EU IOSS Signup

[whatsoccurring]

I don't know your full circumstance, but we send a lot of items to Europe, via untracked "letter" and I'd say 90% of it we have no problem arriving, lost, or missing items. It can be delayed but we rarely have to refund missing items.

With PDDP, I believe they will only treat items as "Large Letter" or "Parcel", so there will be no PDDP "Letter" style, which for me is a disaster. I hope they clarify and introduce this, but otherwise sending low value items without the expense of tracked post is going to be tricky/impossible.

I envisaged it to work like this:

1) Buyer checks out on our own website, buyer pay the VAT
2) We dispatch item using a "PDDP" letter (or large letter) and Royal Mail bill us the VAT back, plus 50p charge
3) We can just about live with this and absorb the fee under the assumption we're able to still use a PDDP service which is in line with "International Priority" aka standard overseas airmail which takes about 5-7 days.

If they are going to cost everything at tracked prices plus the 50p fee, so in the region of £10+, it makes it very difficult. The items we send can be £7-8 worth, plus we charge about £5-6 for postage.

PDDP needs to be similar price-range to their current range (Standard letter/large letter, Tracked/Signed/T+S) but with the added fee or whatever. If it's considerably dearer, or they remove the low cost services for PDDP, it's going to be a problem. After all, via eBay, you can ship using their IOSS using a "Standard" service, so why should PDDP be any different, bar a fair charge for the fee?

I don't know if they are saying the basic "letter" format isn't expensive enough (for them) to warrant the messing and PDDP service on it, but I'm hoping this isn't the case.

I'm keeping my eye on this one and just trying to pre-warn buyers on our website, or get them to buy from eBay instead.

If we were IOSS registered, we could obviously just dispatch using the normal airmail service (as we do now with eBay) and the tax is paid and IOSS verifies this.

But PDDP is still 'undergoing testing' and not live, so no idea what to expect really.

Thanks very much for your reply.

We were testing Click and Drop for a few months for EU orders (in anticipation of this drama) and letter wasn't available for non-UK orders then either - I spoke with RM a few times and all they could tell me is that it just isn't an option, they don't know why. Like you, this is costing us quite a bit extra.

Could you check this text I quoted in my previous message though (from the page you linked), this is the thing I'm focusing on.

--------------------

• You can send items of Large Letter and Parcel Format dimensions (see format specifications below). These will all be processed and charged as a single piece Parcel, irrespective of format.

-----------------------

I interpret the above to mean that even if businesses send to the EU using the Large Letter format, RM will charge it as being a Parcel? i.e. not only have we lost Letter pricing, also we've lost Large Letter too? (and there is the 0.50p best-case surcharge on top for PDDP).

That seems quite ridiculous, so I think surely I must have misinterpreted something....but it seems to be clearly saying that every item sent will be charged as if its a parcel?

 

[ADC]

DDP with Royal Mail is already live. Our account manager sent me through some details the other day. Although there is a registration process before you can use it. It's only operating in certain countries at moment Cyprus, France, Germany, Ireland, Malta & Protugal. The Netherlands starts on 19th July

Untracked:-

Service Level Priority
Product Code DE6
Delivery aims 3-5 days†
Country Price per item Price per kilo
Austria N/A N/A
Belgium N/A N/A
Bulgaria N/A N/A
Croatia N/A N/A
Cyprus £1.24 £5.56
Czech Rep N/A N/A
Denmark N/A N/A
Estonia N/A N/A
Finland N/A N/A
France £2.55 £1.39
Germany £1.96 £2.80
Greece N/A N/A
Hungary N/A N/A
Ireland £2.10 £3.72
Italy N/A N/A
Latvia N/A N/A
Lithuania N/A N/A
Luxembourg N/A N/A
Malta £5.31 £5.29
Netherlands £1.89 £2.84
Poland N/A N/A
Portugal £2.04 £4.10
Romania N/A N/A
Slovak Republic N/A N/A
Slovenia N/A N/A
Spain N/A N/A
Sweden N/A N/A
Rest of Europe Prices
Service Level Priority
Product Code DE6
Delivery aims 3-5 days†
Country Price per item Price per kilo
Gibraltar N/A N/A
Iceland N/A N/A
Norway N/A N/A
Russia N/A N/A
Switzerland N/A N/A
Turkey N/A N/A
Rest of Europe N/A N/A

