IOSS woes

[jalve]

Are eBay sellers selling to Europe aware that the IOSS system appears to be totally broken? The purpose of this system was to make it easier for customers to pay VAT as eBay collects it at the time of purchase. Then recipients are not supposed to have to do anything to clear customs; the package should be simply delivered to them as if the item were shipped from EU.

This sounds nice in theory, but in practice it has failed on 100 % of my eBay purchases since the system was launched on the 1st of July. Finland Post blames incomplete electronic information in their system, which the sender is supposed to submit. Now, I am not a seller, so I don't know if this information is supposed to be entered by eBay or the seller. However, it is clear that something needs to be done about this, since now the recipients still have to take care of customs clearance by themselves, and possibly pay VAT twice, first to eBay and then to customs. To add insult to injury, there is also a "service fee" that Finland Post collects for doing nothing. You are not supposed to have to pay this fee if the VAT was collected at the time of purchase, but persuading them to release the package without payment is a real pain. As a result, eBay is no longer my favorite place to shop. So, sellers, if you're wondering where all your European customers went, try to get eBay to do something to fix this before it is too late!

[axentius]

Hi geronsi0,

Reading the screenshot it looks like it should all be setup and done if the seller uses "our label system".

In my case:

Original shipping ID is from Sunyou Post.

Later, someone re-labels the parcel with a Uzbekistan Post label.

PostNord sent a picture of the parcel, and one can clearly see the original shipping label underneath the new one, and even the start of the original shipping ID from Sunyou Post. Plus the description of the contents is correct on the Uzbekistan Post label.

In my case, it does not look like the seller followed the label routine.

[chboela]

I face the same issue with PostNord in Denmark. They insist on the 25% VAT + the 20€ service fee.

Now I have to go through a claim with ebay to get the already paid 25% VAT back.

[razor_alpha]

It's the same for Hungary as well, almost none of my packages contain IOSS, the sellers do not admit to the fault when I submit a refund request for the amount of the extra VAT payment and handling fees.

eBay does not seem to add the IOSS for the autogenerated labels either.
eBay does not seem to have an easy way to get a refund for both the second VAT payment and the extra handling fees.

eBay even notified me about my abusive buyer behavior for having "too many" refund requests.

This is pathetic.

[senspurcha]

Hi,

January 2022, still same issue. I received a package from the UK to my country in Europe and was charged again with VAT plus 15 euros handling fees by customs at receipt because "IOSS not declared electronically". The seller blames Ebay and Ebay blames the seller. But they won't speak together to fix the issue. An absolute shame. Not to mention that their "customer service" decides when the topic is closed and no longer reply to you.  I can tell from experience that both Amazon and Etsy manage this kind of issue a way better. EBay service is very cheap !

[rka857]

I totally agree with you "sapnai" . I'm from Lithuania too and on  January 2022 situation not changed. I need to pay VAT twice. IOSS on invoice did not help me. By the way, this problem not only with eBay, I bought at ETSY from UK. The same situation - paid VAT twice. Lithuanian post told that they accept only IOSS that was provided electronically and seller was responsible for that.  But when I bought from Aliexpress I paid VAT on purchase and receive package directly to my home address without any customs clearance fee and not need to pay VAT twice.  

Shame to eBay.

[pjcdn2005]

jasmen@ebay 

tyler@ebay 

In November you posted that ebay labels will automatically provide the VAT information to the proper customs authorities. See post 15 for a screenshot of your post.  But two months later we are still seeing complaints from buyers that the system is not working. In order to receive their packages they are having to pay VAT again to their government as well as a service fee.   Why is this happenin?  I'm very hesitant to ship anything to the EU because of this and based on buyers posts, many of them are even more hesitant to buy on ebay.  Is this a problem just for specific EU countries or a problem with ebay labels? 

[jasmen@ebay]

Hey @pjcdn2005 thanks for tagging us! 

It depends on the shipment on if it will be printed on there or not. I can't see or go into what @geronsi0 ran into specifically without looking at the details, however I can get it in the right hands for review!

In any situation where something is being billed incorrectly or looks off, its best to reach out to CS right away. Thanks! 

[golffies]

Unfortunately the presence or absence of the IOSS number on the parcel does not help to clear customs on arrival. Many previous messages have explained that even in this case the recipient is forced to pay VAT a second time, as well as high processing fees.

The problem lies in the failure to transmit declarations electronically to the IOSS platform or later to national customs administrations.

