Ebay in Finland

[sweet_malcolm]

At present I live in Kent in the United Kingdom, I was a power seller on eBay for seven years, I built up some good contacts in china & the Philippines, I developed a good knowledge of selling and dealing with the public, even across the globe. I imported a lot of stock. I did not sell branded goods as many other sellers do. I had a good turnover last year.. With minimal overheads. Unfortunately, I had a personal bereavement and had to take time off to recover, I was in shock for 4 months. I bounced back eventually. I was thinking I would like to live in Finland or Sweden for a change of scenery. I have heard some good things about those countries. As I am an online seller, it does not really matter where I live in Europe.
You people seem to have some good advice. Would I manage ok there with customs and imports.?
Is there an eBay Finland ? Will I have to be able to read or speak Finish to use the site, or will I have to use the Uk site from there. If I need to understand Finish then maybe I find a Finish partner to work alongside on a 50/50 basis. I am a naturalised Brit. Any advice would be well received.







Humanity is a ocean,If a few drops of the ocean are dirty,the ocean does not become dirty.
we have to be the change we want to see in the world.

[irnbru]

www.huuto.net

[sweet_malcolm]

I see that,is that Finlands premier online site? looks interesting. i need a translator. oops!!

[SteveS]

There is no Finnish ebay so you just use the regular UK one. I've been buying and selling (mostly buying) for the last 7 years from here.

The post is fast, efficient and relatively good prices from here. You can check out the prices yourself from http://www.posti.fi (also in English).

If you get stuff from suppliers outside the EU then the stuff will enter the country via Tulliposti (the customs post office). You will need to pick it up from them yourself and pay some duty and tax on it.

Good luck..

[sweet_malcolm]

appreciate that Stevie !! most welcome

[Pursuivant]

Putting your stuff up on huuto.net isn't complicated at all. I get "funky stuff" like russian cameras and then flog them off. The best deal now is you can buy online the postage so you print the packet card you just glue it on and chuck the packet at the post office.

I think I'm registered in ebay.co.uk, but I do most of my stuff via ebay.de... then when I'm drunk I go make mistakes on ebay.com... but then again I'm the only guy in the office with surfing elvis tie-dye shirt

[sweet_malcolm]

Pursuivant . I see there is ebay denmark then ( if thats it) guess thats in danish. sounds like the postal service is good in Finland, thats a huge bonus.
saves a lot of hastle both ends. yea i fancy leaving here for a time. the only thing i will miss is watching spurs climb back on top. ha . if only.
still there playing newcastle tommorrow at 1.30pm. should be good game. anyway i diverse. i think i have no problem selling from there. just a case of finding a place and moving. ( sounds easy but its complicated no doubt) think i sell off my remaining stock here and start afresh.

[Pursuivant]

Naah, thats the German ebay... usually I scout for stuff through the It fr es as well... sometimes some stuff is peculiar unwanted in certain areas whereas somewhere else people pay silly prices for it. I'm half mind starting to flog off moomin kitch to the crazy japanese...

[Karhunkoski]

You're welcome to bring your ebaying here!

Most of the time when I try to buy anything off ebay.co.uk, the postage prices are along the line of:

UK: £2.99
Finland: £34.99

I sometimes wonder if people even realise that Finland is in the EU

[sweet_malcolm]

Pursuivant. i once sold a beanie to a chinese guy in beijing. i didnt tell him it was made there, i made sure that the chinese lable was not with it. on reflection that beanie had travelled more that superman. 8000 miles to my home, then another 8,000 back to china, 16,000 mile round trip ha ha. i was surprised he acutualy got it. as the postal system is not the same as here. wink wink. i have sold to japanese a few times. systems ok there. thats an idea!! cant imagine trying to understand the japanese website. i like the japanese. but the guys sound like there shouting at you. quite scary and puts you off. the need to succeed for young guys there makes it number one suicide country..think i stay in europe.

[sweet_malcolm]

postage prices across europe are getting out of order. they charge far to much. amazon encourage sellers to offer free postage here. blimy.. thats a chunk

[raamv]

The problem with your model might not be the selling bit..but more of a competing bit..
First thing is the Customs: Customs are pretty strict and demanding at times..
http://www.tulli.fi/en/index.jsp
The thing about importing and storing good here is pretty painful if you dont know the ways around it..
e.g. I spent a few days dealing with a purchase from the US for my company and They asked all kinds of information that needs to be faxed..
Otherwise, All I got was a form that said 2 choices: Fax that form filled or come and pick the goods up.
But then I needed essential company information that needs to be filled , declaration of goods from person/company sending it, and actual invoice of the good purchased..
All faxed or taken to post office at the airport.
After all that, I still dont know how much they will be charging for Tulli ( As I told them to treat it as a business to business case ).

On top of all that, you need to declare your income here to Vero(Tax man ) ( www.vero.fi) for the things that you sell on ebay etc..and keep track of all the VAT information etc etc for which you probably need to have some sort of self-owned company ( Toiminimi or Oy )

[sweet_malcolm]

thanks for that posting. i think i will import in small amounts. i have noticed that DHL seal boxes after inspection and sign a declaration on the seal. its rare for customs to open a box, they usualy just check for drugs or similar ( something i would never ever consider as i hate drugs) i would just pay the duty on the DHL invoice. ? whats the v.a.t there?.... 15% here. i payed 17% on cost of goods including shipping on a 20ft container last year from china by sea ( its a cheek charging V.A.T On shipping too) duty on goods depends on what the goods are. in my case it was baseball hats, that was duty free here, just paid the v.a.t. . i think single boxes is the road to go down for now.

[SteveS]

I have imported lots of motorcycle stuff from the US and Japan, I have always found Tulliposti to be painless and quick and easy. If you turn up with the invoice for the goods you are good to go after 10 minutes normally. On these types of goods I normally pay a duty of 3.6%, with VAT of 22% then applied on top of that.

People in the UK normally ask more than double for postage outside of the UK as they are ignorant of the true cost. On many occasions sellers have refunded me half the postage when they actually find out the real cost at the post office. Usually they don't though

There is definitely a market selling Moomin crap to the Japanese. I used to buy cups, mugs and plates for around €10 each and then sell them on for €15-20. Everytime I went to the post office I would also pick up one of those moomin coin sets, they were very popular.

Huuto net is great (and improves your Finnish) but it has the crappiest search engine I know. Grr...

Oh, and don't worry about UK television... (we have ways of making it work)!!

[Karhunkoski]

The thing about importing and storing good here is pretty painful if you dont know the ways around it..
e.g. I spent a few days dealing with a purchase from the US for my company and They asked all kinds of information that needs to be faxed..
*snip*
But then I needed essential company information that needs to be filled , declaration of goods from person/company sending it, and actual invoice of the good purchased..

Yup, but to be fare that's quite normal, not specific to Finland, it is because the US is outside of our trade bloc. I used to do a couple of million € from EU to Poland (before they joined the EU), and the paperwork/certification requirement was a mountain. Then they joined the EU and life became simple overnight.