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

deezell

A part if me doesn’t like supporting a regime whose ethos is all about 'limitations' of it's vast population. The West has helped create this monster, with our addiction to cheap goods, and we can only pray that your man in charge doesn’t decide to be Putin mk2 someday. But all this is off topic. We can blame Anpost if that day arrives.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119829537#Comment_119829537

The limitation is that shipping from ireland to china is more expensive than the other way around.

Sersti

I ordered an item from Ukraine. It took about a month to get to Ireland, and after it had spent nearly a week sittlng in Dublin Mail Centre, the status changed to "We could not deliver your post. We will try to return it to the sender". I called An Post and was told that the parcel was being returned because the tariff code was incorrect for importing to a EU country.

I contacted the manufacturer/seller, who told me that they ship the item to EU countries daily, and had never had a problem with the tariff code. I double-checked the code in the EU online TARIC database and it's correct.

Unfortunately, I can't find a way to contact An Post's customs office. Apparently they have had their own customs office since January.

glitterIsland

I ordered an item from amazon and its coming from a third seller on amazon and its and English shop. I wasn't aware of the third party seller and thought it was coming from amazon.

I read some posts here about an post. Will an post be returning my item once it gets into Ireland now or will there be any chance of a delivery?

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881932#Comment_119881932

Was it fulfilled by amazon or shipped by the seller? if it was fulfilled by amazon you should be ok. If shipped by the seller it depends on whether the english shop has done customs paperwork correctly.

glitterIsland

It was shipped from the seller.

Feck about the customs papers.

A lot of UK shops haven't organised themselves since brexit in that I pulled dout from some online orders because the English vat rate was never removed.

I doubt I will get this order at all. I will likely have to make alternative arrangements now.

Weepsie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119865240#Comment_119865240

They have an email address but so far for me it is auto replies. They're looking for money from me for some thing from Northern Ireland that very clearly came from there

el Fenomeno

Does anybody know what the current turnaround times are for a response from the ecomm team when you've emailed them to dispute a customs charge?

whiterebel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119913893#Comment_119913893

Mod: 3rd time you’ve posted the same query on different threads. Please keep it to one thread.

Cabletieconway

ive just had two packages arrive in Ireland from Japan,more specifically Buyee. A service I’ve used often the last few years with never any issues. I was notified about customs for the two packages,paid the charges,items then cleared customs and made their way to portlaoise,then miraculously appeared in London and have arrived back In japan?

i had been keeping an eye on them and as soon as the first package arrived in London I contacted Anpost and they immediately said there was an issue with sender and nothing could be done. I told her there is a second package I have paid customs on but hasn’t arrived in portlaoise yet,she checked and confirmed,I asked can this be highlighted of some sort to make sure it’s also not returned,with no luck,and low and behold two days later it’s in London on the way to japan. Buyee notified me when packages arrived back In japan that permission to import package denied,despite the items clearing customs. There seems to be no issue from their end,again I’ve had multiple packages from them this year alone with no issues. Items are alloys which I’ve had shipped before. Anpost are still saying it’s senders issue despite sender doing everything correctly as they always have,and it even cleared customs. Anyone experience this and find a solution? I’ve severely out of pocket now as I’ve paid customs on the items,and sender now wants me to pay for repackage and to send again,which is now worth it so I’m down money for items and for initial shipping and customs.

apologies if this has been clarified elsewhere in the thread,I managed to get to page 20 and haven’t the time to read the entire forum. Any info greatly appreciated

youcancallmeal

It's a long story but An Post are basically returning anything from outside the EU that doesn't follow their new very strict rules, something like having the correct taric/tariff code. There is anecdotal evidence that even packages with all the correct details are being returned. Seems most postal services in the world can't get the hang of it and An Post aren't providing any customer service, just sending packages back with vague copy/paste responses to any queries.

The only good solution I've found is to ask sender to use the PostNL international parcel service because it ships via the Netherlands thereby avoiding the package hitting Ireland as the point of arrival in the EU. Takes a little bit longer but it is very reasonably priced. There is also the option of using courier like DHL or Fedex but that will be very expensive compared to standard post.

NewbridgeIR

Another interesting experience with An Post

UK package - cost £200

Was expecting to pay VAT of about €50 plus the handling fee so about €55 all-in. Not an issue once I get the item.

Package rejected - the usual "failed electronic customs clearance". Arrives back with seller. He sends me a photo of the package with the value clearly marked on it along with with TARIC code etc.

I ask seller for refund as An Post won't provide proper explanation why and it's not clear why it was rejected.

He says "Let me try again first. I'll read their website before I send again."

About a week later the item arrives in new packaging. Value marked down to £20 and the word "Gift" written on it. Delivered without an issue.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119914773#Comment_119914773

https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2021/1201_01_en.html

Japan are aware of it but it still happens. My only sucess with Buyee was to use ems and write the tarics in myself, there's a part when you order you can edit the pricing and descriptions

Zipppy

Mate in London has a motorcycle part for me. He's already posted it over and it was returned with no reason given. Maybe no taric code? How can I get this thing back frm uk?

Is it worth trying post again with correct tariff code?

bassy

There returning packages from the EU also,as I bought a small part on Amazon Germany and it landed in Dublin and was sent back to sender in Germany,so much for being able to buy stuff in Europe without hassle and crap.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119947591#Comment_119947591

That's mad, I thought I saw something on Twitter but was to Spain? So not the only one

Did the sender have the same sticker on their parcels that the outside EU ones had? it being Amazon they mightn't say just curious for any extra info

bassy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119955746#Comment_119955746

do not know what was on the parcel as i never seen the parcel.