The problem is that eBay imposes the IOSS system of advance payment of VAT on its private buyers, whereas the EU offers it as a non-mandatory solution, facilitating customs clearance for private purchases, but not forcing them to do so.

If the buyer had the possibility to disengage this system, i.e. to pay his purchase without VAT through eBay, as he did before July 2021, and later to pay the VAT when the package enters the territory of one of the EU countries, this would be perfectly compatible with the texts in force, and would allow to circumvent the problem.

Since the implementation of this flawed IOSS system by eBay, I have only made one purchase on eBay, from a seller located within the European Union. eBay, as a global supplier, is finished for me.

jasmen@ebay 

tyler@ebay 

[dfr470]

Post nord Denmark requires IOSS/IMATT information electronically, see translated info from Postnord.dk:

Has prepaid duty - Re-charged (Prepaid)

Important: Information for customers who have paid customs duties at the sender (One Stop Shop/Prepaid solution)

In order to ensure that the sender pays VAT and taxes to the Danish Customs Authority, electronic information about One Stop Shop shipments with approved IOSS numbers must always be included when your goods leave the country of dispatch. This information (called ITMATT) ensures that the consignments on arrival in Denmark are taken away from customs clearance and sent directly to you. In cases where authorized IOSS customers do not send this information, the shipments will be withheld and you will receive import charges.

The information must always follow the shipments electronically, and it is therefore not possible to document that the taxes are prepaid by submitting invoice, order confirmation or the like after we have received the shipments in Denmark. Both the Customs Authority and we who process the goods will reject documentation that is sent.

Therefore, we cannot send your shipments to you without payment. If you have paid VAT on purchases, you should contact the seller and get a refund of the prepaid VAT. Alternatively, do not pay and let the package go back. You can then contact the seller and agree to have the package sent with the correct prepaid documentation.

Maybe Ebay does not know the rules are now being enfoeced?

DF-Denmark

[new_land2]

Sigh.... Another buyer from Belgium here. I guess Belgian post is more strict regarding this... The standard reply from eBay customer support seems to be: just show customs a copy of the invoice. I guess this is accepted in some countries, but it's clearly not the correct procedure.

I have been in contact with eBay customer support and after being transferred no less than FIVE times, I get the feeling no one really knows any of the details about the whole procedure. In the end I ended up with the same person because they kept transferring me to "an expert" or "a team with expertise". It is understandable that CS doesn't have the knowledge, because you can't really expect them to be experts on this kind of stuff. However, I think someone at eBay really needs to be waken up here because they aren't taking the issue seriously. I'm not exactly sure what the solution is, but since other online stores do not have this issue I'm sure there is one.

[robespierre_2]

I know this post is old, but judging by how hard it was for me and the ebay rep i called, to find this info, and by google's search in placing this thread high up in the results, with no clear answer being given, i decided to share my information to help others looking for the same answer:

From within the My ebay homepage, click the "Overview" menu in the top left corner.

Under the Selling Tools, box click "View my ebay selling".

Find the order in question, then click the dropdown to the right and then "View Order Details".

At first glance this page will look like the normal order details page, except now there are more links at the bottom, under a section titled "Other Actions". In here, click "View tax invoice", and depending on the country you're shipping to, it may say something different, but on my UK sample order, there was a "VAT ID xxxxxx" and this is what i was told is the specific iOSS number for this transaction, this is what i entered on my international shipping label.

I hope this helps!

[senspurcha]

Hi,

Ebay is not looking into anything. I have been in touch with them for this issue for months as a EU buyer, and they blame it all on the UK seller, while it seems it is Ebay that provided the seller with the post label that was supposed to carry the electronic IOSS data. So yes, you get the VAT back in the end, but not the processing fee charged by the customs and that is NOT charged when the IOSS is declared electronically to customs. This processing fee is a penalty that customs apply when the IOSS electronic declaration rules are not respected.

I can only encourage you to file a claim at the ECC of your country, if you live in Europe. It is an easy and free online service for EU consumers, funded by the EU,  to help solve a claim with a seller. They will contact Ebay on your behalf.

https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/consumer-rights-and-complaints/resolve-your-consumer-c...

[cscs1956]

Has this situation before. Ebay collected tax but post office want more from buyer. In the end, buyer reject the package and I lost both the item and need to refund the buyer. Ebay do nothing about it and ask me to refund to buyer as buyer claim he did not receive the package.

Very poor system here and bad ebay customer services. 

[cscs1956]

Agreed with you. I am both buyer and seller. I would stay away from ebay for now.

[kh-gary]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.