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

Darc19

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117853471#Comment_117853471

Sent as a gift, so under that limit.

No taric required

Vombata

Re packages from the US; was expecting a parcel from US mailed on 9th August which reached Dublin on 16th but there was no movement after 'Dublin Direct Entry'. Contacted vendor who told me they could not do anything once it hit customs; contacted customs who told me I should contact An Post. No joy from email enquiries to An Post but called them and they were very helpful. They were able to let me know that the parcel was returned to the vendor in the US due to the fact that the customs declaration did not include a TARIC code; all the other information was there but the An Post agent told me that since July this year customs have got much stricter and if anything arrives with insufficient information it will be flagged for return. Surprised with the vendor as they are shipping gear all over the world, but it may have been a simple oversight. It may be worthwhile, if you are purchasing anything outside the EU, to flag to the vendor to include a TARIC code with the declaration to avoid having the package returned to sender.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117857637#Comment_117857637

I'd have guessed but seeing some people on Twitter it still doesn't get through as a low price gift

deliriousmoonbeam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117858020#Comment_117858020

There's now no exemption for low price items or gifts. Everything is now subject to VAT.

Though that's if An Post even pass your items to Revenue. Most of the returns are being bounced at the doors so to speak.

rf4c

In response to peoples calls for public action i have so far reported the matter to

Michael Martin

Leo Varadkar

Eamon Ryan

Joe Duffy RTE

Editor Irish Times

Editor Irish Independent

Editor Dublin Journal

Totally ignored in every case.

Reported to

The EU SOLVIT website Response: Sorry we can't help.

Comreg Response: We will help but only when you go through the lengthy process.

Sinn Fein Only emailed them yesterday, awaiting reponse

Guys, the only way this is going to get anywhere is the sheer weight of pressure from us. We need everybody to complain to everyone on the above lists

and anyone else you can think of, and not just once, but constantly, daily, twice daily, etc. until they can't cope with the volume.

deliriousmoonbeam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117858866#Comment_117858866

Both myself and my mother have mailed each of these too, along with some additions in the EU, local Sinn Fein reps and committee of public accounts.

innuendo141

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117857616#Comment_117857616

When I called An Post, they had no explanation as to why my parcel was returned, and said that it was Revenue that would have returned the parcel. I then receive a response on Twitter or Facebook around an hour later with the copy and paste response about missing Taric number or whatnot.

I wouldn't believe a word of what An Post rep says at the minute, they clearly just want to defuse every situation in the short term and then not have to deal with the consequences. They are basically lying, and now not responding to queries while playing the "delays" card. I think most people here would have no issue with delays as long as the service provided by An Post was not ripping us off

Flaccus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117858961#Comment_117858961

My order has gone from early last week, "we have received your post, your post has been sorted in Dublin mail centre", to today, "we have received your post, your post has been sorted in Dublin mail centre". I took a screen shot. I wonder is this is prelude to it dropping off the tracker and being returned to sender.

As I mentioned earlier i have the email from An Post thanking me from paying my import vat and saying they would be sending it to me, and Revenue website says it was released. So not sure how they might say it was returned as could not be presented to revenue over incomplete forms when Revenue have cleared it.

It also seems excessive having to go through up to 60 days of a complaints procedure before Comreg will take a look.

Hopefully getting worked up over nothing, but I'd imagine that someone with high value goods who has paid vat and had goods returned could consult a solicitor on the matter.

Gamb!t

Im waiting on stuff since june I ordered from the US and they sent it back from Dublin,no explanation :s

manna452121

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117855435#Comment_117855435

Do people know that: All DHL Parcels in Ireland are delivered by our exclusive partner An Post,from their website.Something to lookout for depending on size of item.I had a camera item from Germany which was transported by DHL to Ireland but delivered by An PostI yesterday,no extra charges 15 euros postage

Mattie500

The change in EU rules since July has probably changed the way we can source items. There is no problem from within the EU but there are a lot of barriers from outside the EU. Some suppliers (e.g. Amazon) will get their act together and be more reliable. The only items that I get through now are from Amazon UK… what are they doing that is correct or is it that An Post/customs see them as being a trusted supplier/vendor.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117860701#Comment_117860701

There appears to be more going on than that. The exporters are only getting these parcels refused by An Post. Confused as delivered to other EU countries with same paperwork.

