An Post returning packages from outside the EU-See 1st post

Peregrinus

This. Frankly, merchants who are in the business of exporting goods really should know this stuff. If you're paying somebody to send you goods and they are sending them off without the required information/documentation, your primary gripe shouldn't be about how An Post deals with these consignments; it should be about the people you paid to consign the goods to you, and who made a hames of it.

whiterebel

Another reply from An Post:

Apologies for the inconvenience has caused you but unfortunately we cannot accept items without the complete Customs information on it.

To help you with this there is a page on the An Post site that now includes details of the updated customs requirements https://www.anpost.com/customs-information including how to find the TARIC codes needed for each item https://www.anpost.com/Commerce/Parcel-Solutions/International-Parcels/Find-a-TARIC-Commodity-code

Why is to help me? This information should have been communicated to the other Postal services worldwide, by the looks of it, it wasn't. Plus they seem totally confused between the requirements for CN22 and CN23s.

PhilHill69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117866720#Comment_117866720

A very simplistic response. OK. As a Royal Mail Business user, an order comes through to my website to Ireland. The Royal Mal electronically talks to my website, and pulls the order, shipping address, prices and products relevant to the order into its system. Before I can print a shipping label, I have to ensure my products have the correct taric codes relevant to the products within the order, weights of products match up to declaration, Country of origin is filled in etc. Without this necessary information I am unalble to print a shipping label. As a business seller I applied in Dec 2020, for an EORI number, which along with my VAT number is automatically stored in my account settings. Only when all is correct I can process the order, a shipping label is printed, tracking number produced .I also complete a CN22, attach it to the parcel and it is sent. All the electronic data at that point is submitted. As a merchant who is experienced with creating international deliveries and exporting goods I do, as you put it "know this stuff".

OK. Let's get back to the situation in hand. Parcels in the last 3 weeks start returning from Ireland, parcels that have been processed by An Post. Many also are being delivered, some just stuck in some sort of limbo at An Post. All other international destinations are receiving their parcels, this problem is sonly occurring to Parcels being sent to Ireland. I don't just scratch my head thinking "oh dear". I make phone calls. I phone up the Royal Mail business team. Am I doing something wrong? No, this is happening to many parcels being sent to An Post. I create an enquiry with the Royal Mail. At the same time I look to social media, oh....and would you believe it, lots of other people are too. Customers in Ireland are not getting their parcels. Many sellers are stating that there parcels are being returned that are in An Posts care. No other country seems to be having the same problems, it is specific to parcels sent to An Post.

Many business at that point make the decision to add Ireland to their "blocked counties" as there obviously is a problem. I as a seller, continue to trade, whilst trying to get to the bottom of what is going wrong.

So I chose to send via DPD to Ireland. Back to my computer on DPD website, enter customers shipping address. Enter products in package, enter taric codes, weights, prices, etc , my Eori number and Vat number are in my settings of my DPD account. Electronic Customs complete. Shipping Label is produced. Parcel posted. Irish customer receives parcel in approx 3 working days.

I am sure if it is the Royal Mail who is making a "hames of it" as you put it, I will hold them to account in due time. However you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to see what is staring many of us in the face.

whiterebel

The first package I had that ran foul of An Post was advised as being returned. As the company in the UK had got my order badly wrong, I didn't mind it being returned. 2 days later, it arrives on the doorstep - no tracking update, no VAT charges.

They are definitely more informative as per the reply above that I posted.

notahappycamper

Those packages that are getting through, I assume An Post are not checking every single non-EU package and are only taking a sample?

Nodferatu

Has anyone used AddressPal if I were to buy something in the USA and use AddressPal will it come through?

Marlay

Tried to find out from webchat when the parcel they are holding might be returned to the seller. I was told 'the parcel will be moved to the international hub soon, and will ship in a while'. The sender can't really fix whatever is wrong and resend if they don't get it back. It's been 8 business days in Ireland so far. 12 since it was first posted.

Sarn

Here’s another anomaly.