Tracked:-

EU Prices
Service Level Priority
Product Code MPR
Product Tracked
Delivery aims 3-5 days†
Country Price per item Price per kilo
Austria^ N/A N/A
Belgium^ N/A N/A
Bulgaria^ N/A N/A
Croatia ^ N/A N/A
Cyprus^ £6.77 £5.75
Czech Rep^ N/A N/A
Denmark^ N/A N/A
Estonia N/A N/A
Finland^ N/A N/A
France^ £5.77 £3.10
Germany^ £6.32 £3.80
Greece^ N/A N/A
Hungary^ N/A N/A
Ireland^ £6.57 £3.60
Italy^ N/A N/A
Latvia^ N/A N/A
Lithuania^ N/A N/A
Luxembourg^ N/A N/A
Malta^ £11.06 £5.25
Netherlands^ £5.87 £3.30
Poland^ N/A N/A
Portugal^ £5.87 £4.40
Romania^ N/A N/A
Slovak Republic^ N/A N/A
Slovenia^ N/A N/A
Spain^ N/A N/A
Sweden^ N/A N/A
Rest of Europe price
Service Level Priority
Product Code MPR
Product Tracked
Delivery aims 5-7 days†
Country Price per item Price per kilo
Gibraltar^ N/A N/A
Iceland^ N/A N/A
Norway N/A N/A
Russia^ N/A N/A
Switzerland^ N/A N/A
Serbia^ N/A N/A
Turkey^ N/A N/A
Rest of Europe N/A N/A

 

[romeo b]

DDP with Royal Mail is already live. Our account manager sent me through some details the other day. Although there is a registration process before you can use it. It's only operating in certain countries at moment Cyprus, France, Germany, Ireland, Malta & Protugal. The Netherlands starts on 19th July

Untracked:-

Service Level Priority
Product Code DE6
Delivery aims 3-5 days†
Country Price per item Price per kilo
Austria N/A N/A
Belgium N/A N/A
Bulgaria N/A N/A
Croatia N/A N/A
Cyprus £1.24 £5.56
Czech Rep N/A N/A
Denmark N/A N/A
Estonia N/A N/A
Finland N/A N/A
France £2.55 £1.39
Germany £1.96 £2.80
Greece N/A N/A
Hungary N/A N/A
Ireland £2.10 £3.72
Italy N/A N/A
Latvia N/A N/A
Lithuania N/A N/A
Luxembourg N/A N/A
Malta £5.31 £5.29
Netherlands £1.89 £2.84
Poland N/A N/A
Portugal £2.04 £4.10
Romania N/A N/A
Slovak Republic N/A N/A
Slovenia N/A N/A
Spain N/A N/A
Sweden N/A N/A
Rest of Europe Prices
Service Level Priority
Product Code DE6
Delivery aims 3-5 days†
Country Price per item Price per kilo
Gibraltar N/A N/A
Iceland N/A N/A
Norway N/A N/A
Russia N/A N/A
Switzerland N/A N/A
Turkey N/A N/A
Rest of Europe N/A N/A

