There's a couple of very important points not yet raised regarding shipping and invoices.
There are four main distinctly different documents that could be passed from the "sales/accounts" desk to the "picking and packing" desk -
- A picking/packing note (invoice sent separately)
- An itemised receipt (sales receipt with item details - payment has been made already)
- An invoice (payment has not yet been made)
- A Commercial Invoice (for international sales and port of entry Customs inspection) - required whether payment already made or not.
A picking/packing note, or a sales receipt, or an "invoice", is acceptable for same country deliveries only, and for where the seller is NOT a business.
Where the seller is a business and shipping to the same country, they can use any of the above, BUT when shipping internationally, it is law that they include a Commercial Invoice on the outside of the package/carton/crate for the importing country's Customs to asses import duty and tax. Any of the above documents can also be included inside the package. These stipulations are part of the global accord on import and export procedures .... don't say it Madelaine - I know I'm the worst offender on this, I'm just stating what the rules are.
The entire eBid system needs a major revamp, because either the sales receipt, or the invoice, or the commercial invoice MUST include full contact details of the buyer and seller. For the commercial invoice, it is not negotiable or optional that it must also show the telephone numbers of both parties, and their VAT / GST / business registration numbers if they have any. It must also show country of origin and country of manufacture of the goods (they're not always the same places) and it must show the INCO-terms classification code for the product.
Now, I know what you're all going to say about the commercial invoice - that it's not up to eBid to provide the system for printing that, and that no other site does it. I partly agree with the first point (however eBid should be capturing the required data and supplying it for cross-border transactions to allow sellers to comply with the law), and on the second point, all I'll say is "are you sure?"Just because the main sites don't do it, don't assume that no-one does - and if only one does it, then it gives the authorities precedent for enforcing it on all sites - better to be ahead of them, than racing to catch up while they have your site taken offline for not doing it.
Regarding the "normal" invoice - it is an instrument for requesting payment (legal definition) NOT a receipt for something already paid. However it is acceptable (and common) for invoices to be stamped "paid" and sent as receipts. Be sure you comply with marking them paid (I always forget too and no-one has ever complained) as there is an obtuse point of law concerning businesses who send "unpaid" invoice documents after payment has been received - it's covered in the unfair business rules and the extortion rules somewhere, I was told this years ago, it may have changed due to common practice ... but then it's still law for London Hackney cabs to have to carry a bag of straw in the vehicle !
Remember too - on a sales receipt, and on an invoice, and a commercial invoice, if you reference a rate of VAT (in the EU countries including UK) whether inclusive in the total, or broken out as a line item, or per item, your document must show your VAT number - do eBid's do this for you?
For any Limited Company sellers - does your company registration number and registered office address show on eBid's after sale documents?
There's lots more of these considerations to think about - the above is only starting points to address statutory requirements for the various document types - and those points need addressed and fixed BEFORE anything else ... because they are the legal mandatory information requirements.
Niggling and bickering about how to apply this or that postage type or discount, are the least of your worries - especially now with UK and US authorities demanding online auction sites reveal seller turnover to the tax departments.
My vote goes with getting the eBid invoicing system to assist sellers to comply with the legal and regulatory requirements FIRST, then worry about improving the trading practicalities of how the other bits function.
.... and remember - I'm saying that to be helpful, because I'm in the Far East and not affected by most of what I've written above. Whereas almost all of you are in the reverse position to me regarding what's needed in the above points.
Gaz
edited to fix typos
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Originally Posted by gazza
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