told/tax office, because the shipment is not correctly registered with IOSS number and tax information :-(

I need to hear from others in europe, and how your shipment is received if you order from outside of europe. I hope that i am not the only one that gets shipment without the proper tax information, so i would really like to hear from others.

The biggest part in this situation, is that i need to pay a hefty fine of about 180 DKK or 25€ - The amount i ordered for is 170 DKK, so the amount to pay is almost not worth it. But if i do not pay it, i need to reenter the ordered part into a wishlist and so on, even more because it is special parts/minifigures. But again, every lost shipment is a problem of cause, no matter what it holds.

I am writing because this is now the 3 time, and all from 3 different shops. So there must really be some kind of problem or misunderstanding about how to fill out a customs form correctly and have all the information correctly added when shipping the package.

Is there anything i can do, can Brickowl do something to help out with this?
I am out of patience and just so sad and tired, that when i order something i might just not get it.

Brick love from Malnaborg - The Set Store.

Hoddie

Brick Owl could perhaps do more to educate sellers, but I'm unsure what they could do in this specific case, except perhaps restore your wish list to the pre-order version?

You already know, but for the benefit of others who may drop into this thread, non-EU stores who sell to customers in the EU must ensure their shipment is digitally pre-notified, in order to let the customs authorities in the country of destination know that VAT has already been paid. How they do this depends on their country and the shipping agent they choose, but is usually done when purchasing shipping online, or at the post office, or via a third-party agent.

The buyer cannot reclaim the VAT already charged and collected by the seller (in this case, facilitated via Brick Owl). The seller would also find it incredibly difficult to do so, so it's in everyone's best interests that sellers know their obligations if they want to sell outside their own customs territory.

Of course you could refuse to collect the package and then file a claim with PayPal or whoever you paid through, but that's not an ideal way to resolve such cases on an ongoing basis. Nobody wins that way - the seller ends up out of pocket, even though they should eventually have the order returned to them, the buyer could end up with a black mark for non-payment on Brick Owl, and Brick Owl itself takes a dent to its reputation.

It may be worth Brick Owl reminding non-EU sellers that ship to the EU of their obligations, and perhaps implement another 'issue' for the 'report a problem' drop-down, using those reports to prevent sellers who don't pre-notify their shipments from selling to EU customers.

Lawrence

I'm sorry to hear this keeps happening. We do contact stores whenever this is brought to our attention, and usually they have not handled the IOSS properly. The order page already advises how to handle this, but we will look at making this even more obvious.

Malnaborg

Hi Lawrence.

In the end, it will be the sellers duty to fill out the correct information, but it would surely help if there could be some form of "bigger popup maybe, that: Hey this is a buyer from Europe, remember..... Or something like that.

I have tried to write to the store 2 times within the last days, and have still not heard back from them, to hear how they have handled the shipment. Just to understand where the problem is, and what goes wrong. Since as i, the buyer, have no information when i place my order.

So i guess, sadly the situation is purely from the sellers point of view.
But from now on, i guess i will put some form of message in the order, when i buy. Anything really to do as much as i can from my side.

Malnaborg

Old topic. New issue.
I know this is a rather big step, but could a store somehow get fined for not filling out the tax correctly? Maybe through brickowl or some kind of punishment for not doing this correctly?

I have now gotten a new tax fine, from the danish post service, because i once again receive a package without the proper tax number info in the package details.
So i either have the option to reject the package, leaving me to reorder, and telling my customers that they need to wait longer.
Or get a negative tax credit score, meaning a higher fine total that i need to pay. And i can not with my "small" store, pay more than i do now.

As i have written before, it gets harder to order from here, if i need to "blacklist" stores that can not fill out the tax form correctly. I can not trust these stores anymore, and i do not trust in my customers to stay if this keeps happen to me. It is so embarrassing, to once again say that an order is delayed because of tax problems.

P6tu

I have done few orders out of EU and haven't had any problem yet. Only with spares from DDBricks were a subject to customs, but that was clear from the second I made the order so it was expected. TorontoBricks - I have ordered from them and didn't have any problems :S...

Lawrence

I'm sorry that's happened again, we will contact the store about this. Certainly if a store was to ignore attempts to resolve the issue we would take further action.

Malnaborg

This instance is for great brick lab. The second time that is. And I really do not want to
Expose stores, but it just takes a lot.

Malnaborg

For anyone interested in what it cost when the tax information is not filled out properly. I just got the fine from the danish post office.
361,60 dkk in dollars 53

My order was 202 dkk, or 30 dollars.

Please, please, take that extra time to fill it out, and be sure that everything is done correctly. I now have 2 sets that i can not get finished, leaving me with 2 customers who i now have to either turn down, or ask them to wait even longer, while i repurchase the bricks that i now have to reject and buy all over again.

Hoddie

Can't you refuse delivery and avoid the fee? Then ask the seller for a refund?

Malnaborg

Yes i can. There is no problem in rejecting the package.

My new problem is to source out the order back to a wish list, and try to buy them all over again.
So now i need to allocate time again to research stores for those parts.

Ask my customers if they even want to wait and buy those parts again from me. I need to pay them back the money they have paid me. And if they want to buy again from me, i need to send them a new invoice as to what the new prices will be for the parts.

So all in all, this mistake can have a massive impact on so many aspects. Leaving me as a buyer, and store with bad reviews.

Hoddie

Yeah, it's far from ideal.