Tracked:-

EU Prices
Service Level Priority
Product Code MPR
Product Tracked
Delivery aims 3-5 days†
Country Price per item Price per kilo
Austria^ N/A N/A
Belgium^ N/A N/A
Bulgaria^ N/A N/A
Croatia ^ N/A N/A
Cyprus^ £6.77 £5.75
Czech Rep^ N/A N/A
Denmark^ N/A N/A
Estonia N/A N/A
Finland^ N/A N/A
France^ £5.77 £3.10
Germany^ £6.32 £3.80
Greece^ N/A N/A
Hungary^ N/A N/A
Ireland^ £6.57 £3.60
Italy^ N/A N/A
Latvia^ N/A N/A
Lithuania^ N/A N/A
Luxembourg^ N/A N/A
Malta^ £11.06 £5.25
Netherlands^ £5.87 £3.30
Poland^ N/A N/A
Portugal^ £5.87 £4.40
Romania^ N/A N/A
Slovak Republic^ N/A N/A
Slovenia^ N/A N/A
Spain^ N/A N/A
Sweden^ N/A N/A
Rest of Europe price
Service Level Priority
Product Code MPR
Product Tracked
Delivery aims 5-7 days†
Country Price per item Price per kilo
Gibraltar^ N/A N/A
Iceland^ N/A N/A
Norway N/A N/A
Russia^ N/A N/A
Switzerland^ N/A N/A
Serbia^ N/A N/A
Turkey^ N/A N/A
Rest of Europe N/A N/A

Thanks for this. I'll make enquiries. So if you can send DDP on an untracked service, this is good news (to me) and in line with how it was done previously in terms of cost.

Are you using this now then? Or aren't you reg'd for it yet? If yes, how do you do it? Do you just add the country VAT at your own website checkout, customer pays it, and you dispatch the item via RM DDP service? Presumably RM (Click and Drop?) sees the order value, country, and bills you that VAT amount back, plus their 50p fee?

Is that correct? I'll ask my new account manager later on - still waiting on replies from last week, it's painful at the moment.

 

[ADC]

Our account manager wit

Thanks for this. I'll make enquiries. So if you can send DDP on an untracked service, this is good news (to me) and in line with how it was done previously in terms of cost.

Are you using this now then? Or aren't you reg'd for it yet? If yes, how do you do it? Do you just add the country VAT at your own website checkout, customer pays it, and you dispatch the item via RM DDP service? Presumably RM (Click and Drop?) sees the order value, country, and bills you that VAT amount back, plus their 50p fee?

Is that correct? I'll ask my new account manager later on - still waiting on replies from last week, it's painful at the moment.

Our account manager with RM is really good. If I email her about anything she usually emails me back within an hour or two.

I haven't registered for it yet, just seeing how it goes at the moment. Yes you just add the country VAT on and despatch via DDP. No PO boxes allowed and you have to attach a full signed commercial invoice to the package you can't use a CN22. You get a seperate bill from RM for all your customs tax.

 

[romeo b]

Our account manager wit


Our account manager with RM is really good. If I email her about anything she usually emails me back within an hour or two.

I haven't registered for it yet, just seeing how it goes at the moment. Yes you just add the country VAT on and despatch via DDP. No PO boxes allowed and you have to attach a full signed commercial invoice to the package you can't use a CN22. You get a seperate bill from RM for all your customs tax.

This really frustrates me, aren't they trying to be paper-free on everything? It's such a stupid thing to do, and on a small tiny item (C5 standard letter) it's annoying. Is it one copy or three copies like UPS? (1 in parcel, 2 outside of parcel in wallet)

Yes, so really my customs tax should match what we have charged the customer already - no hidden surprises or extra random charges after the customer has already paid, hopefully.

I know when I buy postage off UPS, a few weeks later I get "adjustment charges" of £1-2, without fail. Frustrating.

I'll definitely look into it though now, thanks.

 

[NWH]

While I wait for HMRC and Royal Mail confirmation regarding a way forward for Large Letter post to the EU, I tried to research the Post Office services. No hope there. Google, post office+business users+eu post . Sorry I cant give actual link as too new to ukbusinessforums. The Royal Mail 'service' regarding their support simply kills my business which is basically <£20 via Large Letter, Signed For, First Class Post

 

[RBH]

The Royal Mail 'service' regarding their support simply kills my business which is basically <£20 via Large Letter, Signed For, First Class Post

Yup. I'll be winding up unless something is sorted in the very near future.