An invoice arrived in the post from An Post a couple of weeks ago requesting that duty be paid for a parcel from the UK. We had been waiting on a prize that we won in a kids competition based in the UK. An Post were looking for about €11 in tax and charges (the estimated value of the items seemed on the high side, even allowing for £10 postage) which was almost as much as the small stuffed toy and stickers were worth.

Given that I’ve been following this thread, we decided we weren’t going to pay the tax and charges only to have it sent back. Low and behold, the package arrived today. No sign of any customs documents on it, not even a description of the items. The payment to An Post wasn’t due for another week.

Pablo_Flox

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/post-explain-packages-have-significant-24945106

First bit of coverage I have seen

I think there’s genuinely an issue on the British side though too. I’ve had multiple items sent with domestic U.K. postage and no declarations of anything on the outside and they’ve become caught up in this. I got them eventually, but I think there are multiple issues, one of which is probably that the Royal Mail is accepting Irish packages as if they’re domestic in certain circumstances / a lot are slipping though.

rf4c

Convolved, I can't disagree with you, but that's a very small minority.

I've purchased from three UK sellers recently.

One was a small £12 toy for my grandson, returned in the same manner as others describe. It is Zero rated for duty and the VAT would have been about 3 Euro! How petty can they get.

The second was a small box of engineering materials with the same duty/tax as above. Paperwork claimed to be perfect by the seller - awaiting copies currently.

The third parcel is the crack up! Being a Brit resident here most of my life, I still crave the nice little foods that can't be got here. I've had to sacrifice my cheeses and fresh stuff, but everything I ordered was allowed. It was returned to sender and the sender's head is now spinning. This company specialises in shipping to expats worldwide and are experts at this! The say they were fully up to date from day one and have only had returns from Ireland and nowhere else in the EU! When asked An Post stated the reason as "Incorrect Paperwork" so I asked the seller to send me copies when the parcel arrived back with them. Guess what, the parcel arrived back, with the "Documents Enclosed" plastic envelope cut open and the documents missing! I'm considering reporting it to the Gardai as mail interference, but I'm not expecting to be overjoyed with the outcome!

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117866720#Comment_117866720

How exactly does an 80 year old grandparent send presents to their kids and lodge an online c23?

rf4c

cnocbui that's exactly the point. None of us should be asked to be experts. The problem is that even small Irish businesses who make the effort to learn are being

wrong footed by An Post.

I still believe there's some other agenda and we're all the pawns.

At the advice of An Post, I had a parecel sent to me a second time on the advce of An Post who said "make sure it has a CN22 label" attached.

It was send back again, the reason?........ "No CN23 attached"! You just can't win!

I'd be happy to draw a line under all this if An Post publish a proper website just like Royal Mail did. It explains everything and is a great step by step guide.

That way we could follow the rules by following the instructions, but the paltry excuse for their advice pages is useless.

It would be a lot more trouble due to Idiot Bojo's Brexit, but at least we'd be motoring!

It seems reasonable / not tinfoil to me at this point that An Post are playing silly-bollix / using the IOSS change with to "discourage" incoming items from the Orient in particular.

Scanning of twitter for Aliexpress results does not throw up widespread problems elsewhere in Europe for example.

is it time for Joe Duffy 😋?

rf4c

No problems anywhere else in Europe.

They're laughing their asses off at us.

Believe me, there's no bias re the Orient, huge numbers from the UK being turned around.

Maybe someone in An Post is trying to screw the UK due to their truck driver shortage?

Also, why is Amazon getting through without any problems?

Also why did the Chief Executive David McRedmond and the Head of Parcels Garrett Bridgeman decide to head of on holidyas until late September?

Also why did Leo Varadkar thank An Post for their great support - does he not know what's going on?

I've mailed Joe Duffy several times over the past couple of weeks> I get the autoreply but it seems he'd rather deal with stray cats and their antics

than do as he's forever claiming to do! As with everyone else, no reply!

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117869316#Comment_117869316

I've emailed on August 31st wasn't willing to go on air but another user was, rang in but they didn't get back to them

Marlay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117869421#Comment_117869421

Amazon collect estimated duty and tax at checkout and pay customs, so nothing further is required when it reaches Ireland. If the estimate is higher than the actual amount you get a refund of the difference at some point.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

Nothing new really at least someone's posting about it

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/post-explain-packages-have-significant-24945106.amp?__twitter_impression=true

Edit - Sorry missed it was already above, apologies.

rf4c

The point about Amazon seems to have been missed.