Zipppy

Item frm UK being delivered by Hermes, stuck in customs for 9 days...how do I get this moved on? TIA

pnott

Purchased an item that arrived from China on November 18th in the Dublin parcel hub. The An Post tracking says it was delivered to Limerick D.S.U that morning. Since then it hasn’t moved. Received no customs notice or anything. Rang An Post to ask what’s going on and can’t get any information. They don’t seem to know why it was delivered to Limerick sorting office when I live in North Wicklow. What can I do?

youcancallmeal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119967999#Comment_119967999

Assuming all the customs info is correct then it could be just down to how busy An Post is this time of year. A lot of stuff ordered from China in November can take significantly longer than usual to arrive to due to a backlog, in my experience it seems like Ireland, EU, Non-EU post/packages are prioritised in that order this time of year. In the past I've ordered stuff from outside the EU including China in November and it wouldn't get delivered until January. Just keep following up with them though, maybe there is some other issue

pnott

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119970068#Comment_119970068

Got some more information from An Post. It turns out my package when scanned somehow had University of Limerick as the address! Obviously someone in the university refused delivery hence why its still sitting in in the sorting office. They advised me to ask the sender for proof of the name and address that was provided when the pacel was sent. Waiting to hear back from the sender.

deezell

Meantime they're sticking this flyer in our postboxes

"Use your AddressPal account to shop US and UK sites that don't deliver to Ireland".

And pay VAT twice. Reverse of flyer says " Pay customs at the click of a button". No mention of VAT

I'll bet they don't send those packets back. Fwiw, even pre brexit, some UK suppliers would not deliver here, or to AnPost forwarding address.

whiterebel

Paying VAT twice is nothing to do with AddressPal/An Post. If the UK company does it correctly there would be no VAT on export and only VAT in Ireland. They have agents in the UK and USA to ensure the paperwork is correct and isn’t sent. No fan of An Post but there is no point in accusing them of doing things that they have no control over.

deezell

You're missing the point. The goods are delivered to a local address, UK or US, so the supplier has to add VAT or US sales tax. Remember, AnPost has no function in this part of the transaction, you order the goods in your name with a UK address. You can't order it VAT free as it's not for export. ( and this is a supplier who won't deliver abroad, possibly licensing reasons).

Anpost then import it to Ireland where it attracts Irish VAT and possible customs charges. If the supplier wanted to sell for export he could remove Vat, and send it to directly, whereupon you jusr pay Irish Vat, but only if AnPost don't return it. They don't have any issue delivering it when it's them who's carting it over though.

The ad is misleading, it makes no reference to Vat, and pretends its a customs charge

whiterebel

You can ask the exporter to invoice it you the Irish address and ship it to the AddressPal address less VAT. That would allow them to export it less VAT. However, most UK companies till don’t understand how exporting outside the UK works, so you would be blue in the face trying to get them to understand.

AddressPal is in operation long before the new customs procedure came into being. An Post brought this new procedure in far earlier than it should have been and they should have been pulled up over it. An Post don’t ever seem to be keen to do too much work, and find it easier to send back rather than fix.

Customs charge isn’t “pretending” anything, its easier to put it under a general description than “possible Excise Duty, Ad Valorem Duty, VAT and charges” An Post collect these charges for Revenue, apart from the customs clearance charge.

deezell

If they are willing to export, and do the paperwork, you can bypass Addresspal and bring it in yourself. The point of Addresspal is to buy from a business who only deliver locally, in the UK, requiring only a name, address and a few stamps. No complicated customs forms on the packet. If you can get the Invoice printed to a non UK address, good luck with getting a UK Vat refund from HMR, as the goods were delivered to the UK. Nothing you or AnPost can do to change this, unless Anpost sets up a Uk vat registered company and orders the goods for you, then exports them to you and does all the UK vat work. I don't think so.

Padraig Mor

Well, this is interesting - and dare I say unprecedented such is the public nature of the spat?

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2022/12/13/an-post-row-with-uk-post-office-causing-return-of-online-purchases/

Apologies for the paywalled article. Some highlights:

A row has broken out between An Post and the UK’s Post Office about the implementation of post-Brexit customs rules, which are leading to thousands of online purchases by Irish customers being returned each day to smaller British retailers.....

An Post chief executive David McRedmond said it is “extraordinary” that the UK’s Post Office has yet to invest in the technology needed to add certain digital codes on to packages that are dropped off at local offices by SMEs.....

Mr McRedmond accused the UK Post Office of not looking after the interests of its own citizens and SMEs, because its inability to add the codes to packages sent to the Republic from British post offices was, he said, damaging trade for small British businesses that sell to Irish customers online. “It is crazy. It isn’t complicated. I do not know why the post office hasn’t implemented the system. It must act in British citizens’ interests,” he said....

Mr McRedmond had a letter published in British newspaper the Financial Times on Monday, in which he blamed the issue for contributing towards a 52 per cent decline in postal trade between Ireland and Britain. The letter sparked fury within the UK Post Office, which contacted An Post in Dublin to complain. The UK Post Office, a state-owned entity, insists the codes are the responsibility of the separate, privately owned Royal Mail, which runs the delivery of items left into post offices.

Mee-ow, saucer of milk for Table 2!

NewbridgeIR

An Post blaming the Brits

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2022/12/13/an-post-row-with-uk-post-office-causing-return-of-online-purchases/

whiterebel

McRedmond has some cheek, considering An Post introduced it way too early.

deezell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119992910#Comment_119992910

And blame all returns on sender, not on failures of their automated rejection process. Unseen by a human, the packet and the evidence in your favour is returned. You can't query it, see what the system scanned, or look at the data, packet has already gone into the abyss of returns.