 

[David Lovell]

Whats the issues with Large Letters? I've been using code DG4 and it is really cheap. Ie 20g large letter to Cyprus - £0.64. That cheaper than UK to UK...

 

[RBH]

Whats the issues with Large Letters? I've been using code DG4 and it is really cheap. Ie 20g large letter to Cyprus - £0.64. That cheaper than UK to UK...

What even does "using code DG4" mean? Where? How? When?

 

[David Lovell]

What even does "using code DG4" mean? Where? How? When?

Royal Mail Click & Drop business account. The service code is DG4 for untracked large letters.

 

[RBH]

Royal Mail Click & Drop business account. The service code is DG4 for untracked large letters.

That narrows it down, thanks. What is a service code, and how do you use or apply it in a business click and drop account? I see nothing

 

[NWH]

Unfortunately my busines is new and while I am at a £3,000 a year spend with Royal Mail I dont qualify for Click and Drop business account rates.

 

[romeo b]

To clarify, plus what I was told and have been speaking to my account manager about:

https://www.royalmail.com/business/international/guide/delivered-duties-paid-ioss

Scroll down, click "Requirements" at the bottom, and it tells you the "supported" IOSS services - this applies to sending through your own IOSS no, or posting via eBay (I am told).

There is no regular "small" letter approved IOSS services, only DG4 (Large Letter) and DE4 (parcel) - these are "standard" untracked services. When I heard this, my heart sank, but after seeing the prices, it's utterly pointless to worry. The pricing is similar/cheap. You might as well just send everything Large Letter.

Look in your Settings > Shipping Services and you'll see them there. See photo link below.

(See here: https://i.imgur.com/UOVOCp5.png)

The "OLA" service, which is traditional "standard proirity airmail" for parcels/letters/large letters is not IOSS compatible (which I found out yesterday, after dispatching 60 items, despite one person telling me it's ok and the other saying it's not)

For tracked/signed/tracked+signed you can still send using MP7/MP9/MTE and these are IOSS approved too, as per the link above.

I had been trying to decipher what I can and can't send using, and I have had a few services activated on my account over the past few days. But DG4/DE4 are there, and generate the "IOSS Circle Black Logo" when posting stuff. Rates can vary due to your level of service I suppose, mine's about 70-90p country dependent.

Today I am about as clear and understanding of the services as I can be after many, many emails and calls. The above applies to me, sending <£20 items to Europe via eBay. Royal Mail have been absolutely chaotic, not conveyed things well whatsoever and people are still sending using the wrong services.

If you are new to RM, they might activate you anyway based on projections for the year.

PS I am waiting on them activating my "PDDP" Services, so I can add VAT to my website, and ship via RM's PDDP and continue EU trade then through website, too. These services are in trial at the moment and not all countries support them, so it's very much a work in progress.

 

[RBH]

DG4 or DE4 "There are no services matching this criteria"

 

[romeo b]

DG4 or DE4 "There are no services matching this criteria"

Then you need to ask RM to activate them for you. Get in touch with Click+Drop support or Business support etc.

If you continue to send the normal way, OLA, your customers will more than likely start to get charges irrespective of whether they've paid the VAT.

 

[RBH]

Then you need to ask RM to activate them for you. Get in touch with Click+Drop support or Business support etc.

Thanks, I did earlier. Just to be clear, though, are these options dependent upon volume?

 

[romeo b]

Thanks, I did earlier. Just to be clear, though, are these options dependent upon volume?

I'm not sure, but they might look at your account pro-rata and you'd qualify. I imagine they'd activate you anyway if you've already spent £3k with them.

EDIT: I think "regular letters" are withdrawn from the IOSS purely to slimline the services. After all large letter is barely any different in price for the most part, and certainly UK anyway most letterboxes and delivery boxes would fit a Large letter anyway without requiring intervention (signature, it being returned to depot, etc). So they are probably thinking' to just combine both them services.

 

[RBH]

I'm not sure, but they might look at your account pro-rata and you'd qualify. I imagine they'd activate you anyway if you've already spent £3k with them.

