“Pay Customer VAT “PC-VAT” required” Orders FAQ

Effective September 17, 2019 00:00 UTC, certain Germany-bound orders with order value greater than or equal to $140USD may be required to utilize one of the acceptable shipping carriers or WishPost logistics channels that offer support to pay Value Added Tax (VAT) on behalf of customers. All affected orders will be indicated to merchants with a “Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) required” flags in the Merchant Dashboard.

Starting November 12, 2019 00:00 UTC, in an effort to clarify definition and prevent misinterpretation, affected Germany-bound orders will be marked with the newly-named “Pay Customer VAT “PC-VAT” required” flags in Merchant Dashboard, replacing the above-noted “Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) required” flags.

This FAQ walks merchants through some commonly-asked questions about the “Pay Customer VAT “PC-VAT” required” orders.

What are the acceptable shipping carriers for non-WishPost merchants?

For non-WishPost merchants, please select one of the following shipping carriers to fulfill affected orders:

• DHL
• FedEx
• UPS

What are the acceptable WishPost logistics channels for WishPost merchants?

If you are required to ship via WishPost, please utilize one of the following WishPost logistics channels to fulfill affected orders:

• SF E-Parcel Registered Mail
• Y-Express - General Cargo
• Y-Express - Special Cargo
• YW Air Express - General Cargo
• YW Air Express - Special Cargo

Does this PC-VAT requirement apply for German-bound orders that are shipped from within the European Union?

Starting November 14, 2019 1:40AM UTC, this PC-VAT requirement does not apply for certain Germany-bound orders released after this time that are shipped from within the European Union (EU). Please note that starting November 14, 2019 1:40AM UTC, an order may be initially flagged as “Pay Customer VAT “PC-VAT” required” when it is released to the merchant for fulfillment. However, once the merchant updates the order’s shipping information and selects one of the following EU countries as the “Origin Country/Region”, the PC-VAT flag and requirement will be removed from the order immediately after the order is marked as “shipped” by the merchant:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

What are the API-related changes that merchants should be aware of?

Starting November 12, 2019 00:00 UTC, ERPs should prepare to intake the following new API field, which will co-exist with the previously-launched requires_delivered_duty_paid field for three months before the latter is deprecated in February 2020:

pay_customer_vat_required (This is True when it is a “Pay Customer VAT “PC-VAT” required” order, and False when it is not).

ERPs should complete integration of the above new field as soon as possible, as the previously-launched requires_delivered_duty_paid field will be deprecated in February 2020.

Merchants should confirm whether the ERP they work with has intaken the above new API field.

The following API endpoints will be affected:

• api/v2/order
• api/v2/order/multi-get