AddressPal & Lockers - An Post's Parcel Service SEE MOD WARNING FIRST POST

RCSATELLITES

cormie wrote: »

Thanks for the reply! That's nuts if that's the case, where's the sense behind that? So ordering food items through AP (or possibly even direct from UK?) runs the risk that it won't be accepted

Food items from UK are like buying food items from Africa/china now. That's how it's treated anyway. Does no Irish shop have these items.

phunkadelic

phunkadelic wrote: »

Bought an item for £53, which worked out at €59. An post valued it at €95, slapped vat of €19 plus fee of 3.50 on me.

Was someone saying items valued that low shouldn't have customs or vat charged?

Won't be using addresspal again.

In my case it looks like they opened the package to see what it was then checked what it would cost to buy from an Irish site, then used that as the value to base the vat calculation on.
The vat payment page had the exact item name on it

Ivefoundgod

RCSATELLITES wrote: »

Once you get the tracking number you will see what mail centre claimed the vat and charges.

Thanks, I've emailed the address on the revenue site so will see what happens. I looked at the appeals section but is a bit confusing and possibly aimed at a different situation. It says you need the name of the person who made the customs decision which I don't have so I'll see what comes back anyway.

Ivefoundgod

Got a pretty quick response from that revenue email advising me I need to contact the An Post email which was mentioned here earlier in the thread ecommchargequery@anpost.ie have got on to the time and will update you all on what they say.

paddy19

phunkadelic wrote: »

In my case it looks like they opened the package to see what it was then checked what it would cost to buy from an Irish site, then used that as the value to base the vat calculation on.
The vat payment page had the exact item name on it

They should be using the UK site not the Irish site.

Best bet is to ask the seller to put a valuation for customs or copy of the invoice on the outside of the packet.

Revenue have a wonderfully thrilling 57 page guide called Customs Manual for Valuation.

"The value of goods used for customs purposes is usually the transaction value, that is the price actually paid or payable for the goods. This is the invoice price plus the cost of transport and insurance. It also includes any other payments made or to be made for the imported goods."

There is however 6 methods for valuing goods for customs purposes:

4.2 Method 2 – Identical Goods Method

This method is defined as the transaction value of identical goods sold for export to the EU and exported at or about the same time as the goods being valued.

Athasselabbey

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

Got a pretty quick response from that revenue email advising me I need to contact the An Post email which was mentioned here earlier in the thread ecommchargequery@anpost.ie have got on to the time and will update you all on what they say.

I emailed that charge query email on Monday as they incorrectly charged me customs duty and, haven't heard a word since,
It's such a joke, we're being charged uk AND irish vat on these parcels to addresspal, you are only supposed to be charged vat once!!!
I emailed customs in Dublin and they said, that vat is due because it's being delivered to mainland uk and then vat is also due when it comes to ireland
So revenue must be delighted!!!

Ivefoundgod

Athasselabbey wrote: »

I emailed that charge query email on Monday as they incorrectly charged me customs duty and, haven't heard a word since,
It's such a joke, we're being charged uk AND irish vat on these parcels to addresspal, you are only supposed to be charged vat once!!!
I emailed customs in Dublin and they said, that vat is due because it's being delivered to mainland uk and then vat is also due when it comes to ireland
So revenue must be delighted!!!

Yeah but unfortunately for us that is the way it is and will remain in terms of us paying VAT twice in that scenario, no UK business is going to offer a "Irish shopper, UK delivery address" option at checkout to remove VAT, its too complicated and not worth the hassle. Plenty of well prepared UK sites now charge Irish VAT at checkout when its an Irish delivery address which is the best solution assuming they make sure to include the right forms with the package.

My issue with AP is the VAT is being calculated incorrectly and not based on the price paid for the items.

cormie

RCSATELLITES wrote: »

Food items from UK are like buying food items from Africa/china now. That's how it's treated anyway. Does no Irish shop have these items.