I'm much smaller scale. I guess I'll just have to wait till they get back to me. Thanks anyway.

 

[romeo b]

I'm much smaller scale. I guess I'll just have to wait till they get back to me. Thanks anyway.

Sorry, it was the chap above you, who said £3k so far for his postage. Apologies. However, it might still be worth asking. It will do no harm. The worst they can say is no, but they may offer a method of dispatching that's IOSS compatible. After all they can't really afford for everyone to stop using them because there's no IOSS compatible service. I imagine they'll just activate it for you, maybe just a slightly worse rate. But doubt it will be that bad.

I would seriously just ask.

 

[RBH]

Sorry, it was the chap above you, who said £3k so far for his postage. Apologies. However, it might still be worth asking. It will do no harm. The worst they can say is no, but they may offer a method of dispatching that's IOSS compatible. After all they can't really afford for everyone to stop using them because there's no IOSS compatible service. I imagine they'll just activate it for you, maybe just a slightly worse rate. But doubt it will be that bad.

I would seriously just ask.

We'll see, RM is supposed to reply within 2 days. Either way this is a disaster. I sell an average, less than 100g CD at £17.50 all in, to an EU customer. With a £1 handling charge and VAT on the lot, it will be more like £22 all in. I'd never pay that, I can't see a future in it. If the handling charge is more, I'll just wind up anyway.

 

[romeo b]

We'll see, RM is supposed to reply within 2 days. Either way this is a disaster. I sell an average, less than 100g CD at £17.50 all in, to an EU customer. With a £1 handling charge and VAT on the lot, it will be more like £22 all in. I'd never pay that, I can't see a future in it. If the handling charge is more, I'll just wind up anyway.

What do you mean £1 handling charge?

The customer has to pay their VAT, and if you haven't sent it using eBay's IOSS, or an approved IOSS to say the tax is paid, they will:

a) hold the item until the tax is paid in most cases
b) charge a handling fee, country dependent, but can be €5-20

I have had numerous things held and delayed the past few months, and it's set in stone now from 1st so it'll happen all the time.

Then you have the issue of returns, refunds, and getting the item back from overseas.

RM are mentally busy, it takes me a while to get replies. Ring Click and Drop, just hold on the line. I got through yesterday immediately with no delay: 0345 266 1004

If you don't act now, there is very little point sending stuff overseas. The customers will inherit charges and it will be more than the value of the CD. The fact of the matter is that VAT has to be paid, and if it isn't then handling/clearance charges apply too.

 

[RBH]

What do you mean £1 handling charge?

The customer has to pay their VAT, and if you haven't sent it using eBay's IOSS, or an approved IOSS to say the tax is paid, they will:

a) hold the item until the tax is paid in most cases
b) charge a handling fee, country dependent, but can be €5-20

I have had numerous things held and delayed the past few months, and it's set in stone now from 1st so it'll happen all the time.

Then you have the issue of returns, refunds, and getting the item back from overseas.

RM are mentally busy, it takes me a while to get replies. Ring Click and Drop, just hold on the line. I got through yesterday immediately with no delay: 0345 266 1004

If you don't act now, there is very little point sending stuff overseas. The customers will inherit charges and it will be more than the value of the CD. The fact of the matter is that VAT has to be paid, and if it isn't then handling/clearance charges apply too.

What I mean by handling charge is cost of Royal Mail PDDP- if it will work at all for me.

I suspended all shipments to Europe from late June, which is probably half my sales or more, and all new supply contracts.

 

[romeo b]

Where are you selling primarily?

Firstly speak to RM about the DE4/DG4 services and state you can't continue to ship low value items overseas without them. Bear in mind they are still just untracked so no proof of loss/delivery.

If you get MTK/MTO/MTG added, that's for Tracked/Signed/Tracked+Signed large letters. Roughly speaking a <100g Large Letter, Tracked, would cost me in the region of £5-6 (no VAT on EU services). Volume may come into it, I am not sure.

