Despite Folksy pre-paying the VAT for sales to the EU (via the IOSS system), and the IOSS VAT number and VAT amount being prominently written on the parcels (both front and back in big letters/numbers, and on the customs label) as requested by Folksy (and Folksy invoices attached in special clear customs envelopes), Dutch customs still slapped import VAT plus handling fees on all parcels shipped to the Netherlands.
After lengthy correspondence with PostNL (the Dutch Royal Mail equivalent), it turns out all parcels are digitally read, and the ‘sender reference ID’ (I’m assuming they mean ‘sender’, but not quite sure) on the customs label must be the same as the ‘sender reference ID’ entered by Folksy into the IOSS system, otherwise the parcel is rejected and import VAT plus handling fees imposed irrespective of what is written on and attached to the parcel.
Have you had the same issue shipping to any EU country? What do you write on the customs label under ‘sender reference ID’? Do you write your business name, or do you write Folksy? Do you write your EORI number, or Folksy’s EORI number?
On all occasions I entered my business name under ‘sender’, which clearly isn’t working, and, as mentioned above, the required Folksy IOSS VAT number and amount. I also added my EORI number, but assume that Folksy does not enter our EORI numbers into the IOSS system for EU digital readers to match.
I’d be very interested to hear your experiences so far with shipping Folksy sales to the EU.
How are you buying your postage for EU orders? The IOSS number needs to be entered into the computer system so it is associated with the bar code that is attached to the package (the bar code is the same one that is used for tracking). If you buy your postage online you need do this yourself (as it says in the blog post, there are instructions for setting up a profile on RM click and drop) or if you buy the postage at the post office they should be doing this. Writing the IOSS number on the package is to help PO staff enter it into the system as they will then have it in front of them.
Hi @SashaGarrett, thank you so much for your reply! Really appreciate it. I’ve been buying over the counter at a Royal Mail post office. They generate the international track&trace label. Thank you for the tip about processing it online. I will look into this. Has everything gone smoothly with your parcels?
Royal Mail and Post Office are 2 separate companies and I’m wondering if on this occasion the PO clerk didn’t enter the IOSS number into the computer system to be passed on to Royal Mail (who would have passed it on to PostNL). I have multiple profiles set up within my Royal mail click and drop account - one for each of the platforms I sell on with the IOSS number for each platform saved within the profile so I know that it has been submitted with parcels where necessary. However I actually stopped shipping to Europe because of the various countries that now having packaging laws requiring a license so haven’t had to deal with IOSS recently.
@SashaGarrett thank you ever so much for that! Our local post office is only small, so, as you say, they might not have entered the required data. I will certainly check with them on my next visit! Until you mentioned it, I had no idea that it was possible to enter the data yourself online. Thank you for taking the time to share what you know. If that solves the problem, it is certainly the way to go!
We’ve been required to give electronic customs data for all overseas packages since mid 2021 (and for the US and a handful of other places since long before that) - I reluctantly switched to Click and Drop when the US requirement came in and although I had some teething troubles setting everything up, and still don’t trust it to import anything so I enter all the addresses and details manually, and the juggling of weights so as to get the total correct when there are multiple items in a package is a complete PITA, it now works fine for me and even though I’ve stopped shipping internationally I use Click and Drop labels for pretty much everything that I can’t stick a large letter stamp on, and just take them to my PO to get the proof of posting. Saves a lot of time!
This is the current guidance from Royal Mail, it’s got useful links including the tariff code looker-upper, with which I have spent many happy hours of quality time… https://www.royalmail.com/business/international/guide/electronic-customs-data
I still have occasional nightmares involving the tariff code ‘looker-upper’!
When I was a kid I had a lot of penpals abroad, and we used to send each other gifts. We were told to leave the parcels unsealed at one end so that customs could have a look inside! Everything I sent got there just fine …all seems impossibly innocent now.
@GlintBeads Yes, those days, sadly, seem very far away now. I have family and friends in the Netherlands; sending birthday gifts and Christmas goody boxes are now a thing of the past, as the last few sent privately had import duties slapped on despite being below the exemption threshold. It makes friends and family feel so much further away if you can’t even do those little things for them.
You’re welcome - I tried and tried for years to jump through each new hoop as it was added, and researched it carefully as our local PO staff are lovely but they didn’t get much if any info from higher up about the new requirements! I finally gave up when I discovered the full extent of the nightmare for microbusinesses that is the EU packaging regulations. Life is too short. Ditto profit. I miss the old carefree days when I could just say ‘yes, I’ll ship anything anywhere’!
It makes friends and family feel so much further away if you can’t even do those little things for them.