- Original Poster
- #1
This year has been a nightmare for my business in terms of international shipping. This example is a tale of a series of cockups and a very patient customer, especially as it is a big ticket item.
I have an order from a chap in the Netherlands, no problem, booked the shipment with DPD via an agent, customs declaration, off it goes. The parcels (consignment of 2) make their way to NL, where they are held in customs. DPD fails to contact the customer to let them know they have VAT to pay, so it sits in customs and gets returned, all without contacting me or the customer. The parcels are returned to the shipping agent who arrange for reshipment with DHL, goes off no problem, buyer pays the VAT. When it arrives, there's actually only one parcel, and as it turns out, DPD only returned one of the parcels to the agent, the other one is lost.
So I've got to take a hit and reship (with a different courier). But the customer has already paid the VAT on the whole item. Now I have to arrange to ship around £200 worth of goods, and I don't want them to be stuck with an additional VAT bill for something they have already paid for. I've done quite a bit of searching and I can't find anything concrete on how to declare it on the commercial invoice. I can select "repair" as a reason for export, but I'm fairly certain I can't just value the goods at zero.
I have an order from a chap in the Netherlands, no problem, booked the shipment with DPD via an agent, customs declaration, off it goes. The parcels (consignment of 2) make their way to NL, where they are held in customs. DPD fails to contact the customer to let them know they have VAT to pay, so it sits in customs and gets returned, all without contacting me or the customer. The parcels are returned to the shipping agent who arrange for reshipment with DHL, goes off no problem, buyer pays the VAT. When it arrives, there's actually only one parcel, and as it turns out, DPD only returned one of the parcels to the agent, the other one is lost.
So I've got to take a hit and reship (with a different courier). But the customer has already paid the VAT on the whole item. Now I have to arrange to ship around £200 worth of goods, and I don't want them to be stuck with an additional VAT bill for something they have already paid for. I've done quite a bit of searching and I can't find anything concrete on how to declare it on the commercial invoice. I can select "repair" as a reason for export, but I'm fairly certain I can't just value the goods at zero.