Could you not sell via eBay and then buyer has paid VAT / you dispatch using the RM DG4/DE4 services if they allow you to use them? you may find it isn't as bad as you think.

How much is your postage right now to ship a CD overseas, and what service is it using? Don't answer if you don't want but you sound like you sell similar value items to me so the pricing may be in line.

 

[RBH]

Where are you selling primarily?

Firstly speak to RM about the DE4/DG4 services and state you can't continue to ship low value items overseas without them.

Could you not sell via eBay and then buyer has paid VAT / you dispatch using the RM DG4/DE4 services if they allow you to use them? you may find it isn't as bad as you think.

How much is your postage right now to ship a CD overseas, and what service is it using? Don't answer if you don't want but you sound like you sell similar value items to me so the pricing may be in line.

I do sell on ebay, Discogs, even stratospheric sales commission Amazon, all of which handle the VAT to the EU customers.

All these platforms push up the price to customers though, so customers buy less. Mine is a niche collectors market, irrelevant to people in business to make money. I can't afford advertising and find customers on other platforms, where they usually buy a single CD, then draw them to my affordable site where they often buy 3-5 at a time and return for more. As someone in a similar boat to mine said above, now the expensive sites are cheaper than our independent ones. Sharks eat all the minnows and everyone loses.

 

[romeo b]

Well, unfortunately the VAT is not avoidable. Someone pays it and if it isn't paid by the time it's at customs it's owed clearance/handling too.

Also, some EU countries (Poland, Hungary) are adding a further €1 charge regardless of VAT paid or not, which was news to me too.

But, ask yourself, if people overseas are buying off you, is the item not available in their home country? Have you noticed an actual drop-off in trade for where you still do ship to?

It's not really going to improve much other than how easy it becomes for people to pay the VAT. The VAT element is here to stay now.

 

[RBH]

Well, unfortunately the VAT is not avoidable. Someone pays it and if it isn't paid by the time it's at customs it's owed clearance/handling too.

Also, some EU countries (Poland, Hungary) are adding a further €1 charge regardless of VAT paid or not, which was news to me too.

But, ask yourself, if people overseas are buying off you, is the item not available in their home country? Have you noticed an actual drop-off in trade for where you still do ship to?

It's not really going to improve much other than how easy it becomes for people to pay the VAT. The VAT element is here to stay now.

Agreed. If there's a way to keep the handling fees low, there's some possible wiggle room in VAT reclaim, to reduce my base price. That could keep end prices affordable to customers. Not sure if you can reclaim VAT on stock you sell more than 6 months after production. Looking into it but HMRC are mentally busy too.

Virtually nobody else deals with my titles anymore in CD format, anywhere, there's no money in it, so through multiple sales platforms, it is often a global monopoly. Sales are fresh product dependent, I've had nothing new in since February when a major delivery arrived, so impossible to gauge the effect of post June 30th. Physical sales have been steadily rising last 2 years, but still tiny. If I print a CD under licence, its 50-100 copies. It's chicken feed, if I sell 50 world wide, I'm happy, I got a little work of art to the people who want it, keep one for myself, and can afford to print another. It all means nothing in macro economic terms, and everything to music collectors.

 

[Sco]

(Poland, Hungary) are adding a further €1 charge

Wow, what?

My first reaction was, that's not VAT, that's literally a toll for buying from third countries, how is that legal?

It probably is legal, but so dodgy. If they need the money they need to do it through their postal agreements with other countries, not get it as a ransom for packages and letters.

Could you tell me the source of this information? I've stopped shipping to EU temporarily but will restart soon (through eBay), I think my customers would appreciate a heads up. Thanks.

 

[Morning]

Could you tell me the source of this information?

See here https://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/handling-fees-to-recipients-despite-ioss-use.413592/

 

[Sco]

See here

Thank you. Sigh, this is just... I have no words.

