Parcelforce Euro Priority = DDP

[zgap111]

See attached image for Parcelforce's Euro Services:

Euro Economy = DDU = Delivered Duty Unpaid
- customer pays clearance & taxes

Euro Priority = DDP = Delivered Duty Paid
- customer prepaid clearance & taxes
- we are not sure why this service exists (DPD hasn't announced such a service)

We will be using the Euro Economy Service,
however... if we did want to use the Euro Priority DDP service...
the online checkout (& invoice) will need to include all charges including tax (assuming it will be the destination country tax rate)... seems complicated!

will Sellerdeck accomodate both ways?

[Josh Barling]

Hello,

Currently there isn't the ability to offer a customer the option to switch between DDU and DDP and then reflect the VAT in the cart and invoice.

You will have to choose one method and configure your VAT settings to match. You can change the VAT settings and therefore are able to cater for each other, but not both at the same time.

We have suggested to choose the method which makes buying as easy as possible for the customer - in my opinion that is DDP.

Thanks. Josh

[zgap111]

I bought something over the weekend and selected DDP... see attached image - they've somehow incorporated the charges in the "GST/VAT" field...

Anyway... with DDP

I thought the tax needs to be at the rate of the destination country? ie it's zero out of the UK but paid for at entry to EU country
- and if this is the case... then for reporting purposes the UK VAT should be separated from the EU ones to avoid paying twice taxes (one to the EU country, and second via VAT Return)?

We're not offering DDP as it is complicated, but it might come up later.

[Josh Barling]

Are you charging 0% VAT or VAT exempt on all invoices outside of the UK?

[zgap111]

For the type of product we sell, we no longer charge VAT to the EU, so it is Nil VAT for all invoices outside of the UK now (for us)

I believe if it's software/service, there should be Tax charged at the destination country's rate... I assume it's done as that type of goods doesn't pass through a physical customs(?)

[Josh Barling]

Ok so from the ecommerce perspective you've got the right setup and you can change the VAT settings to adapt to any future changes.

I've had mixed answers from customers on how they manage VAT outside of Sellerdeck Desktop so I'm not certain which is the best approach.

Based on what I've read the carriers can simplify things for you and the customer using DDP, but I haven't actually been through the process so I'm unsure if that is accurate. I also don't know how much effort it is for DDU, including the EU customer - my understanding is that they will need to fill out a tax claim, which may be a deterrent.

Have you found DDU to be fairly straight forward for yourself?

Thanks, Josh

[zgap111]

Initial EU customer response is the surprise of extra charges... some have cancelled orders because of this, no-one has mentioned forms.

Parcelforce introducing DDP into one of their services is trying to offer a service so the end customer in the EU avoids any clearance hassle etc...
To know what you're paying for "delivered to the door" is nice and we have to consider this option if majority won't order because of this "unknown" value...

DDU - we do receive a orders outside the UK/EU... and those customers expect the extra customs and tax etc... they don't complain, but they are the ones that ask to change the value of the invoice... :I

[Josh Barling]

Initial EU customer response is the surprise of extra charges... some have cancelled orders because of this, no-one has mentioned forms.

Parcelforce introducing DDP into one of their services is trying to offer a service so the end customer in the EU avoids any clearance hassle etc...
To know what you're paying for "delivered to the door" is nice and we have to consider this option if majority won't order because of this "unknown" value...

DDU - we do receive a orders outside the UK/EU... and those customers expect the extra customs and tax etc... they don't complain, but they are the ones that ask to change the value of the invoice... :I

It will still take some time for everything across all areas of change to settle in.

Will be interesting to see what (if anything) changes and what becomes the expected and understood norm.

I would definitely be interested to hear from you on that point.

Thanks, Josh

[Air-Tech]

To the OP & not directly related to Sellerdeck;

The EPH/DDU & EPB/DDP is really causing us some issues - I can't even imagine how DDP could be set up, so we will probably go with DDU much like yourself, a few of things to be aware of if you are not already;


"Old" EPB has a fixed list of by road & by air destinations which EPH doesn't appear to have. We ship items that are too dense for x-ray scanning & were consequently only shipped to EPB by road destinations (that's most to be fair). These goods cannot now be shipped unless Parcelforce can provide a by road / by air list for EPH & it's something that wasn't previously available.

There are some significant rate diffrences between EPB/EPH to certain destinations - Sweden +60% for example.

Destination zoning seems to have been binned as the price changes relating to Brexit appear to have split the existing zones up, so the "international Annex" may be a thing of the past.


I've been trying to get some clarification on all of the above from parcelforce since the turn of the year & do date have nothing..

[zgap111]

Parcelforce are really bad... our accounts manager has been non existent for over 2 years... everytime when we call them and they say, "ask your accounts manager"...
- DDU doesn't exist in the Incoterms 2010 or 2020...

I've asked them for an updated price list... no response

Last one wasn't even a list... just a spreadsheet...
I found errors with when checking against their invoices - I managed to unlock their spreadsheet and find the error, they never acknowledged nor re-send a "fixed" version...

We only used EPH as EPB can't handle PO Box address... and EPH can...
The rates for both were fixed lists of parcels upto 30kgs : with EPB and EPH values were mostly the same, some were only a few pounds extra for EPH]

X-Ray / Air - randomly some parcels are returned because someone somewhere thought it was batteries(!?)

We only use their Global Express (goes via FEDEX), with DPD taking all the EU (Incoterms DAP)

DDU and DDP co-existing looks impossible with any software I've seen so far.