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Web firm offers free customs entry service
[ March 17, 2014 // Chris ]Web based customs management system provider, e-customs is allowing low volume users to submit customs declarations free of charge on its Webdecs system. A free service is currently available on the Government Gateway but e-customs says it is offering many features which most international traders and businesses would regard as essential to an efficient operation. For example, there is no need to rekey standing data, and it offers archiving and access to valuable management information.
The free package is is designed for companies with small numbers of export declarations. Option 1 allows companies to submit under five declarations a month at no cost but within that option there is the option to buy credits via PayPal if there is a busy month at a fixed rate per declaration . Option 2 is again on a pay as you go basis using PayPal but is designed for around 15 -25 declarations per month and the rate per entry is lower rate. There is no minimum fee for either option.
Managing director Alun Davies says: “Most smaller businesses are being taken for a ride by the Government Gateway. The service they are receiving has the single merit of being free of charge but it is failing to give them the basic requirements needed to manage a business effectively and in particular it is wasting their time by making them re-key the same information when any half-decent system would retain those fields for re-use as and when needed. This is the chance for smaller businesses to upgrade their procedures to current best practice at no cost; the difference they will see is remarkable.”
E-customs has added further payable options to its Webdecs package and now provides a Designated Export Place (DEP), an External Temporary Storage Facility (ETSF) module for Air Cargo consolidators and a Heathrow/Gatwick Courier module.