Buyer doesn't want to pay customs charges. Please help!

[choo_girl123]

How odd ... after no communication from the buyer, and after my post this morning, I received this message:Hello again. Apologies for the lapse in communication, but I've been out of town on business. Thank you kindly for contacting eBay to clarify the situation. I've done the same from my end and explained my grievance to the folks at eBay UK Ltd who sympathise with my aversion to paying a huge customs fee on a second-hand item when I've recently purchased a Vuitton trunk from My Poupette costing $3,850 and paid no extra charge other than shipping and insurance. They agree that it is entirely the seller's decision whether to be cooperative with their buyers in this regard or not and suggest that I either pay the customs charge, which represents an unjustly hefty percentage of the sale price, or otherwise demand a refund once Royal Mail ships it back to you. I have chosen the latter for the simple reason that I cannot budget for this price addendum and will not do so for a second-hand item irrespective of whether it's been used or not. I thank you for your understanding and wish you well.

- imperialion

I am absolutely furious!! First of all, he needs to stop referring to my item as "second-hand" it is a brand-new Chanel piece, shipped in the original box with the sales receipt. How is that second hand? And my poupette can do whatever they want with their items; perhaps they are a large enough entity that a loss due to improperly insuring the item doesn't matter to them. Grrrrr ....

 

[alfiebach]

i'm so mad for you to.....what a*** hole.....any way it is held for 21 days.....but what i find amazing is his letter to tell you he has paid nearly $4000 on a trunk, but cant spend a few pounds on customs......like its your fault....i dont think ebay, can make comments on customs, he is just being a pain.....give me his address lol, i will break the piggy bank, and go round with the boys he he x

 

[choo_girl123]

i'm so mad for you to.....what a*** hole.....any way it is held for 21 days.....but what i find amazing is his letter to tell you he has paid nearly $4000 on a trunk, but cant spend a few pounds on customs......like its your fault....i dont think ebay, can make comments on customs, he is just being a pain.....give me his address lol, i will break the piggy bank, and go round with the boys he he x

You are too funny
BTW - I didn't even *think* about it that way - that he's paid thousands for a trunk but can't scrape together the money for customs. Now I'm even angrier!!

 

[alfiebach]

You are too funny
BTW - I didn't even *think* about it that way - that he's paid thousands for a trunk but can't scrape together the money for customs. Now I'm even angrier!!

ush: sorry, should not have mentioned it......he knows exactly what he is doing, and i cant see him getting a trunk through without customs seeing it.....it just not fair to you.....

 

[pot_luck]

, how do you keep so much information in your little head it amazes me...unless you have a head and no body......you know about everything

I call Karmen the thread killer. Once she says what she has to say, there is nothing left to say.

 

[adoptastray]

You know, I'd love to sell to international buyers but this situation is exactly why I can't. I don't want to undervalue and thus have to under insure.

 

[appleye]

If there is no paperwork, customs just pulls a number out of the air for the value of the item. This is what the hangup might be. Ask the buyer what value customs put on the item. They may have taken your value and added their own.

The upped value is usually appealable with proof of price.

According to UK customs it is 15% VAT plus 4 % of the total price including shipping, this percentage varies depending on the item, for instance with shoes they asked me what the sole was made out of and what height they were

 

[LouiseyPeasey]

it is entirely the seller's decision whether to be cooperative with their buyers in this regard

This is so twisted. Translation:

• it is entirely the seller's decision - correct
• whether to be cooperative with their buyers = "to do something that is both illegal and financially risky for the seller"
• in this regard = "in helping the buyer circumvent his responsibility for taxes assessed by his country on imported goods that he purchased."

Grrr.

 

[aimtree]

I don't get how ebay can say it's up to sellers to cooperate or not. they should tell buyers that sellers have to protect themselves and follow the law and ebay policy.
I agree about the customs thing, how can you pay thousands for one thing and then not pay a small amount to customs.

It all sounds to me like she changed her mind and it just using the customs as a way to get out of the sale.

 

[AmourCouture]

Where is the item now? Could you just accept it back and refund minus all of your fees? That would cost the buyer more than the customs!
I would be so sick of this buyer that I would take back my bag, refund minus fees because buyer did not read or do their research, and welcome the negative because I could fight ebay over the feedback since the buyer was asking to partake in illegal activity.

 

[FashionStudent]

Im so sorry to hear about this, ive been following the story/thread for some time. I will definately put a disclaimer on the bottom of the item description. Not that that seams to work though.

 

[choo_girl123]

According to UK customs it is 15% VAT plus 4 % of the total price including shipping, this percentage varies depending on the item, for instance with shoes they asked me what the sole was made out of and what height they were

Really? How weird is that? Are you charged more for higher heels?!?

 

[choo_girl123]

This is so twisted. Translation:

• it is entirely the seller's decision - correct
• whether to be cooperative with their buyers = "to do something that is both illegal and financially risky for the seller"
• in this regard = "in helping the buyer circumvent his responsibility for taxes assessed by his country on imported goods that he purchased."

Grrr.

I agree that *bay should have told him what the policy is, and that's what they told me - that it's there policy that the form be filled out accurately. Who knows what they actually told him v. what *he* said they told him. I will post my reply and his reply and my reply shortly. It's like the never ending saga!!

 

[choo_girl123]

Where is the item now? Could you just accept it back and refund minus all of your fees? That would cost the buyer more than the customs!
I would be so sick of this buyer that I would take back my bag, refund minus fees because buyer did not read or do their research, and welcome the negative because I could fight ebay over the feedback since the buyer was asking to partake in illegal activity.

Believe me - I would ecstatically refund his money if only I could get my item back. Unfortunately, it's still be held hostage by Customs in the UK.

Interestingly, I got a message from *bay today reminding me to leave feedback for the transaction b/c I only have 13 days left to leave fb. Does this mean that after 13 days, he can't leave me fb either? Also, the listing says I only have 13 days to open a case (to report a problem with the transaction). Is he held to the same timeframe?

 

[bellacherie]

How odd ... after no communication from the buyer, and after my post this morning, I received this message:Hello again. Apologies for the lapse in communication, but I've been out of town on business. Thank you kindly for contacting eBay to clarify the situation. I've done the same from my end and explained my grievance to the folks at eBay UK Ltd who sympathise with my aversion to paying a huge customs fee on a second-hand item when I've recently purchased a Vuitton trunk from My Poupette costing $3,850 and paid no extra charge other than shipping and insurance. They agree that it is entirely the seller's decision whether to be cooperative with their buyers in this regard or not and suggest that I either pay the customs charge, which represents an unjustly hefty percentage of the sale price, or otherwise demand a refund once Royal Mail ships it back to you. I have chosen the latter for the simple reason that I cannot budget for this price addendum and will not do so for a second-hand item irrespective of whether it's been used or not. I thank you for your understanding and wish you well.

- imperialion

I am absolutely furious!! First of all, he needs to stop referring to my item as "second-hand" it is a brand-new Chanel piece, shipped in the original box with the sales receipt. How is that second hand? And my poupette can do whatever they want with their items; perhaps they are a large enough entity that a loss due to improperly insuring the item doesn't matter to them. Grrrrr ....

Unbelieveable! I would be mad too. Make sure you keep all this info on file and deduct your shipping fees and a restocking fee if you decide to refund this lunatic.