The 2019 German Packaging Act

[1786davycrockett]

While I have read more information about the 2019 German Packaging Act, and how it will impact all international sales to Germany (including eBay), as the law is written it seems to primarily effect the primary distributors of pre-packaged items (please correct me if I am misinterpreting this law -- it is not entirely clear).

However, if an eBay seller is NOT a primary distributor, is it still necessary to provide all the information that has been requested?

And, if an eBay seller is selling items which do not seem to be applicable to the 2019 Packaging Act (such as old books and old magazines, which is what I sell), is it necessary to provide this information?

In addition, since I am just an individual seller (and NOT a huge business entity), the "tax id" which is required by this act would be my personal Social Security number, which I am quite hesitant to share with a foreign government.   And thus, according to the  eBay memo regarding the 2019 German Packaging Act:

"What happens if I don’t register by the July 1 deadline?  

eBay has a legal obligation to ensure that all our B2C sellers are compliant. If you do not take the necessary steps by the deadline, we will be legally required to restrict your selling privileges for the German market. "

Which is okay for me -- but I'm not sure how much this is going to impact other American eBay sellers, as the 2019 German Packaging Act seems to infer that eBay sellers will be financially responsible for additional recycling fees for packages sent to Germany.  Will eBay be billing individual sellers for these fees, or will Germany be billing the individual sellers?

Do any other eBay sellers have further clarifications regarding this Act, as the deadline is July 1.

Thanks, folks!

[ulfesharpe]

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@apmtrade wrote:

For now, private sellers do not need to register.

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For now!!!! 🙂

Thank you for confirming that for us 👍

[mr_lincoln]

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@1786davycrockett wrote:

"Info: Additional Packing Act for 30 Eu. countries. 

https://verpackungslizenz24.de/en/eu-packaging-licence/"

So the 2019 German Packaging Act was just the appetizer, huh?

Thankfully, I'm on a diet.

Guess I won't be worrying so much anymore about my packages arriving safely at their European destinations.  

There won't be any.

Talk about isolationism. . ..

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@1786davycrockett   I think when this all shakes out only Business Sellers on eBay will have to comply.  Individual accounts will not IMHO ... I ship more personally to the UK then I do selling through any venues ...

[1786davycrockett]

" I think when this all shakes out only Business Sellers on eBay will have to comply.  Individual accounts will not IMHO ... I ship more personally to the UK then I do selling through any venues ..."

Considering that eBay considers that anybody selling on eBay qualifies as a "business", I am not feeling any sense of security.

Besides -- how will Germany decide which packages are "personal," and which are "business"?  

There is no certain clarity in the Act, and it can be left wide-open for interpretation.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@nyccowgirl7 wrote:

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@carlmarxx wrote:

You  can by Blocking Germany    for not shipping too . GSP will only ship to country's    that aren't on your   block list . 

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As I understand it, blocking countries you ship to ONLY blocks direct sales to that country.  Someone please step in if I don't have my info straight, but I have been told by ebay reps previously - as I have run into country-specific issues before, ie knives w England - that as a seller there is NO way to block individual countries from GSP sales.  If something is banned in a certain country, your only option is to choose to ship direct to other international destinations or else leave it as US only.

I always thought that any country we block in our Preferences applies to GSP, as well as directly sent pkgs.   

velvet@ebay  

Can you please check on this Velvet?  It would be helpful to know.  

[velvet@ebay]

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@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:

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@nyccowgirl7 wrote:

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@carlmarxx wrote:

You  can by Blocking Germany    for not shipping too . GSP will only ship to country's    that aren't on your   block list . 

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As I understand it, blocking countries you ship to ONLY blocks direct sales to that country.  Someone please step in if I don't have my info straight, but I have been told by ebay reps previously - as I have run into country-specific issues before, ie knives w England - that as a seller there is NO way to block individual countries from GSP sales.  If something is banned in a certain country, your only option is to choose to ship direct to other international destinations or else leave it as US only.

I always thought that any country we block in our Preferences applies to GSP, as well as directly sent pkgs.   

velvet@ebay  

Can you please check on this Velvet?  It would be helpful to know.  

