Brexit was hailed as an escape from the ‘red tape’ of the EU, however ecommerce businesses are learning that selling into the EU comes with more Brexit red tape than they ever had to deal with before. We asked Bobbie Ttooulis, Group Marketing Director at GFS, to tell us more about how they can help cut through the Brexit red tape with shipping solutions for your website:
At the beginning of 2020, businesses were hit with more customs requirements and unexpected costs. Many found themselves caught out as shipments were rejected at borders because of incomplete or incorrect data. Worse than this, however, was the multitude of parcels, which having got through were then rejected by the customers themselves who got the unwelcome surprise of having to pay duties before they could receive their goods.
Additional duties and taxes are now a requirement for anyone who is selling into the EU, meaning businesses are challenged with ensuring that they are charging their customers the right duties, whilst protecting the customer experience. The best practice to do this is being transparent over any additional fees and show a full cost with duties included at checkout.
The precedent for this has been set by Amazon’s recent announcement that all sellers on Amazon must ensure duties are paid at checkout (Duty Paid) before the parcel is sent, putting the responsibility on the seller to include it in the price.
At the same time, not even the mighty Amazon in partnership with UPS have managed to crack the Brexit red tape – currently the Amazon Partnered Carrier programme with delivery to the EU via UPS remains suspended as they’ve not figured out how to do the paperwork!
Making Additional Duties and Taxes A Seamless Process
The additional duties and taxes required for shipping to the EU are a new challenge that was previously only faced by those selling to the rest of the world. In order to overcome delays at the borders or unhappy customers upon delivery, retailers must ensure they have the right tools in place to make their operations simpler and their customers experience seamless.
That’s why GFS have launched a Brexit Technology Bundle which is complimentary as part of their International Ecommerce Delivery services. As well as technology to cut through the Brexit red tape with paperless trade and smooth returns, GFS Checkout with Duties and Taxes Calculator is a tool to help business calculate the right duties and taxes for selling into the EU.
As well as offering retailers an easy way to give customers a choice of delivery options, GFS Checkout automatically calculates the right duties and taxes for customers when they go to buy. Powered by Avalara, you can be assured that you have the power of the experts combined with the power of the best in ecommerce tech.
Not only does GFS Checkout ensure that retailers have the right fees, businesses have the flexibility to have the customer pay at the checkout (Duties & Taxes Paid) or have them pay at delivery (Delivered At Place), or even have the customer choose between the two options themselves. All this means ecommerce retailers can be fully transparent with customers over any additional costs, protecting the customer experience and their reputation.
GFS’s powerful ecommerce tech combines with GFS International Ecommerce Services, which gives you three tiers of options for confident delivery to 220+ destinations. Contact GFS to talk about how they can help you keep international trading seamless in the face of Brexit red tape.
Get a preview of how GFS technology can help cut through the Brexit red tape
Register to join our webinar on March 23rd to learn how to cut the Brexit red tape. You’ll also get an exclusive preview of GFS ‘Brexit software bundle’ – GFS Checkout with Duties and Tax calculator with GFS Selector and GFS Global Returns Pro to generate paperless customs declarations required with both outbound and inbound shipping.
