Shipping to Sweden from UK without GSP

[lucy2706lucy]

Background - 

So I listed an item, I had a message from a Swedish buyer that they’d attempted to purchase the item (I had GSP turned on) but it wouldn’t allow them. After speaking with eBay CS it turned out that there is a technical fault that stopped the buyer purchasing. Neither mine or the buyers fault. So I turned on custom international shipping, charged £15?!? And told the buyer he could purchase via this instead. 

Buyer has purchased but now there are VAT fee’s he’s paid, what do I do with that? Is there a customs form I need to fill in? I honestly thought it would be as simple as purchasing a label via Royal Mail for international shipping. Wishing I’d just stuck to GSP now and am thinking about cancelling the order if it’s too much hassle. Largish amount too £130 item. 

TIA

[*vyolla* · Accepted solution]

Was it the football shirt?

If so, I just changed my country to Sweden and would've been able to buy it via eBay's Global Shipping Programme:

However, if you want to send it out yourself straight to the buyer then all you have to do is to add a CN22 customs label with clear details of what the item is and what its made of. You need to make it clear to the Post Office that your buyer has paid import VAT up front, and they should give you a sticker with an eBay code on it.

The import VAT that has been paid at checkout is nothing to do with you, so you don't have to worry about that. eBay collect it and will pass it on to the Swedish tax authority.

[lucy2706lucy]

Thank you for this, yes it was. 

Upon doing some further digging I’ve found it seems to be a common’ish problem of late regarding Sweden/GSP. Somebody has mentioned that if the buyer attempted to purchase on .com rather then .co.uk then they would have been able to purchase via GSP. 

I’ll see if the buyer wants to do that but failing that I’ll just ship myself via RM international and hopefully not run into any problem. 

[cardz12]

I had the same issue  some weeks ago and was advised that if the buyer accessed the listing via ebay.com it would allow them to purchase via GSP. It worked!

[lucy2706lucy]

Annoying I should have looked at this page before allowing myself to sort my own international shipping. 

[4_bathrooms]

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@*vyolla* wrote:

Was it the football shirt?

If so, I just changed my country to Sweden and would've been able to buy it via eBay's Global Shipping Programme:

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Weirdly, although I see that on the sold item if I look at any of the OP's items that are currently for sale with GSP enabled this is what I see on eBay.co.uk:

In fact, it's not just the OP but seemingly every private seller. Sweden isn't the only country affected either, the above is what I see for every country that is outside the UK.

I'm guessing there's an issue with the Buyer Protection fee and GSP. International buyers can still purchase if they use eBay.com or their region-specific website which means there is no BPF involved. If I look at business sellers' listings they are not affected. Maybe it's an issue with international buyers being potentially double-taxed on the BPF but there's definitely an issue where private sellers, eBay.co.uk and the GSP are concerned.

[4_bathrooms]

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@cardz12 wrote:

I had the same issue  some weeks ago and was advised that if the buyer accessed the listing via ebay.com it would allow them to purchase via GSP. It worked!

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Here is the original thread.

I'm amazed this has being going on for so long and so few private sellers have experienced problems. Well, unless Sweden sticks out because Swedish buyers do not have a domestic eBay website to purchase through but that also applies to lots of other countries.