 

[whatsoccurring]

To clarify, plus what I was told and have been speaking to my account manager about:

PS I am waiting on them activating my "PDDP" Services, so I can add VAT to my website, and ship via RM's PDDP and continue EU trade then through website, too. These services are in trial at the moment and not all countries support them, so it's very much a work in progress.

Is there a particular reason why you're not using the Cross Border IT solution in the meantime (almost twice the price, but no indication on when the PDDP solution will actually be rolled out properly I guess). I've got an IOSS number through them, just haven't put it into action yet (still have EU sales disabled on our website) as still looking for more clarity from the powers that be.

I read somewhere here that a commercial shipping invoice is needed for every item sent through Royal Mail PDDP, a CN22 is not enough. If actually true, that's far from ideal. I'm unclear on whether it's required if using IOSS and sending via Royal Mail.

 

[romeo b]

Is there a particular reason why you're not using the Cross Border IT solution in the meantime (almost twice the price, but no indication on when the PDDP solution will actually be rolled out properly I guess). I've got an IOSS number through them, just haven't put it into action yet (still have EU sales disabled on our website) as still looking for more clarity from the powers that be.

I read somewhere here that a commercial shipping invoice is needed for every item sent through Royal Mail PDDP, a CN22 is not enough. If actually true, that's far from ideal. I'm unclear on whether it's required if using IOSS and sending via Royal Mail.

I've not looked into it properly, do you know the rough costs and how you go about it? (edit: looks like €1+ per shipment)

Do you charge the customer VAT, pay it back to CrossBorder It, and they send the stuff using their IOSS (at a charge)? Essentially like RM PDDP will do?

I'll check it out, it's on the radar. I'm just concentrating on sorting some postages rates out at present but will get round to looking at it.

I dispatch using RM's normal IOSS approved services through eBay, via Click+Drop, and haven't attached any invoices, it's such a waste of paper and makes everything twice as long to process. If that becomes the norm on everything it is going to be very laborious

EDIT: I sent a large letter tracked using RM's IOSS approved Tracked service (it was an eBay sale) on 5th to France, no invoice attached, value is about £50, showing on the CN22 as normal with the HS codes etc. Item was delivered today no problems.

 

[NWH]

I'm not sure, but they might look at your account pro-rata and you'd qualify. I imagine they'd activate you anyway if you've already spent £3k with them.

Many thanks for this info. I am already resorting to eBay for EU post due to IOSS. I have message on my own web site to redirect customers. That of course is not the way forward. I will contact RM to see if I can move to a business account. Thanks. Ill keep everyone updated.

 

[NWH]

Please, can anyone tell me how I communicate with RM? I have used C&D for a year and spent over £3k. Question: I want to apply for business account so I can benefit from MTK and PDDP (to mitigate for IOSS) but they ask for an account number on form. I then try another form and they want to know how many parcels I post. I dont post parcels, I only post large letters. I am not a young man and wont live long enough for the 03457950950 number to be answered ;-). I feel I need to tell someone in Business Accounts that I have used C&D for a year and can prove expenditure. I also expect larger growth in coming year. I am selling primairily from my own web site.

 

[romeo b]

Please, can anyone tell me how I communicate with RM? I have used C&D for a year and spent over £3k. Question: I want to apply for business account so I can benefit from MTK and PDDP (to mitigate for IOSS) but they ask for an account number on form. I then try another form and they want to know how many parcels I post. I dont post parcels, I only post large letters. I am not a young man and wont live long enough for the 03457950950 number to be answered ;-). I feel I need to tell someone in Business Accounts that I have used C&D for a year and can prove expenditure. I also expect larger growth in coming year. I am selling primairily from my own web site.

Ring 0345 266 1004 (Click + Drop Support), and ask them firstly. They can probably guide you.

Failing that, drop [email protected] an email, they are replying within about 24 hours to me at the moment.

