E-commerce buyers and sellers from sites such as eBay or Amazon.com can breath easy. Israel Postal Company Ltd. today announced that it never intended to include its package service at this stage. Most packages arriving from Amazon.com, DealExtreme, eBay, and other deliveries on this service will continue unchanged and no fee will be charged to release the packages from customs.
Currently, Israelis can import items via Israel Post or via any international delivery and forwarding company, tax free, provided that the items meet the following criteria: the package does not contained banned objects, tobacco, or alcohol; the item does not require permission from the authorities; the value of the contents does not exceed $50 (or $75 worth of textiles); the contents are clearly marked, including details of costs (value of the contents and shipping).
Israel Post says that the change was necessary because the current manual procedure is obsolete and there is no computerized listing of each item as required by customs for items imported by all other companies. This affects the ability to monitor the substance of the item and its handling.
In the near future, as part of the second stage of the plan to expand computerization consolidation, it will also apply to parcels coming from overseas by Israel Post's regular international service, but not on items arriving by international package service.
Therefore, the release of item imported via Israel Post's regular packages service which meet the conditions listed above, will involve a NIS 34.80 fee, including VAT. The fee is based on the cost of the procedure, including the cost of using a customs agent by Israel Post. The fee is less than the market norm.
By contrast, the uniform computerized process will not apply to Israel Post's international package service, so anyone importing items via this service will not be required to pay the customs release fee.
Most orders made via the Internet from companies such as Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY), and DealExtreme are delivered via the packages service. Some international delivery companies do not charge the addressee for items that meet the conditions for release from customs, because the fee is included in the delivery charge in the country of origin.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 15, 2010
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