New Rule Shipping to Germany

[stephenmorgan]

Found this rule as I was reading thru the shipping rules.  Effective July 1st.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/extended-producer-responsibility-business-sellers/german-packaging...

Do not see being able to comply with the requirements so I guess no more sales to Germany?

Do you think eBay's Global Shipping Program or International Standard Delivery will obtain the licenses needed so eBay sellers do not have to worry about it?  Using one of these two programs it is not the seller who is actually sending the item, it is eBay services and they may repackage the item.

 

The German Packaging Act for business sellers

When you sell packaged items to buyers in Germany, you must follow the requirements of the German Packaging Act (Verpackungsgesetz or VerpackG). This applies to all business sellers shipping items to a German delivery address.

As of July 1, 2022 eBay is legally obligated to confirm our sellers meet these requirements. If you do not comply with the Packaging Act, your eBay account may be restricted.

Sellers affected by the Packaging Act

The German Packaging Act affects business sellers whose items end up with private consumers in Germany. This includes:

• Packaging your items and shipping them OR
• Importing already-packaged items into Germany

Requirements for business sellers

There are three legal requirements for sellers under the Packaging Act:

1. License (aka "system participation") your packaging quantities with a dual system.
2. Register in the "LUCID" register, provided by the central authority "Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister" (ZSVR). After registration, you will receive your individual Lucid registration number (= EPR number for packaging). Submit this number to your dual system.
3. Enter the name of your dual system and your packaging quantity licensed in step 1 in the Lucid reporting register of the ZSVR.

Tip
Our partner for the packaging law is Lizenzero, the licensing platform of the dual system company Interseroh+. Visit the Lizenzero - eBay page to find easy to follow steps and more information about registration and licensing.

Submit Lucid number to eBay

Here’s how you store your Lucid number in your eBay account :

1. Go to the eBay Account section in My eBay.
2. Select Business Information in the section “Personal Information and privacy” (you may be prompted to log in again).
3. Go to the Business details section and select Add next to “Lucid ID”.
4. Enter your Lucid ID.
5. Click Save.
6. You’ll see the confirmation that your Lucid ID has been stored.

Types of packaging required to be licensed

The Packaging Act concerns all packaging that ultimately ends up with the German end user and that will need to be disposed of by them. The overall term used here is "sales packaging" and this means:

• Product packaging
• Shipment packaging (including filling and cushioning materials)
• Service packaging (for example carrier bags or coffee-to-go cups).

It doesn't matter what material the packaging is made of, because all packaging has to be licensed – including cardboard, plastic, and glass

[wastingtime101]

The more I think about this, the more complex it becomes when you consider a reshipper setup. The reshipper would not only have to repack everything, but they would also have to remove product packaging in many cases to ensure compliance.

[jnmcnally]

I'm just blocking sales to Germany on Ebay and my website.  I don't remember when I had a sale, and most my items are inexpensive and not worth a 39Euro annual fee

From what I can determine it goes like this: 

Germany wants only recyclable packaging in their country

As sellers, we have to send only recyclable packaging

We have to certify to Germany that everything we send is recyclable by getting a license

Ebay doesn't know what materials we use for our packages, so it can't certify this for us

Companies will help us get the license if we pay them

Left unknown (to me): where do we purchase the packaging that will make Germany happy? I don't think reusing the boxes I already receive in the mail, or the new ones I buy from ULine, will do the trick.

[theladyandthebookman]

I'm a small/independent bookseller. Just me and one part time employee. I sell about 100-150 books a month. I've sold two books to Germany in 2022, seven in 2021, about seven the year before that. In the last three and a half years I've made about $3,000 from books I've sold to Germany. That's okay, I guess. It's about a $1,000 a year. Which is nice. I just can't tell if it would be worth all the trouble. Most likely the books would have sold to someone else anyway.

I've been able to avoid getting my own VAT number and have just been using the VAT and IOSS numbers supplied to me by the venues I sell on. I try to keep up on all of the international shipping regulations, because it seems like less and less rare and collectible booksellers are keeping up on it, so it gives me an advantage in the international marketplace.

The spirit of all of these international regulations seems nice, but in practice it just seems like it makes everything more difficult for small sellers and large corporations and big businesses just do what they do. Someone like me really shouldn't be affected by this, the amount of trash or recycling material that I have sent to Germany is so negligible. It just feels like a law that doesn't take into account the size of a business. It's really unfortunate.

[estateauctions1]

What is not being discussed here is the unbelievable overstepping and government control. Believe in the new "Green Deal" or not, these types of silly restrictions are going drastically curb our way of life. In spite of what "polls" say, the truth is less than 20% of the US public believes in these destructive moves by our Government & now across the world.

