How's your experience with shipping a parcel to Germany recently?
Summary: lud-4367 inquires about the feasibility and considerations for shipping a parcel to Germany, prompting a discussion about international shipping regulations, specifically mentioning Germany's VerpackG Packaging Act. pjcdn2005 notes that some have stopped shipping due to these regulations. zee-chan-jpn-books shares their experiences shipping to France and Spain without issues, and hansatrade and zee-chan-jpn-books discuss the cost-effectiveness of different shipping methods. marnotom! and others highlight the complexity of packaging laws in EU countries, with references to discussions on eBay's forums regarding shipping policies and legal obligations. needsmorerobots and hansatrade discuss potential risks if not registered under the packaging laws, with needsmorerobots explaining their informal selling approach and hansatrade warning of hefty fines. The conversation highlights the challenges faced by sellers due to varying international regulations.
This is the first time I ship an item overseas other than us. Is shipping a parcel to germany doable? Anything to consider? Thanks in advance.
brettjet38
·1 year agohttps://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Announcements/Packaging-regulations-for-sellers-on-eBay-in-Germany/ba-p/7189877
This is the UK eBay rules in regards to this...
needsmorerobots
·1 year agoI have no issues with Germany. I ship quite a few packages there.
I just make sure 3 things are on the bubble mailer:
1. The address is not just correct, but exact.
2. The tax details are attached.
3. I have marked down the HS code.
intimewithmusic
·1 year agoThank you.
How about the details on the customs form?
Do you say gift or else merchandise and enter the value?
It sounds like you employ normal procedures to ship to Germany that we all did prior to this packaging ban.
hansatrade
·1 year agoIf you are not registered with Lizenzero, you cannot enter any merchandise into the custom form.
I tried to register last year, but their form is rather complicated and costs around 40 Euro / year, so I decided to not doing business with Germany anymore.
You can always try to ship as a private person. In that case, however, you cannot print the shipping label through Ebay.
needsmorerobots
·1 year agoEvery customs form is marked as a sale.
And for example, if I sell a DVD it's marked DVD (used) or DVD (new).
I've never had an issue.
hansatrade
·1 year agoQuite risky! If the German authorities discover, you are a business seller (according to the EU law, all Ebay sellers are business sellers) and discover you are not registered, the fine to pay is 200.000 Euros. Good luck! 😃
needsmorerobots
·1 year agoThat's just it, I'm not registered as a business. I'm a hobby seller.
I work for a living, this is my sideline.
Any extra money I make from this is still declared to Canada Revenue. If ever I make too much, I'll be paying what the government is owed.
Besides, shouldn't the German authorities investigate each seller that declares a sale is made to their country?
I have been honest and open and until now, I didn't know there was such a thing needed to do business with Germany.
As a hobby seller, it's not for me to enforce laws, only to enforce what I sell.
I'll read up on this info you've provided. If I have to pay 40 euros to register, I will.
needsmorerobots
·1 year agoSorry, I neglected to mention:
The customs forms I use are filled by me through Canada Post before being printed off.
I don't print labels through Ebay, I print off my own (I have a couple of label writers).
I don't use Ebay's mailing discount, once again my discounts are through my own account.
needsmorerobots
·1 year agoI read over the finer details of LUCID and went to register. Everything leads me to believe you must be either a company/registered business, a producer/manufacturer of goods, or someone whose packaging is not recyclable and is going into the landfill.
None of this applies to me.
hansatrade
·1 year agoYou are a registered business. The law in the EU is different. I was myself totally surprised finding myself as a registered business on Ebay UK. Even my first and last name and e-mail were published!
Not only a producer - also a distributor:
In the German version it's even explained better: "Registrierungspflichtiger „Hersteller“ ist danach: wer eine leere Verpackung mit einer Ware befüllt und erstmals in Deutschland in Verkehr bringt."
It means: if you put an item into an empty package, and send it to Germany, you are a "producer" and you need to register.
intimewithmusic
·1 year agoThank you for posting because I'm also interested in the topic.
It's my understanding from chatting with my postal outlet there are no restrictions on Canadians for shipping non business packages (IE gifts) to Germany sent from a postal outlet.
The problem lies is having it designated as business merchandise or identifed with a business label like an eBay label.
Like I said this is an understanding based on 3rd party information. eBay dot com has made Germany available to US sellers via their International Shipping program. All other eBay sellers in other countries have no restrictions shipping to Canada.
This is a travesty for both Canadian sellers and for German buyers. It should have been rectified when the ISP was instigated. They could have at least set it up so Canadians could send packages to Chicago for forwarding to Germany.
marnotom!