 

[Wilfred7]

Im currently using eBay & WooCommerce as my selling platforms. EBay provides the IOSS number so no problems there, but like many others here sales to the EU on my website have been halted. Am I right or wrong that these are the only options currently: (please correct me if wrong):

1. wait for U.K. IOSS portal to open (no date?) so we can register for IOSS ourselves.
2. Use Royal Mail DDP/PDDP (still in testing stage, many countries unsupported).
3. Pay a service such as Taxamo £2 per shipment (sucks for low value orders).
4. Ship the items anyway, without any pre paid VAT and let the customer get hit with extra fees. (Not a good idea either!)

 

[romeo b]

Im currently using eBay & WooCommerce as my selling platforms. EBay provides the IOSS number so no problems there, but like many others here sales to the EU on my website have been halted. Am I right or wrong that these are the only options currently: (please correct me if wrong):

1. wait for U.K. IOSS portal to open (no date?) so we can register for IOSS ourselves.
2. Use Royal Mail DDP/PDDP (still in testing stage, many countries unsupported).
3. Pay a service such as Taxamo £2 per shipment (sucks for low value orders).
4. Ship the items anyway, without any pre paid VAT and let the customer get hit with extra fees. (Not a good idea either!)

Yep, same boat as me, exactly like that.

 

[Sco]

Is there a particular reason why you're not using the Cross Border IT solution in the meantime (almost twice the price, but no indication on when the PDDP solution will actually be rolled out properly I guess). I've got an IOSS number through them, just haven't put it into action yet (still have EU sales disabled on our website) as still looking for more clarity from the powers that be.

I've just signed up with them as well, just so that I can take a look inside since there's no fee for signing up. Finally get to see how the shipping data upload works, I wish companies would be more upfront about that. Deloitte's solution says a similar thing, I've emailed them about it asking how exactly I'd need to send my shipping/sales data to them, and they aren't replying. If anyone has heard anything from Deolitte, please share?

The CBIT requirement for "Value of the sale in EUR (excluding VAT). EUR" is a problem though - technically I'd need to use the exchange rate at the time of sale, for every sale. They need the ecommerce store to pull out their own data and put it into a particular format in a .csv file. It's not quite the "Simply sign up, charge your customer the taxes, and Crossborderit (CBIT) quickly and easily takes care of the rest" they're claiming on their site. So overall they are not a special solution, they are simply a representative in the EU who'd file the monthly return for you. Maybe it's fine if you only get the odd sale to the EU? I feel like there'd be accountants who'd charge less than what CBIT is charging.

I was hoping for an actual solution that'd work out the taxes and automatically submit it for me without me needing to comb through my sales, format it into a special .csv etc. Which was why I also looked at Taxamo, which says there'd be a Magento integration in July, well I suppose it's still July. But without it I'd need to pay someone to look at the API for me, just to use the already-expensive Taxamo solution. Anyone heard more about the supposedly upcoming integration?

 

[Kate881]

Shopwired tried to integrate Taxamo & gave up, holes in the API & general 'they were not very helpful' was the impression I got from the SW guys. They have set up so I can charge the correct % VAT for each so I can manually update CBIT until a proper solution is found.

 

[DefinitelyMaybeUK]

problem though - technically I'd need to use the exchange rate at the time of sale

As mentioned back here https://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/eu-ioss-signup.412355/page-4#post-3088971 the INFOREURO rate is the one to use - it's a similar idea to the HMRC rates that you may be used to, as it's only changed monthly as a common accepted rate for organisations - there's no need for up-to-the-minute rate calculations which can vary depending on who you use. More info here:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-t...-and-beneficiaries/exchange-rate-inforeuro_en

 

[Sco]

Shopwired tried to integrate Taxamo & gave up, holes in the API & general 'they were not very helpful' was the impression I got from the SW guys.

Can't say I'm surprised, nobody who is doing anything to do with IOSS seems to be ready to delivery what they claim they'll deliver. But that's still disappointing.

As mentioned back here the INFOREURO rate is the one to use - it's a similar idea to the HMRC rates that you may be used to, as it's only changed monthly as a common accepted rate for organisations - there's no need for up-to-the-minute rate calculations which can vary depending on who you use. More info here:

That's really good to know, thank you!