Not all of them unfortunately but definitely going to look into sourcing elsewhere if this is going to happen with future orders

Athasselabbey

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

Yeah but unfortunately for us that is the way it is and will remain in terms of us paying VAT twice in that scenario, no UK business is going to offer a "Irish shopper, UK delivery address" option at checkout to remove VAT, its too complicated and not worth the hassle. Plenty of well prepared UK sites now charge Irish VAT at checkout when its an Irish delivery address which is the best solution assuming they make sure to include the right forms with the package.

My issue with AP is the VAT is being calculated incorrectly and not based on the price paid for the items.

It is, and absurdly so, maybe if enough of us email them, something will be done......

whiterebel

Athasselabbey wrote: »

I emailed that charge query email on Monday as they incorrectly charged me customs duty and, haven't heard a word since,
It's such a joke, we're being charged uk AND irish vat on these parcels to addresspal, you are only supposed to be charged vat once!!!
I emailed customs in Dublin and they said, that vat is due because it's being delivered to mainland uk and then vat is also due when it comes to ireland
So revenue must be delighted!!!

In the EU you get charged VAT once. Britain decided to leave, so now they account for their own VAT. They couldn't care less about Irish VAT. It's their retailers that need to be able to put down a sell to address and a ship to address and recognise the difference, allowing them to remove VAT.

nialler1978

Hi, apologies if I am in the wrong place, I couldn't find a stand alone address pal thread.

I ordered an expensive enough item through Amazon UK via Address Pal to Ireland ten days ago. Amazon delivered it to the UK address pal location the following day. Its been 8 days since, nothing from Address Pal, I emailed 3 days ago and no reply.

Is anyone else experiencing address pal delays like this?

Thanks.

MOH

Niki008 wrote: »

I don't know when it was changed, or it mistake or what, but on anpost website, customs section said that

"A fee of 1% of the value of the packet or parcel, with a maximum charge of €10". Before that was "minimum of 10". Hopefully this is the end of this scary charge

Must be fairly recent, the last snapshot on archive.org was Nov 26th, still said "minimum charge of €10"

phunkadelic wrote: »

In my case it looks like they opened the package to see what it was then checked what it would cost to buy from an Irish site, then used that as the value to base the vat calculation on.
The vat payment page had the exact item name on it

Did they take off the Irish VAT first? Or just take the retail price of the item including VAT, and then use that as the base price to add VAT to?

More out of curiosity, it's still the wrong thing to do, but if they did that it's totally ridiculous

mr_jackapple

Had an item delivered to AP on 6-Jan and just got an email to say that they’ve received it this morning, 14 Jan.

As someone else stated, they actually under valued my item. It was a 100GBP camera and they stated that the value was 59.60GBP... No idea where they got that number because there was no invoice in the package from what the sender tells me. The worrying thing is that it could’ve gone the other way and they could’ve valued it much higher and then I would’ve had the hassle of having the pay the higher import fees and claim back.

Going to try avoid buying from the UK until AnPost get a better valuation process in place. I don’t want to have to take the risk gain.

whiterebel

Quackster wrote: »

AFAIK, this has never been an issue with the US AddressPal service.

If nothing on the outside of the package, AddressPal open it up and see if there's an invoice inside. If nothing there, they email you to send them on the invoice.

A bit more logical than just sticking random valuations on the customs forms, which effectively amounts to lying to customs.

I'd say they are a bit stuck for time this weather, with such limited flights out of London. If they had access to daily flights they would be better equipped.

mr_jackapple

nialler1978 wrote: »

Hi, apologies if I am in the wrong place, I couldn't find a stand alone address pal thread.

I ordered an expensive enough item through Amazon UK via Address Pal to Ireland ten days ago. Amazon delivered it to the UK address pal location the following day. Its been 8 days since, nothing from Address Pal, I emailed 3 days ago and no reply.

Is anyone else experiencing address pal delays like this?

Thanks.

See my post above. Mine also took about 8 days to get “checked in”. I had also emailed and got no reply. I’d assume there’s a backlog of stuff now that ParcelMotel and ParcelWizzard are both gone, plus they’re now having to open packages which have no value declaration on the outside.

