An Post returning packages from outside the EU-See 1st post

Bought a second hand record from the UK via an Amazon Marketplace listing.

Was returned twice to the retailer by An Post. He's insistent the forms are correct. His Royal Mail business support contact has told him they can't send anything to Ireland currently!

I've been refunded at least, by the seller, didn't have to go to Amazon. He's stopping sales to Ireland

AnPost responded to my email query about why my parcel has been sorted so many times and no request for vat or attempt at delivery. Since my email to them, their Twitter contact said it was with customs and may or may not get delivered to me, depending on if a physical declaration is accepted. But still no movement and now sorted 13 times as I mentioned above.

Anyway, the guys who read my email did not even read my query and just sent a canned response. I of course replied as they didn't answer my question. Here is the email they sent :

"Hello,

Thank you for your enquiry.

Our apologies that we’re late in responding due to a very high volume of customer enquiries in recent days. 

If your query has since been resolved to your satisfaction, there is no need to respond to this email. If we don’t hear back from you, we will close your enquiry.

If your query has not been resolved and relates to Customs or Customs Payments, please see below for further information.   

If your query does not concern Customs, please reply by email so that we can answer your enquiry directly.

Customs/Customs Payments: 

If your enquiry relates to an item coming from a country outside of the European Union(EU), including the United Kingdom, the following information may help:

• Due to EU Customs rules, charges apply when you buy goods outside of the EU. The EU Customs regulations have been expanded since July 1st this year. Customs charges are collected by An Post on behalf of Irish Revenue once Irish Customs have determined what tariffs are to be paid.
• If you have checked the status of an inbound item using our online Track & Trace facility, and your item is shown to have been ‘Returned to Sender’, this is due to one of the following reasons:
  • The customs charge wasn't paid on time. Customers are notified of EU customs charges by text/email/post and given 16 days to pay securely online or at their local post office.
  • The required customs declaration made by the Sender was insufficient or invalid according to Customs regulations. Under EU Customs regulations, retailers (or other senders) must provide electronic customs declaration data for every items being posted into the EU. More information on these requirements can be found under the ‘Sending to Ireland from non-EU countries’ section on anpost.com/sending. Unfortunately, An Post cannot amend customs declaration data, so items arriving into Ireland with incomplete data have to be returned.
  • The item (or some of the goods) being sent to you are prohibited or restricted under EU Customs rules. Restricted goods require detailed advance electronic declarations for each item. Prohibited goods are not allowed into the EU. For more information, visit the Revenue website.
  • If your item is shown to have been ‘Returned to Sender’ despite you having already paid the requested customs charge through An Post, please email ecommchargequery@anpost.ie to request a refund of your payment. 

If your customs query remains unresolved, and you need further information, please respond to this email and let us know.

Once again, we apologise for any inconvenience caused and we hope that this information is useful. Please see anpost.com/customs for further information.

Kind regards,

An Post Customer Contact Centre"

Here is a thread to follow on twitter. I think I saw this on another day on this forum, but An Post replied this morning. Here is a perfect example of the shambles that seems to be going on. An Posts reply regarding new customs rules blah blah blah completely contradicted the information on their own website regarding mail from Northern Ireland to Southern Ireland. Great reply by Connect the Dots referring An Post to the information on their own website.

No rush from then on from An Post to add another reply. I would post the link to the thread here but I don't think I have been on this forum long enough to be able to do this. Hopefully someone else can.

I emailed Parcel Motel asking if they could accept outside EU parcels, the bit on the site said "2 years ago" no reply yet, was hoping it might work out.

Anyone know if they do reply to emails? I rarely dealt with them

I haven't recieved the customs number in the post or by email. Tracking is now saying this today. But that could mean it's been sent back? I'll go to my local post office tomorrow to ask if they know what's going on? When I go to the An Post site you need a customs reference as well as the tracking number to pay the customs fee. What do you think?

September 24, 2021, 4:35 pm

Processed through Facility

DUBLIN DELIVERY, IRELAND

Your item was processed through a facility in DUBLIN DELIVERY, IRELAND on September 24, 2021 at 4:35 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination.

September 24, 2021, 4:30 pm

Processed Through Facility

IRELAND

September 17, 2021, 12:17 pm

Departed

DUBLIN, IRELAND

September 16, 2021, 8:47 pm

Departed

CHICAGO, UNITED STATES

September 15, 2021, 5:12 pm

Arrived

CHICAGO, UNITED STATES

September 12, 2021, 10:28 am

Processed Through Regional Facility

CHICAGO IL INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

September 12, 2021, 10:28 am

Arrived at Regional Facility

CHICAGO IL INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

September 8, 2021, 2:27 pm

Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending

CHICAGO, IL 60688 

September 8, 2021

Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS

According to the propaganda pamphlet AnPost dropped into my mailbox they have no choice but to return items without electronic custom data.

And at the end, they then use it to plug AddressPal for UK and US websites. Once could draw conclusion out of the fact that they advertise this as ".. simplifying the custom process considerable".

Sorry, don't know why I quoted Fuzzy up there.

That's actually quite outrageous if they are saying using AddressPal simplifies the process, using the UK version will lead to double VAT charges.

It's really worrying. There's a vast range of items that you will have trouble finding a source for. Now if you find it outside the EU, you have little chance of being able to buy it. It's like we've become North Korea. Just think of our immigrant. Expat and refugee population, English not their first language, trying to interact with their homeland and families. They'll hardly be able to get a postcard from home, never mind a packet. It's down to manpower. It's much cheaper to send stuff back than inspect it on arrival.

Is there any sort of workaround virtual address service that would allow you to import from non-EU to a non-Irish EU address then have forwarded here?

I'd posted here I'd asked Parcel Motel, emailed and tweeted no reply, thought it'd work because it's UPS running it.

Parcel Wizard I think stopped but might give them an tweet

I don't know any others

Computer says no. They're treating it as a packet, no human is looking at it and saying 'its just a document, vat, duty and restriction free". Seriously, did an Post even test this new system and compare its suggested returns to actually justifiable returns. They are supposed to revert to manual €10 handling fee for correct but non scanning post.

I need to get something from SigmaSports.com in the UK. At checkout they are saying the below. I think they use Royal Mail.

Do you think there is still a risk An Post will stop it and return it ?

If my envelope can spend a full week being processed twice a day and God knows whats coming next week its probably happening to thousands of other pieces of mail aswell, no wonder the system is half broken.