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Hi @simply-the-best-for-you! If you block a country in your shipping exclusions list then that should also apply to the GSP. However, if you have a shipping business policy in place that doesn't exclude a certain location, it will trump any excluded country in your shipping exclusions list. It would be good to double check shipping business policies to ensure they reflect the locations you're willing to ship to. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

@nyccowgirl7   Just wanted to make sure you saw Velvet's reply above.  It works the way I always thought it worked, per Velvet.  

[nyccowgirl7]

>If you block a country in your shipping exclusions list then that should also apply to the GSP.

Any way to double check this...?  Because it directly contradicts info I have gotten from ebay reps who supposedly specialize in GSP.  It would great if it were true...

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@nyccowgirl7 wrote:

>If you block a country in your shipping exclusions list then that should also apply to the GSP.

Any way to double check this...?  Because it directly contradicts info I have gotten from ebay reps who supposedly specialize in GSP.  It would great if it were true...

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Not really.  But I have no reason to doubt her, as I have NEVER heard what you posted & I've been selling since 97, though GSP certainly didn't exist back then.   The CSR's are notoriously awful at even understanding your questions, much less giving accurate info, so I'd take velvet@ebay  response over anything you heard from a CSR.  

That said, the only way to test it is to try it.  I don't really think if 1 rogue pkg were to get through, that the German gov't is going to go after you for a recycling fee.   

The only other way to know, though it's not really a test b/c things change all the time is if we hear from someone who uses GSP & has some countries excluded.  I know there are people who do, b/c I remember them posting here about it.   I've not heard/read of any situation where someone has a country excluded & then someone bought from them via GSP.  Doesn't mean it's never happened, but I go back to the fact that you are the only person I've EVER heard say it doesn't work to simply exclude the country & logic tells me, you probably just got bogus info. 

[magsmg101]

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@nyccowgirl7 wrote:

>If you block a country in your shipping exclusions list then that should also apply to the GSP.

Any way to double check this...?  Because it directly contradicts info I have gotten from ebay reps who supposedly specialize in GSP.  It would great if it were true...

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It would seem there is an override button for GSP blocked countries.

[brandsonhands]

It is actually a relief that Germany will impose such rules because their postal service is not reliable and you don`t get full tracking as it was a norm years ago. Don`t know about GSP, but when you ship by USPS or PS you are at a merci of an honesty. And that applies not only to packages coming from the US; I have friends who ship to Germany from other countries, and they say exactly the same.

I almost forgot about it, until I remembered it today when checking tracking - last package got the last scan at a processing facility in Germany -same as other packages within the past couple of years. 

So the garbage (literally) news is actually a great one for me. If Germany can`t provide a reliable tracking system, then no sales to Germany - they can dream about those recycling fees as much as they wish. Frankly, the country is falling apart before our eyes -such a shame, it used to be a great one right before Merkel. Oh, well. 

[dhbookds]

Question about business versus personal accounts.    At one time the EU (including the UK, at the time) had a different definition for business sellers than the definition used in the US........and, as I understood it, US business sellers weren't liable to the same EU rules as EU business sellers.........  Anyone know if there is still that differentiation? 

[brandsonhands]

From what I`ve read here, there is no more differentiation between business and personal sellers when it comes to this packaging/garbage law. I am glad the UK got out of EU; at least for now, it is easy country to deal with.

[carlmarxx]

You are incorrect !    Ebay Uk and Ebay EU  have  differentiation   between  Business and Personal : i.e. Private   seller .  EBay.com U.S.    dropped  it in 2007.     However  when ebay went to managed payments adyen  ,They corp. is the merchant of record  in buyers payment history ,so there for ebay will be hit with these fee's which will  mean all sellers will pay if they ship to all 30 EU  country's.    so the option is for  sellers to place all EU on the block shipping list.  

[carlmarxx]

I meant ebay corp. is merchant of record.

[beautifulbeauty2012]

dhbookds asked that question in regards of the new German garbage law, so you are incorrect - both personal and business accounts will be treated the same, i.e., both would have to buy the license.