Using AddressPal just seems like more hassle than it’s worth these days, although it’s at least nice to have the option in case it’s needed.

SCOOP 64

Agreed with some posts on here better to wait and see how this all works out from UK, was going to order a few bits but not knowing what it will cost me by the time it arrives doesn't seem worth it now, plus i do find it all to confusing anyway, shame its come to this.

Thoie

AmyMay wrote: »

This gives me some hope! Thank you.
What depot was your parcel? I assume it was placed under your home address/delivery AP number?

Mine was a post office collection package that arrived at Hatfield in November. After 6 weeks of two and fro they finally determined that my AddressPal number either wasn't properly on the label, or the label had got damaged - not sure which. They tracked it in the system through the Royal Mail delivery number last week, but haven't physically found it yet.

5star02707 wrote: »

Are they'll all in Dublin? The ones before new year I mean. Any idea til when? Mine is still there mixed up but no update 2 weeks now

No idea how long it will take. By the sounds of it, they shoved anything and everything they could get their hands on over to Ireland before December 31st, and will sort through it "whenever". It sounds like a lot of the stuff in that batch had incomplete/missing addresspal numbers, so it could be months before they get through it all

I'm basing that purely off the email text I originally quoted.

AmyMay

Thoie wrote: »

Mine was a post office collection package that arrived at Hatfield in November. After 6 weeks of two and fro they finally determined that my AddressPal number either wasn't properly on the label, or the label had got damaged - not sure which. They tracked it in the system through the Royal Mail delivery number last week, but haven't physically found it yet.


No idea how long it will take. By the sounds of it, they shoved anything and everything they could get their hands on over to Ireland before December 31st, and will sort through it "whenever". It sounds like a lot of the stuff in that batch had incomplete/missing addresspal numbers, so it could be months before they get through it all

I'm basing that purely off the email text I originally quoted.

If Hatfield truly handed over all unsorted parcels I would have some faith in An Post getting it to us this year. I don't think Hatfield were very bothered or efficient where something was not labelled correctly judging by the general reviews/comments. Hopefully our own sorting office will be better.

Thoie

AmyMay wrote: »

If Hatfield truly handed over all unsorted parcels I would have some faith in An Post getting it to us this year. I don't think Hatfield were very bothered or efficient where something was not labelled correctly judging by the general reviews/comments. Hopefully our own sorting office will be better.

It's a tough job though. Let's say my name is Mary Murphy. By the sounds of it, my package has arrived with an address of
"A Murphy,
Hatfield"

So the only thing they have to link it to me is the fact that I've reported RoyalMail package 12345 as missing. So someone will have to physically find the package, check reported missing packages for that tracking number, look up my info on AddressPal (based on the number I provided in the complaint), then stick a label on it that will get it to the right place. If everything goes smoothly, that could take 30 minutes for just one package. Ones without a delivery tracking number could be practically impossible - best bet would be to open them up, and see if there's a packing slip that might contain a customer email/phone number.

I'm not expecting to see my parcel any time soon, unless I get lucky and it's the first one off the belt.

Discodog

mr_jackapple wrote: »

Had an item delivered to AP on 6-Jan and just got an email to say that they’ve received it this morning, 14 Jan.

As someone else stated, they actually under valued my item. It was a 100GBP camera and they stated that the value was 59.60GBP... No idea where they got that number because there was no invoice in the package from what the sender tells me. The worrying thing is that it could’ve gone the other way and they could’ve valued it much higher and then I would’ve had the hassle of having the pay the higher import fees and claim back.

Going to try avoid buying from the UK until AnPost get a better valuation process in place. I don’t want to have to take the risk gain.

I will only buy something if the seller agrees to provide an invoice on the outside of the package.

RCSATELLITES

Discodog wrote: »

I will only buy something if the seller agrees to provide an invoice on the outside of the package.

Easier said than done. Unless you are buying from an actual individual on say ebay. As with the big outlets you may talk to someone in the office they will say yeah no probs but never tell the guys in the warehouse and still same happens. They either do it always or never. They won't be bending backwards for a few irish sales while they have 60 million English to sell to.

