- Joined
- Jan 21, 2004
- Posts
- 459
I was hoping some native Deutschlanders could help me with an issue. Let me start by saying over the past 20 years of video game trading over the internet I've sent hundreds of packages internationally, and probably a third of those have went from the US to Deutschland. I can count on one hand the number that have been lost or damaged. I understand customs requirements and delays, and also that sometimes shit just happens.
A few weeks ago I sold a few Mega Drive carts to a guy on eBay. His English is much better than my Deutsch, so that's what we use when communicating. After I sent the carts out he asked about a few more for a friend, so after deciding on a (very low) price he bought those directly from me and I used eBay's postage tool to print out another shipping label (same destination and it saved be about $5 USD).
So he emails me a few days ago asking about the carts, saying he hasn't received them yet. I checked the tracking numbers and one of them was showing delivered over 2 weeks ago while the other was showing as clearing US customs bound for Deutschland customs. I tell him this and provide links to the tracking numbers.
Here's where I get lost. Part of it is because of the language barrier, and part of it is because I don't understand what he's talking about. He said he just today picked up the one showing delivered and said: Unfortunately, it is but the first packet from you, which lies at customs. You've attached in the package no invoice, so that the package would have to be cleared through customs again. I have now picked up the package at customs and once again had $ 10 for taxes paid to the customs office, because no invoice in the package was. I'll check with my friend if he wants to pay the extra cost of about $ 10, or if he does not want annemen the package.
My response:
When you say no customs invoice, what do you mean?
I ask because I have never had this happen before. All I include in the past was the postage label given by ebay or the post office that has both addresses, package contents, package value and mark either as gift or merchandise. I always mark the package as a gift with a low value (less than USD $10)
His reply:
criticizes the customs that no bill was attached in the package and we now have to once again declare the goods. And that costs about $ 10 for this package.
So what exactly is going on here? I've sent dozens of MD carts sold on eBay to Deutschland using their postage labels, always filling them out the same way (marked as gift, low value) and never had an issue. The postage provided by eBay is the exact same as the normal customs forms provided by the US post office, or the same label as you would get if bought directly online from the US post office.
So what exactly is meant by customs not having an invoice or bill and charging you to invoice the package?
A few weeks ago I sold a few Mega Drive carts to a guy on eBay. His English is much better than my Deutsch, so that's what we use when communicating. After I sent the carts out he asked about a few more for a friend, so after deciding on a (very low) price he bought those directly from me and I used eBay's postage tool to print out another shipping label (same destination and it saved be about $5 USD).
So he emails me a few days ago asking about the carts, saying he hasn't received them yet. I checked the tracking numbers and one of them was showing delivered over 2 weeks ago while the other was showing as clearing US customs bound for Deutschland customs. I tell him this and provide links to the tracking numbers.
Here's where I get lost. Part of it is because of the language barrier, and part of it is because I don't understand what he's talking about. He said he just today picked up the one showing delivered and said: Unfortunately, it is but the first packet from you, which lies at customs. You've attached in the package no invoice, so that the package would have to be cleared through customs again. I have now picked up the package at customs and once again had $ 10 for taxes paid to the customs office, because no invoice in the package was. I'll check with my friend if he wants to pay the extra cost of about $ 10, or if he does not want annemen the package.
My response:
When you say no customs invoice, what do you mean?
I ask because I have never had this happen before. All I include in the past was the postage label given by ebay or the post office that has both addresses, package contents, package value and mark either as gift or merchandise. I always mark the package as a gift with a low value (less than USD $10)
His reply:
criticizes the customs that no bill was attached in the package and we now have to once again declare the goods. And that costs about $ 10 for this package.
So what exactly is going on here? I've sent dozens of MD carts sold on eBay to Deutschland using their postage labels, always filling them out the same way (marked as gift, low value) and never had an issue. The postage provided by eBay is the exact same as the normal customs forms provided by the US post office, or the same label as you would get if bought directly online from the US post office.
So what exactly is meant by customs not having an invoice or bill and charging you to invoice the package?