Hippodrome Song Owl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117860701#Comment_117860701

They are listed by An Post as an "An Post Online Retailer" - they have some sort of arrangement in place with An Post.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

Reposting as I'd a hiccup with my other one, it was the reply from the board of management email which was answered by other staff on their behalf

...

I am contacting you in regards to the two items that were returned to sender due to customs declaration errors.

As of the 1st of January 2021, all goods items coming into Ireland from Non-EU countries irrespective of cost are required to have electronic data sent to An Post to enable Irish Revenue to assess the goods and apply custom charges where applicable. 

Unfortunately, the senders of your goods has supplied incorrect data (No Taric Codes on either, item, this is a code used to classify the type of goods sent) and the goods cannot be declared to Irish Revenue for assessment. Your items have now been returned to sender.

It is the sender/retailers responsibilities to become familiar with these new customs processes and should fully submit these details at the time of posting, through their postal service as these details can only be amended by the origin postal service. I would advise that you contact the senders and advise of their error before they attempt to send the items again.

Items being returned are taking a little longer due to the limited availability of flights to certain regions, if this item has not been returned back to the sender in Russia, they will be required to contact their national postal service to initiate an investigation into the whereabouts of the item.

Kind Regards, 

harr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117852642#Comment_117852642

Some can of piss this , I have a course booked for the 16th ( Not refundable ) and I need course materials some I can only get in U.K. and was only given list middle of August so ordered never thinking it might be over a month to arrive. All vat paid at purchase point . Going to be out of pocket hundreds of euro if they don’t arrive..

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117860744#Comment_117860744

I had a delivery arrive from Buyee on 27th of July so don't blame them being confused by it being refused 2 weeks later and another poster this week theirs arrived as mine arrived back in Japan as "refused"

Vombata

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117857851#Comment_117857851

As a follow up to this post, I contacted the vendor in the US; they were surprised and told me they had never been asked for a TARIC code before and did not even know what the TARIC code would be for the item posted. Meanwhile, the package has taken the scenic route back. An Post told me it had been sent from London on 20th August, but the vendor has not received it yet. So bottom line; if you're importing anything outside the EU, make sure the supplier is aware of (a) the need to include a TARIC code in the export documentation and (b) knows the TARIC code for the item.

el Fenomeno

You'd wonder if this is a ploy to increase business for their AddressPal service. Funnily enough, every non-EU package I've ordered to AddressPal has been delivered, and every non-EU package I've ordered outside of AddressPal has been returned. Of course, Polar Express always have a CN23 filled out for each delivery when shipping from New Jersey to Dublin.

ShayNanigan

My parcel from UK arrived today with a CN22 on the envelope and without problems. It seems it's very arbitrary whether these reach their recipient or whether they're sent back.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

https://twitter.com/Postvox/status/1435533975125118977?s=20

Saw this tweet earlier

RollingSun2000

Are we sure AddressPal are unaffected by all this?

There is a lad on twitter who has been waiting 11 days for a comfirmation email after paying the fees on his AddressPal package. Of course, that might have more to do with An Post's customs payment website always crashing (or being "unavailable") and could be affecting the system behind the scenes too.

Am I alone in thinking the problems people are having with paying their fees and the sorting office debacle are somehow connected? I'm seeing people say that their package was returned even after having paid the fees. And that's if they can.

There is also the scam emails and notifications. I received two scam txt messages myself. I don't know if it was just a coincidence, but I got them roughly around the time my packages arrived into Dublin.

deliriousmoonbeam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862724#Comment_117862724

I am now convinced that there are maybe some employees that are just manually moving packages on regardless. Maybe this is out of the goodness of their hearts, maybe this is because there would otherwise be zero movement of anything.

Nodferatu

Just got another packed returned. This is ridiculous. Is there anyone willing to go on radio about it I wonder. Bring it on Joe Duffy or something.

notahappycamper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862681#Comment_117862681

I saw that on Twitter. Did you see the company in the UK that posted a copy of the label An Post placed on the item returned to them “return to sender not customs compliant item must have electronic CN23”. It appears (I stand to be corrected) that they are looking for a CN23 for everything!!!

whiterebel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862851#Comment_117862851

I wonder are they such low value that it would be more expensive to return them?