It's about time we stop depending on the uk for everything.
Cars, clothes, tv stations, football teams.

Let's forget about them and start fresh, now is the time.

AmyMay

Thoie wrote: »

It's a tough job though. Let's say my name is Mary Murphy. By the sounds of it, my package has arrived with an address of
"A Murphy,
Hatfield"

So the only thing they have to link it to me is the fact that I've reported RoyalMail package 12345 as missing. So someone will have to physically find the package, check reported missing packages for that tracking number, look up my info on AddressPal (based on the number I provided in the complaint), then stick a label on it that will get it to the right place. If everything goes smoothly, that could take 30 minutes for just one package. Ones without a delivery tracking number could be practically impossible - best bet would be to open them up, and see if there's a packing slip that might contain a customer email/phone number.

I'm not expecting to see my parcel any time soon, unless I get lucky and it's the first one off the belt.

That’s very true! I didn’t think of it like that.

spix

Item delivered to addresspal 1.5 weeks ago, no confirmation from address pal yet. Normal delay or should I contact them?

TimHorton

spix wrote: »

Item delivered to addresspal 1.5 weeks ago, no confirmation from address pal yet. Normal delay or should I contact them?

US or UK

bassy

im not sure i will ever use AP again,no good now for buying from ebay etc.
it was dead handy before for ebay especially items that had free uk postage,meaning you only paid 3.95 euro at your local P.O

bdmc5

spix wrote: »

Item delivered to addresspal 1.5 weeks ago, no confirmation from address pal yet. Normal delay or should I contact them?

Waiting 8 days myself. Absolutely appalling they don’t reply emails so unfortunately we just have to wait for them to work through through their ‘backlog’

5star02707

bdmc5 wrote: »

Waiting 8 days myself. Absolutely appalling they don’t reply emails so unfortunately we just have to wait for them to work through through their ‘backlog’

spix wrote: »

Item delivered to addresspal 1.5 weeks ago, no confirmation from address pal yet. Normal delay or should I contact them?

Perfectly normal been waiting for more than 2 weeks now. Too many backlogs due to Christmas orders plus brexit.

Already emailed them more than 6 times already but no reply. You're good as long as you have your APW Number on your order.

Ivefoundgod

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

Yeah but unfortunately for us that is the way it is and will remain in terms of us paying VAT twice in that scenario, no UK business is going to offer a "Irish shopper, UK delivery address" option at checkout to remove VAT, its too complicated and not worth the hassle. Plenty of well prepared UK sites now charge Irish VAT at checkout when its an Irish delivery address which is the best solution assuming they make sure to include the right forms with the package.

My issue with AP is the VAT is being calculated incorrectly and not based on the price paid for the items.

Just to update everyone on this. My package arrived this morning, had been opened as expected and had a customs form stuck to the front with the prices they applied to each item. I only noticed when I opened it that the shop I buy from doesn't actually show the price paid on the shipping slip so my mistake there. I assume then that they just googled the item and stuck whatever price they found on it, that would make up the €55 difference I think. I've emailed the query address so will see how I get on in getting a refund of the extra VAT.

spix

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

Just to update everyone on this. My package arrived this morning, had been opened as expected and had a customs form stuck to the front with the prices they applied to each item. I only noticed when I opened it that the shop I buy from doesn't actually show the price paid on the shipping slip so my mistake there. I assume then that they just googled the item and stuck whatever price they found on it, that would make up the €55 difference I think. I've emailed the query address so will see how I get on in getting a refund of the extra VAT.

What I don't understand is they have everyones email address, due to AP number, so why not email and ask for the price. Irish revenue send out letters asking to email them the invoice they don't just put a random number on it.
Problem with what they are doing is someone could easily order something below vat threshold but they could find it in some overpriced irish store for 3x what you paid then charge vat. Can't do that, if you paid below the vat threshold you can't be charged. Once everyone stops using their service I'm sure they'll decide to do it the right way.

IrishStuff09

Amazon order delivered to AP on Thursday Jan. 7th finally got checked in this morning. Package is undervalued slightly so no complaints there