·1 year agoI should hope that eBay sellers in other countries have no restrictions shipping to Canada! 😋
Assuming you mean that eBay sellers in other countries have no restrictions shipping to Germany, I don't think that's correct. I found this thread on the eBay Australia site that covers a lot of the same territory that this thread and the other one do:
https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/Has-anyone-grappled-with-Extended-User-Responsibility-for-sales/m-p/2572910
I don't think that would be a workable solution, as it would require two layers of customs processing: one initiated by the seller for getting the item to Chicago, and the other by eIS, which would have to verify the information provided by the seller on the customs form as well as the listing. Delays with eIS are already bad enough as it is.
Having said that, Germany is an important international market and I agree it's awkward that eBay doesn't seem to have made provisions for sales to that country from smaller markets such as ours and Australia.
intimewithmusic
·1 year ago@marnotom! Quote; "Assuming you mean that eBay sellers in other countries have no restrictions shipping to Germany"....
Please don't put words in my mouth. What I said was "All other eBay sellers in other countries have no restrictions shipping to Canada."
That seems pretty clear to me. It means that foreign sellers have the benefit of OUR market yet Canadian eBay sellers seem to be the only North americans sellers losing the European market due to these packaging restrictions and eBay Canada needs to do something.
I'm not sure why but instead of being productive you seem to enjoy targetting my suggestions and changing my words on a regular basis.
You comment yet you hide your listings from us so the forum can't see your selling pattern. for that reason I would ask that you don't reply to my posts in the future.
Thank you.
marnotom!
·1 year agoApologies for misunderstanding your post. It was late and I didn't pick up on the nuances of your statement.
I appreciate your frustration at being shut out of the German market as a Canadian eBay seller and how it looks as though other EU countries may be following Germany's lead. Surely this can't be strictly an eBay issue, though. Wouldn't sellers on other platforms such as Discogs be affected by it as well?
My sense is that Canada's political leadership of all stripes has been very slow to cotton onto the value of online sales to the national economy, particularly those made by small businesses. It was slow to institute taxes on national sales made through online marketplaces and doesn't have the same processes in place for sales from outside of Canada the way the United States, EU, and many other jurisdictions do. This must be a big irritant for you given the category in which you sell and how broad its reach is. I know it would be for me as back in the days when my wife and I sold on eBay, one of the areas in which we specialized were CDs, videos/DVDs and pop culture-related items.
Have you been in touch with your MP about this situation? I'm wondering how CETA factors into all this.
marnotom!
·1 year agoI haven't been able to find any announcements on the .ca site about what @pjcdn2005 is referring to, but @mrdutch1001 brought this to our attention in a discussion board post a couple of years ago:
https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Germany-s-VerpackG-Packaging-Act/td-p/477251
mrdutch1001
·1 year agoFWIW, there are a number of countries with some sort of packaging law(but as to the rules or regulations pertaining to shipments to those countries from Canada and/or to what extent any of these laws are adhered to, I have no knowledge. I don't ship outside of Canada or USA.)
There are packaging laws in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden
pjcdn2005
·1 year agoI can't find the information right now but in the last year or so, both Germany and France have some new packaging regulations so I think some have stopped shipping to those countries.
zee-chan-jpn-books
·1 year agoI think France and Spain are ok... I recently have a new France buyer and they informed me that their books arrived just fine. The Spain buyer has bought from me 4 times since a few months ago. I printed my small packet air labels via eBay, and I used the eBay brand mailers that I bought years ago when I had a store... So it's very obvious it's a sale. I write the VAT PAID note on the shipping label as well, and I tape the packing ship with the VAT PAID notation on the package.
I do have Germany blocked though as paying 40 EUROS a year to sell there is not worth it for me. And I don't have time to navigate their packaging act rules.
hansatrade
·1 year agoI recently shipped to both, France and Spain. No problem at all. I also add all the VAT PAID info on the package.
Do you still use the small packet? Now, the tracked packet is only a few bucks more expensive (4 or 5, depending on buyer's location). I switched to TP a few monthe ago, and I didn't notice any decrease in the international sales. And no more infamous questions "where is my package" 😄 (got a few times a year with small packet).
zee-chan-jpn-books
·1 year agoYup, I still use the small packet air as the value of my sales isn't high so a few dollars saved is a few dollars saved... So far they have all arrived in 2 weeks (if I don't hear from the buyer/no feedback after 3 months I also consider it delivered). For new buyers outside US/Canada I send them a message asking them to verify their address and so far the buyers all replied within 2 days, and I'm happy to send to these "verified" address with no tracking. The UR code actually is trackable in Spain's postal system (forgot who told me here a few months ago).