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@nyccowgirl7 wrote:
C - if the LUCID account is required and I choose not to register, will there be a way going forward to choose to sell items through GSP and exclude Germany??? Because as I understand it, at present, there is no way to exclude a specific country for GSP sales.This would be a VERY helpful feature for many items (ie I listed a kitchen knife, but because England has strict laws about fixed blades etc I can't sell it through GSP).
Please give us some additional guidance - for some of us who have a significant number of GSP sales, this info is quite important and not clear at the moment.
Wouldn't the normal country exclusion work for GSP too? That's what I had planned on doing. I thought excluding Germany, would also exclude it from GSP sales, as well as direct sales.
The original announcement also refers to B2C, I'm not sure what that is? So IDK if it even applies to me.
I've been reading through boatloads of German documents, trying to figure this out.
The 2019 act comes into full force on 01 July 2022.
The way the German site is set up, the system appears to be targeting the larger producers, yet in the same documents, they state there is no "de-miminis", no lower threshold. eBay says they are applying the German requirement to B2C sellers (Business to Consumer), or basically, sellers registered as a business.
The German law will apply to any disposable packaging (trash) entering their country, but how does German customs know whether the trash is from personal transactions or business transactions? A customs statement is typically required either way, and a customs statement usually asks whether the item is a gift or a commercial transaction. We've all been trained not to lie on customs forms. So that does raise the question.
The GSP is the customs agent for many sellers, so they are the ones who will have to report, and they will get that information from a seller's profile. Only business sellers currently have a new field on their profile page to add the required LUCID registration number.
https://accountsettings.ebay.com/profile
So on to the registration:
eBay has partnered with Lizenzero as the most streamlined option for eBay sellers.
Registration for a LUCID number is free, but the individual licensing (system participation) aspect will start at a minimum of $41 per year, or higher if trash volumes are higher. That, right there, may persuade small sellers to block Germany.
The minimum an eBay seller of used items might need to report is "Shipment Packaging", as shown in this infographic. But if the item is new and commercially packaged, then retail packaging must also be considered:
If the retail packaging itself is collectible, then that is part of the product and is not considered packaging.
In essence, shippers must decide how much packing material they are likely to send to Germany over the course of each annual license period. I think this will be the most difficult task for sellers, as it will be determined by the anticipated weight of each type of packaging material.
Most eBay sellers ship variety, unlike manufactures who ship lots of one type of item.
eBay is still not sure how we will be dealing with freight forwarders for sales that don't go through eBay's shipping services. The German documentation states that the entity that owns the item when it crosses the border is the "producer" of the trash for licensing purposes. I would presume that a buyer who uses a freight forwarder becomes the owner/producer, but the German documentation never clearly states an individual consumer could be the responsible party.
It will be interesting to see what @mr_lincoln learns from his German customer.
Here is a page with a bunch of PDF downloads:
