royal mail give the chinese a helping hand

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nick mercedes

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"Royal Mail and Alibaba deal helps Chinese sellers ship to UK

Royal Mail and Alibaba are cooperating further to link Chinese exporters directly to UK online shoppers.

They already work together because Royal Mail have a shopfront on Alibaba’s Tmall. AliExpress, Alibaba Group’s global retail marketplace for consumers, will offer Chinese exporters new Royal Mail shipping solutions. Delivery will be within two weeks.

The press release says that both AliExpress merchants in China and online shoppers in the UK will benefit from the new shipping solutions. Upon purchase and selection of the Royal Mail delivery option, items will be airfreighted to the UK to enter Royal Mail’s network for quick and reliable delivery through its Tracked 48 or First Class services.

Royal Mail will also offer tracking information to merchants on the AliExpress platform by supplying 2D barcode labels for AliExpress shipments."

I wonder if Chinapost will be doing anything to help UK businesses sell into China?
 
Potentially this could be quite a good thing, a UK company getting the mail business and hopefully tighter controls on Import duty and VAT.

Chinapost are complicit in VAT import fraud into the UK by aiding under declaration of goods value.

This all comes down to how the Royal Mail and HMRC handle the tax issues.
 
Really RM shoud police the under declaring thing at point of entry.

I fear it will be business as usual re the above, but a faster service.
 
Compared with the usual 5 weeks it is.

But will it put an end to the aliexpress free shipping?

I guess if it provides a more reliable service the answer is quite possibly.

It gives a choice as I see it.

Amazon and eBay are doing their best to promote Chinese sellers so I guess Alibaba need to step up to take them on.

The world is becoming a smaller place when it comes to business, shipping and communication, at a certain point you need to realise your business needs to adapt or die. These are just constant small adaptations.
 
Is undervaluing such a bad thing though?

I'm talking in the eyes of the customer, a few car things I've bought from there have been undervalued, making my customs charges cheaper.

Genuinely intrigued as to the bigger picture for this
 
Is undervaluing such a bad thing though?

I'm talking in the eyes of the customer, a few car things I've bought from there have been undervalued, making my customs charges cheaper.

Genuinely intrigued as to the bigger picture for this

Bad? Well it depends on your perspective.

To ship anything internationally requires production of a commercial invoice of the value at which the goods are sold.

Presenting an artificially reduced invoice is fraud. But it saves you money and helps the shipper sell more product.

Also if any level of insurance is being purchased on the shipped goods it will be based on the declared value (the commercial invoice), not what you paid for it if it goes missing.

Ultimately though it's fraud.
 
Amazon and eBay are doing their best to promote Chinese sellers so I guess Alibaba need to step up to take them on.

Alibaba are bigger than amazon and ebay combined, I would have thought that it's more a case of RM chasing Alibaba than much else.
 
Alibaba are bigger than amazon and ebay combined, I would have thought that it's more a case of RM chasing Alibaba than much else.

Quite possible.

The king is dead, long live the king.

BABZ media is an indication of what's happening to eBay/Amazons domestic sellers so maybe RM are considering the bigger picture.

RM are also changing their business services a great deal, so the system that allowed BABZ to under declare their volumes is being phased out and being replaced by a system that requires each item to be logged.
 
Quite possible.

The king is dead, long live the king.

BABZ media is an indication of what's happening to eBay/Amazons domestic sellers so maybe RM are considering the bigger picture.

RM are also changing their business services a great deal, so the system that allowed BABZ to under declare their volumes is being phased out and being replaced by a system that requires each item to be logged.

Trouble is the Chinese can sell things for 99p inc shipping and make a living, while the UK sellers only managed it through fraud.

That said realistically all the cheapo (99p-£1.49) phone case and usb lead sellers etc are at it in some way, either bumming the post office or using 20p airmail from China or using fullfilment warehouses and pretend vat numbers.

And it's not like ebay and amazon don't know how it all works either.
 
Red C220 said:
Also if any level of insurance is being purchased on the shipped goods it will be based on the declared value (the commercial invoice), not what you paid for it if it goes missing

That's very true. Although say, paying with PayPal would cover the amount initially paid would it not?

Admittedly I purchased £700 worth of lights from China (not all from Alibaba) and the combined charges mounted up to under £60, both invoices well under value. Should anything of happened I'd of been pretty gutted, I didn't think of it that way


nick mercedes said:
Well yes, how can UK companies compete if foreign companies can bring stuff in free of tax and duty? What happens when we rely on imports, but get no import tax?

I completely agree... but I'm mainly on about specific items made there which is available there at the base price- if said items were purchased from a business here they'd of only sources it from the same contact over there, rebranded and charged a premium on top of the price

--

It's not like our country doesn't get enough money from us as it is via other ways, but that's a subject for another day

Also, slightly OT... I thought TNT was buying out Royal Mail?
 
I completely agree... but I'm mainly on about specific items made there which is available there at the base price- if said items were purchased from a business here they'd of only sources it from the same contact over there, rebranded and charged a premium on top of the price

But a proper business would have paid the VAT and duty - compensation for the damage that imports do to us as a nation.

It's not like our country doesn't get enough money from us as it is via other ways, but that's a subject for another day

Also, slightly OT... I thought TNT was buying out Royal Mail?

I think Fedex bought TNT?
 
nick mercedes said:
But a proper business would have paid the VAT and duty - compensation for the damage that imports do to us as a nation. I think Fedex bought TNT?

They'd of paid the VAT and duty but with bulk buying wouldn't the Chinese seller of done the same with the bulk invoice as they would to a sole buyer like myself? Does that actually go on or as it is a commercial order would the seller then invoice it truly?

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Not sure, I watched a documentary on it and thought it mentioned in there about TNT buying them out, this was a while back though
 

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