Sparkling Gamorreans

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862851#Comment_117862851

It's the same in most jobs of a bureaucratic nature. Some people approach their job with compassion and pragmatism, some mindlessly enforce rules to the letter of the law and some actually zealously enjoy enforcing arbitrary rules with detrimental outcomes.

Is this still accurate after 1 July 2021:

Family and friends gifts

Gifts below the value of €45 (including postage) from non-EU countries do not require any customs or VAT to be paid. Make sure to tell friends and family how to declare this when sending. Gifts over €45 are charged a customs fee paid by the receiver.

deliriousmoonbeam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862890#Comment_117862890

No. There's now no exemption for low value gifts. Everything gets VAT applied. That's of course if it even makes it through An Post's iron gates and onto the Revenue's system.

Though not even safe after that in some cases, it seems.

...

deliriousmoonbeam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862867#Comment_117862867

Not only immediately expensive, but the backlog as all of these wait in bags and containers to leave the country is affecting things like letters and passports and outward travelling packages. Its cost is more than € value.

Sparkling Gamorreans

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862900#Comment_117862900

They'd want to update their own customs page so.

whiterebel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862900#Comment_117862900

Incorrect. From revenue website.

Rules for duty relief on gift consignments

You can receive a gift without payment of Customs Duty and Value-Added Tax (VAT) if:

• the value of the gift (including insurance, freight and postage costs) is €45 or less
• the gift is correctly declared
• the gift has been sent from a private individual outside the European Union (EU) to a private individual within the EU
• the gift is for the personal, or family use, of a private individual in the EU
• there is no commercial or trade element, that is, the goods have not been paid for by the recipient
• the gift is of an occasional nature only such as a present for a birthday or anniversary.

A gift received may contain two or more items with a combined value of greater than €45. In such cases relief is given for as many of those items as add up to a value not exceeding €45. For example, if you receive a gift containing three items with a value of €20 each, your relief applies to two of the items only. The value of an individual item cannot be split up.

Marlay

Interesting thread here: https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/forums/t/parcel-wrongly-rejected-by-roi-customs-is-there-a-way-to-claim-postage-from-them/462756/25.

Particularly:

"My Reply from Royal mail is as follows

I was aware they are adding “no CN23” labels on the rejected items. We’ve gone back to An Post asking for clarification as you’re right, CN23s are for items over £270 and CN22s are for items under £270. I’ve checked your electronic customs data compliance level for July and August and it was 100%.

It appears your goods are now not allowed in to Ireland as they are on the Irish customs restricted list (list attached below) The list we have is from An Post, with them stating that’s what they’ve been provided by the Irish customs.

My Reply to RM

The list you sent over is of every HS code available as it runs from 0 to 99, so is implying every product known to man is banned from Ireland? I have just called Irish customs and they told me that our code is not banned and sent me a PDF with items that are restricted and there is no mention of my HS code?

RM reply to me

I think you’re right in that something has been miscommunicated on the other side of the Irish Sea. I’m aware that we are speaking with An Post (Irish postal authority) but so far the feedback we’ve had is that they are working on information provided to them from Irish customs. I’ve shared the feedback you provided after you spoke with Irish customs yourself with our country manager who is leading the conversation with An Post.

I would recommend contacting Amazon about this as we’re a little stuck given the conflict of information coming from the Republic of Ireland (i.e. customs telling you one thing and An Post telling us and doing something different). Honestly, I don’t think this will be a quick fix.

The only other solution I can think of is if you can find an alternate customs code that would still fairly represent the product and that’s not on the exemption list An Post provided us.

The costs won’t be reimbursed to customers unfortunately as we’ve done our bit, the issue lies with Ireland."

deliriousmoonbeam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862919#Comment_117862919

Then An Post are actually just thieves and this is a whole new avenue of mess up I hadn't even realized existed. My friend just had to pay 20 odd euro to get a jersey out of them and they weren't accepting that it was a birthday.

How can it just be so broken?

notahappycamper

It appears to be the fcuk up of all fcuk ups! Wait until the Christmas post begins if people are ordering gifts from outside the EU!!

deliriousmoonbeam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117863000#Comment_117863000

If they can't determine a CN22 from a CN23, are telling people they owe VAT on gifts, are incapable of telling the truth and have a flaky tracking system with weeks/months of backlog then Christmas is going to certainly be interesting.