Imagine being a citizen of Germany today. You can not pursue your hobby of collecting from anywhere around the world, but also this will restrict you from receiving say Christmas presents from family outside the EU.

Government overreaching is destroying us all, we need to wake up to tyranny.

[stephenmorgan]

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@estateauctions1 wrote:

Imagine being a citizen of Germany today. You can not pursue your hobby of collecting from anywhere around the world, but also this will restrict you from receiving say Christmas presents from family outside the EU.

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Speaking of Christmas, do you think a Christmas Card and envelope would have to be recycled materials?

[funkybazarcrystals]

ebay has not kept their end of the deal.

Germans are still buying from us and should not be able to.

We then cancel the sales.

If they have an address in another country, we will deliver there, ebay's admin on the back end is in such a mess and causing enormous problems.

|Example, sold items are now showing in ACTIVE LISTINGS, instead of fiddling with the setup, let sellers choose what they want in the main access window.

[richard1rst]

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@funkybazarcrystals wrote:

ebay has not kept their end of the deal.

Germans are still buying from us and should not be able to.

We then cancel the sales.

If they have an address in another country, we will deliver there, ebay's admin on the back end is in such a mess and causing enormous problems.

|Example, sold items are now showing in ACTIVE LISTINGS, instead of fiddling with the setup, let sellers choose what they want in the main access window.

---

And yet I have had several sales to buyers in Germany.

I ship through Pirateship who hands it off the Asendia who hands it off to DHL.

For those who do not know, DHL is headquartered in Bonn Germany. Surely they must know the new rules. And yet my packages are being delivered using the same standard packaging I have always used.

Another example of the Bureaucratic mindset:

Goals, not achievements.

[stephenmorgan]

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@richard1rst wrote:

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@funkybazarcrystals wrote:

ebay has not kept their end of the deal.

Germans are still buying from us and should not be able to.

We then cancel the sales.

If they have an address in another country, we will deliver there, ebay's admin on the back end is in such a mess and causing enormous problems.

|Example, sold items are now showing in ACTIVE LISTINGS, instead of fiddling with the setup, let sellers choose what they want in the main access window.

---

And yet I have had several sales to buyers in Germany.

I ship through Pirateship who hands it off the Asendia who hands it off to DHL.

For those who do not know, DHL is headquartered in Bonn Germany. Surely they must know the new rules. And yet my packages are being delivered using the same standard packaging I have always used.

Another example of the Bureaucratic mindset:

Goals, not achievements.

---

I too have Germany turned off because of the licenses requirements to ship to there.  I do not see that eBay ever provide a clear answer for the new requirements and only pointed back to the German Law.  With their new shipping program I understand eBay is the Shipper of Record meaning they have the licenses?

Their new shipping program is not the most cost effective for packages 2 pounds or under with a value of $100 or less.

I always package in a box, either a USPS Flat Rate box or a brown shipping box.  Sometimes I will put the box inside a Flat Rate Padded Envelope. 

When you say "using the same standard packaging I have always used.", how are you packaging your items?  Is it possible some of us have misunderstood the shipping requirements to Germany?

[richard1rst]

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@stephenmorgan wrote:

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When you say "using the same standard packaging I have always used.", how are you packaging your items?  Is it possible some of us have misunderstood the shipping requirements to Germany?

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Generally I use the same ordinary cardboard boxes and bubblewrap I buy from Uline. On those rare occasions when it goes Priority Mail I will use a post office supplied box if it fits. Otherwise Uline again.

For small items like embroidered patches I frequently use the Tyvec envelopes we get from eBay shipping supplies.

But again I want to emphasis I use Pirateship/Asendia/DHL. I can not guarantee that eBay's global center will allow what DHL allows.

[stephenmorgan]

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@richard1rst wrote:

---

@stephenmorgan wrote:

---

When you say "using the same standard packaging I have always used.", how are you packaging your items?  Is it possible some of us have misunderstood the shipping requirements to Germany?

---

Generally I use the same ordinary cardboard boxes and bubblewrap I buy from Uline. On those rare occasions when it goes Priority Mail I will use a post office supplied box if it fits. Otherwise Uline again.

For small items like embroidered patches I frequently use the Tyvec envelopes we get from eBay shipping supplies.

But again I want to emphasis I use Pirateship/Asendia/DHL. I can not guarantee that eBay's global center will allow what DHL allows.

---

Thanks for the information.  I think I will turn Germany back on.  I have used Pirate Ship for international before.

[richdesbiens]

WHAT A JOKE GERMANY  TRYING TO CHARE US FEES FOR USING TAPE, PACKING ECT.  I ENDED 1 MILLION WORTH OF LISTINGS,

  TO MUCH GREED.

[simba6]

Deutschland uber alles !