Why are their parcels coming from the UK, being delivered without any issue while not bearing the

declaration paperwork An Post says is so essential, whether or not levies are paid?

Actually, if they’re favouring Amazon and other large companies who’ve arrangements with them, a formal query needs to be made about competition.

While the U.K. may be outside the EU now, competition law in its broadest context still applies.

Maybe the route might be to query this with Comreg, Irish Competition Authority and EU DG Comp.

I mean aren’t they a regulated postal services monopoly basically? Or does the availability of couriers somehow make it a deregulated market?

I find them a pain in the rear to deal with though. I got one of their mailboxes installed and they use it at random. If it’s a different postman/postwoman they often just don’t have keys and leave packages on the step.

The latest one has been items delivered soaking wet. I’ve had several books destroyed with zero ability to claim anything. They’ve included things like academic journals etc.

I also bought An Post prepaid envelopes, the big padded ones, online on their website and when I tried to use them in the post office they started demanding that I tell them EXACTLY how much I paid for them. This happened twice! I won’t use them again. Absolutely embarrassing experience and felt like I was being accused of trying to defraud them. I mean seriously, how would you remember exactly what you paid for some envelope thing you bought online?! Or why should I have to prove something like that?!

They're the most officious company I’ve ever dealt with. Very much a remnant of the bad old days of P&T.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

If anyone wants to share their experiences under a hashtag my friends starting #NoPostAnPost maybe we could get it trending?

Darc19

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117868932#Comment_117868932

I don't know of any toys that are zero rated and I used to be in toy retail. Books that have an isbn number are zero rated and clothing specifically for age up to 12 are zero rated. Its EU regulations that all good of all values have to be inputted. Where the vat is under €1, it will not be collected.

rf4c

Zero rated - I was talking about duty payable . The VAT I understand!

In general I find Ireland extremely awkward to do any kind of online shipping to / from compared to continental Europe or the U.K. - even without Brexit it wasn’t great and can be extremely expensive.

I appreciate we are an island, and often at the far end of supply chains, but it’s all the more reason for the state to ensure these things are smooth and as efficient as possible.

Slow deliveries or excessive expense = uncompetitive.

I don’t think the state takes it seriously tbh. There’s all this talk about businesses going online, then you discover you might as well be trying to ship from Greenland.

Amazon and similar outfits with huge scale supply chains will always dominate if the general services are slow, unpredictable or expensive.

Failure to sort this out just means damage to smaller businesses.

Marlay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117869563#Comment_117869563

Basically Amazon are handling all the customs requirements including calculating and paying the duties/VAT. They also remove UK VAT at the checkout. So there is no need for An Post to do anything other than deliver. Which even they can just about manage.

I tried to return a faulty shaver I bought on a German website and I couldn’t even get An Post to accept the package as the item contained a Nickel-Cadmium battery.

I had to ship by UPS which cost €22!!

It really is feeling like you’re on Craggy Island.

AnRothar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117869655#Comment_117869655

https://www.anpost.com/Post-Parcels/Sending/Sending-Guide/Prohibited-Items

Batteries are prohibited.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117869717#Comment_117869717

Yeah I know, but oddly not inbound.

it makes online shopping for electronics bloody expensive!

As I was saying, we live on Craggy Island.

You’d think they might have a land/sea based service to the continent option or something, but nope, just flat out refusal to carry.

There are times you’d wonder if we are even in the EU at all. You either get very heavy shipping costs, or a lot of places won’t ship here at all.

whiterebel

An Post aren't on the approved list of postal carriers to ship hazardous cargo. The inbound carriers may be on the list, but more likely ship it via surface freight.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117869736#Comment_117869736

Theyre not able to do much by the sounds of it, other than to give out about how they’ve a dwindling business apparently.

The inbound carrier was oddly enough a post office and the item was delivered by the postman, but seems it doesn’t work the other way around.