Sparkling Gamorreans

What's the difference between the CN22 & CN23? Is there more fields in a CN23? Could a package get sent back from completing a CN23 when only a CN22 was required?

deliriousmoonbeam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117863149#Comment_117863149

I honestly just don't know.

innuendo141

The issue is beginning to really pick up on Twitter

el Fenomeno

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862724#Comment_117862724

I don't think AddressPal are affected. I have had 12 packages enter the country since July 1st via AddressPal and all have been received. The only 2 I haven't received were sent directly to me, without AddressPal as a go-between.

blade1

My parcel from Japan was sent on June 24th, before the new rules applied so in my eyes shouldn't be subject to the new rules.

Seller says they did everything right.

I'm still down 130 euro and no item.

RollingSun2000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117863449#Comment_117863449

I had three packages sent during June from Japan. The first one arrived into Dublin June 30th, I had it the next day, July 1. The second packages (same seller) arrived into Dublin July 28, I received that the next day too, July 29. No extra fees. They both had the CN22 label, but didn't have the Taric numbers.

The third package was from a different seller. It didn't have tracking, but that arrived in good time in July too. That had CN22 and a HS code (I think that is Taric).

I only noticed something was wrong when a pack of dice I ordered from Wish was delayed and I had to pay €0.33 VAT and €3.50 fee. That still took a bit of time after paying to arrive, but I wasn't paying attention. Everything from Wish is slow.

But then there was a package from the UK I bought on Ebay, sent Aug 2nd. That took nearly a month, I can't remember when I got it, but it was the last week of August (estimated delivery was Aug 12 - 16). The tracking number was useless (people left negative reviews about that). That was an odd one. It had the IOSS number, but the seller plonked it in the middle of my delivery address. It had a CN22 label, but it doesn't seem to have a box for the HS / Taric number.

whiterebel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117863449#Comment_117863449

The only date that matters to Revenue is the date it lands in the state, not the date it was sent. Same for all cargo.

blade1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117863896#Comment_117863896

Yes true but how was a sender supposed to do something that wasn't even required at the time.

rf4c

dxhound 2005

Yet again this is unhelpful.

The issue is not that Irish recipients have to pay Vat/Duty. That is not in question.

What is at issue is the shameful behaviour of An Post. They ignore all mails, they cite incorrect documentation even when it is correct, the fail to inform

customers when parcel are returned and are themselves clueless as to the correct documentation. To add salt to the wound, their CEO and Head Of Parcels have both left the crisis while they go away until late September.

I'm old enough to remember how it was done pre-EU. There was no question of ignoring customers or arbitrarily re-exporting goods.

The customer would be informed of the deficiency in the documentation and the reason for holding it. You would be given a certain number of days to supply the correct information from the sender after which you would have to pay a small storage fee which would be ongoing until you corrected the fault or asked for the return of

the shipment. Nowadays, this method would be even easier due to the instant nature of electronic mail, and not having to reply on "snail mail" documents.

For my money, there is a hidden agenda being played by An Post, et al.

andrewfaulk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117864036#Comment_117864036

The change in rules was flagged well in advance of it being implemented..

dxhound2005

The relevant part is the warning that the rules apply even to stuff sent before 01 July, if it does not reach Ireland in time.

whiterebel

MOD - The issue in this thread is goods being returned. The 1st of July change has its own thread. Use that thread for any further discussion of the change to the €22 rule. I have already moved posts across to there.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117864305#Comment_117864305

How sure are you of your previous claim that An Post are the only carrier across all of the EU who are doing this? (If it wasn't you, others made that claim).

andrewfaulk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117864357#Comment_117864357

@dxhound2005 , logged off for a few days there.. Can see you are still banging your head against the wall trying to speak with reason, fair play you have more patience than I do!

rf4c

Royal Mail have conducted investigations across Europe and report back that everything is working normally.

They placed an excellent guide to shipping into the EU on their website and have been very helpful to its customers.

As a result, only very genuinely messed up parcels are being stopped.

They also report having tried to engage in discussions with An Post.............................................wouldn't you know it?........only to be ignored!!