Cafepress Labelling - Will they ever get it right

[Ulkosh]

Well Volume 3 has arrived.

CORRECTLY LABELLED!

maybe things are starting to work.

[*Starstuff*]

Thanks for the clarification, mandragora!

Hi Starstuff,

VAT is value added tax, in German "Umsatzsteuer" or "Mehrwertsteuer". In the case of imported goods, it is called "Einfuhrumsatzsteuer".

[*Starstuff*]

@Jan: Yes, I informed Jaclyn as well, she is aware of the problem.
@Andrew_Swallow: Bankruptcy is the right word
@mandragora: I am sort of confused what VAT means now. If it is the German "Zollgebuehren", we don't need to pay those for books (I checked). We only need to pay "Einfuhrgebuehren". Sorry, my vocabulary is not that strong in this area.

It's not just import duties, it's also the different VAT tax rates. In Germany, VAT for books is 7 percent, while general VAT is 19 percent. Makes a difference of 12 percent in VAT to be paid (in addition to import duties) if the packages are labelled wrong.

[Andrew_Swallow]

Glad to hear that it worked out for you, Starstuff. It's generally best to go through Jaclyn since she's in touch a much higher level at CP. Granted that books are a very tiny fraction of CP's business, the more time eaten up by upper level employees, the sooner the issue might get fixed. Oddly, it seemed to have been for quite a while and only in the past few months has become a problem again.

Jan

I suspect that someone has to enter a setting when the order is accepted or a hand written note has to be sent to the person who prints the addresses.

From the Cafepress replies there is a very naive manager who thinks he is working in a free trade area. The EU is a managed trade area. 'Managed' being a euphemism for win the trade war by sabotaging the Americans (and Japanese) when ever possible. Europe has a large fashion industry so T-shirts deliberately have a 'drive them into bankruptcy' level of import duties.

[Jan]

Glad to hear that it worked out for you, Starstuff. It's generally best to go through Jaclyn since she's in touch a much higher level at CP. Granted that books are a very tiny fraction of CP's business, the more time eaten up by upper level employees, the sooner the issue might get fixed. Oddly, it seemed to have been for quite a while and only in the past few months has become a problem again.

Jan

[*Starstuff*]

I actually wrote to Cafepress about this, informing them about the trouble their labeling was causing. This was their reply:

I would be happy to assist you with this. I have taken a look into
this information for you and see on the certificate of origin books
will fall under Apparel, Ceramics and Miscellaneous. This is because
books falls under Miscellaneous items. I hope this information helps.

If there is anything else I can do for you please let me know.

Afterwards I pointed out to them that they should consider a different label for at least international shipments, because customs just gets confused easily. That was the reply after that:

Thank you for the suggestion. I will be sure it gets passed along to a member of the appropriate department.

We are always looking for ways to improve our products and services and do appreciate you taking the time to write us.

I hope they really do something because as of right now I am hesitant to order anything else.

At least my biggest issue was resolved: german customs has now charged me the appropriate 15 Euros for my last shipment and not the previously demanded 117

[Jan]

Ulkosh, even though it didn't cost you this time, please be sure to let Jaclyn know so she can pass it on to her execs at CP. They need to know.

Jan

[Ulkosh]

Well my replacements arrived, labelled as apparel AGAIN and at $80 - somehow customs didn't take an interest this time. Thank Goodness.

My early packages were labelled correctly its since aboyt Vol 13 that i've had problems, i've told them over and Over and OVER but they don't seem to listen.

I REALLY hope everybody else's problems work out over this - its really not good enough on Cafepress' part.

Thank goodness then for Jaclyn.

[CeeBeeUK]

Fair enough ... all mine have come labelled as "Apparel/Software" right from the start. Fortunately, if I have only ordered a single script book it falls beneath the UK's limit for imposition of a customs charge so it has only once been an issue (when I ordered something else at the same time pushing it over the limit).

I didn't realise that some were labelled correctly. That only makes it worse.

Mine have always been apparel/ceramics, weird!

And I also only order single books, so generally have been fine. Until CafePress marked a replacement book as being valued at $65!

[Garibaldi's Hair]

That would be a possibility if *all* overseas shippings were labelled wrong. That's not the case, however, so it can't be due to the labelling system per se.

Fair enough ... all mine have come labelled as "Apparel/Software" right from the start. Fortunately, if I have only ordered a single script book it falls beneath the UK's limit for imposition of a customs charge so it has only once been an issue (when I ordered something else at the same time pushing it over the limit).

I didn't realise that some were labelled correctly. That only makes it worse.

[*Starstuff*]

I second mandragora: my first two shipments were labeled correctly and I didn't have any problems with the import tax. For some reason they must've changed something (or somebody?) around March because then it started to go wrong.

Has someone actually told them they're doing it wrong? I just started to wonder ... I have only contacted Jaclyn about it because I knew that in case of trouble she was the one to get a hold of. But maybe it would be good to tell Cafepress how many of us had trouble because of their mistakes.

EDIT ...:::... Just read Ulkosh's post on page one regarding my thought on informing Cafepress.

To be honest, I don't think they do label things "wrong". I just think that their labelling system is too restrictive and not specific enough when it comes to things going overseas. They did start off as a print to order t-shirt operation as I understand ... therefore their initial shipping crates would always have had "Apparel" in them.

That would be a possibility if *all* overseas shippings were labelled wrong. That's not the case, however, so it can't be due to the labelling system per se.

[Garibaldi's Hair]

To be honest, I don't think they do label things "wrong". I just think that their labelling system is too restrictive and not specific enough when it comes to things going overseas. They did start off as a print to order t-shirt operation as I understand ... therefore their initial shipping crates would always have had "Apparel" in them.

I imagine within the USA there are no problems with this, and it has just never been updated to suit resolve these issues once and for all. And if the JMS books are a small enough part of their annual product turnover, the impetus to change it possibly isn't large enough for them to get off their keesters and get on with it.