My CL shoes have been seized by customs...

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Lady Vee

Lady Vee

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Aug 8, 2008
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#1
...pls any advice UK girls? They want £75 - $140. :crybaby:

The story is on the thread I started "can anyone walk in laponos".

I have started this thread for advice, as after the weekend I am not sure anyone will check the initial posting.

1) Has anyone ever got their money back from customs?
2) I specifically told the seller to lable as "gift" as this has always got shoes through in the past, in fact, all purchases. I am now told the insurance is what made them open it and she should have lied about the value???
3) Why do any UK girls buy from the US if this happens so often (which is what the parcel firm told me)
4) Does anyone want a pair of 37 patent laponos for a ludicrous sum of money, due to getting them at a fair price, being stuffed by the exchange rate and losing an extra £30 and now an extra £75.

Seriously has this happened to anyone and is there anything I can do or am I just the proud owner of the worlds most expensive shoe?

Help appreciated - advice on this thread, any commiseration from my buddies (or laughs of "you fool") on my posting.
 
#2
1) If you've been charged the correct amount based on the value of the shoes, you will not get your money back from customs. Sorry.

2) A lot of sellers wont put a lower value on the package because of insurance. Should the package get lost the seller will only be refunded what the package was insured for, while the buyer will have the option of filing a PP claim and get a full refund, which will mean that the seller risks being out both the money and the shoes if they mark the package incorrectly. With that being said, the chances of the package getting lost are pretty slim, though, and in my experience most sellers wont mind marking the package as a low value gift (although I understand the predicament, I simply don't buy from the ones that wont. I have yet to have a package gone missing) It's important to note that this is not the seller's fault, as the buyer is responsible for all customs fees and duties to their country.

3) Because CLs are worth it ;)

4) At least where I'm from, you have the option of not accepting the package and it'll be returned to the seller. If I were you, and you don't want the shoes anymore, I'd contact the seller and explain the situation and ask if they'll accept a return (you'll be responsible for shipping costs, of course) Next time try to ask the seller how they'll mark the package before you buy, or get a pair off ebay.co.uk so that you wont have to pay customs fees. :flowers:
 
#3
How soon do they charge you customs fees? I just ordered from Luisaviaroma.com, a site based out of Italy (I am in the US), and received my package on August 15th with no mention of duties or customs fees. They would have made me pay those before delivering the package to me, no?
 
#4
It really sucks but everyone outside of the USA that orders from the USA is almost always struck with a big customs fee. It's against the law for anyone to lie on a custom form and technically since you bought it, it's not a gift. If the seller declared a lowered value for insurance on the item and the item got lost, all blame would go to the seller. Seller would be out of money & the shoes. Buyer could always file in a dispute for their money back. Hope you understand.
 
#5
Totally understand. Thx Keya for answering and all the time that took. Meg pls don't worry sounds like yours got through fine, they wont give them to you until you pay, and obviously some are luckier than others, really happy you didn't get any probs, don't worry. And Evol everything you say is right, and I haven't for one moment thought my seller was at fault except will be slightly peeved if she never wrote gift as requested. But as you say, they were not a gift.

I would never hold her responsible, she has been lovely. We all tend to ask sellers to put gift cos even though it is "lying" we get so stung by taxes and most sellers are happy to do this. In my case I seem to be one of the unlucky ones, I will have to pay and now have overpriced shoes that I could have gone into CL and tried on and bought with a nice CL bag in the right size. It was a big shock when letter arrived as I have had a nightmare from start to finish (as per my other thread) and this is my first ever pair of CL's. Everyone else's experiences of wonderment at their first pair kind of made me think my experience would be the same.

I will get over it, it's just money not life or death, but have to say am just pretty down today. Sorry it wasn't happy news, especially as I'd fake tanned my legs to accept the package yesterday and post my pics on this forum of my overjoyed lapono-ness without having pasty white legs! Only to have tanned legs and a nice bill today. and no shoes.
 
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#6
i paid customs on my activas, i think i paid 90 or 100 quid. it's just part of the buying process. if the buyer isn't someone you know then they are taking a huge risk by lying about the value of the package and it's illegal to do so. you shouldn't expect a seller to be willing to do this.

if you buy from the states expect to pay customs. that's just the way it goes.


i think you'd find more stories of girls being hit with customs fees then girls escaping fees




ps. they haven't been "seized". all goods are subject to customs when entering the country, it's standard shipping procedure.
 
#7
^ITA - you always need to factor in around 30% on top of the purchase price in duty. Then if you have a generous seller and they get through customs it's a nice bonus. Marking the item as a gift only means that the cost of shipping isn't included in calculating duty - it's the declared and/or insured value that dictates duty
 
#8
sara999 said:
i paid customs on my activas, i think i paid 90 or 100 quid. it's just part of the buying process. if the buyer isn't someone you know then they are taking a huge risk by lying about the value of the package and it's illegal to do so. you shouldn't expect a seller to be willing to do this.

if you buy from the states expect to pay customs. that's just the way it goes.

i think you'd find more stories of girls being hit with customs fees then girls escaping fees

ps. they haven't been "seized". all goods are subject to customs when entering the country, it's standard shipping procedure.
Click to expand...

Sara said it well.

I would not mark an item as a gift if I had sold it through Ebay. I feel that it's dishonest for the buyer to expect me to lie especially when it's against the law to do so. If the package gets lost, insurance is my only recourse.

No matter how nice a potential buyer is, I always ask: who is responsible if the package gets lost and I had marked it with a low value? Is the buyer willing to accept the responsibility and loss? Or am I supposed to refund the buyer the full amount knowing that she/he had asked me to declare a lower value hence I would not be covered by insurance?

Should I risk a potential mess simply because a buyer wants to save money on customs? My answer is a straight NO!

If a buyer is not willing to accept customs fees, then I would not sell the item. If the buyer insists on not accepting the item and it's sent back to me, I'll file a complaint with both Ebay and Paypal as my legal recourse.

I'm sorry that your shoes were seized by customs but that's the way it is.
You should always factor in customs duties even if you don't get hit by them.

If you had purchased your shoes from a department store, the store would have insured the shoes for the purchase amount.

I think you'll get your shoes back once you've paid the customs fee. They won't be confiscated. :yes:
I also hope that you pay the low end of the customs estimate! Am keeping my fingers crossed for you!
 
#9
Cheers for making me feel worse. \Seized is in fact the right word. It's in the letter. I was just trying to buy a pair of shoes, didn't mean to have my process ripped to shreds. Clearly you feel I am at fault and no one can commiserate with me on the way I am getting my first pair. so i'm off. I was down about it enough. Aren't we all meant to try to make each other feel better or at least help, not make someone feel worse. I think I can be allowed to be gutted I have a hideously overpriced pair of shoes cos I honestly thought I would get them thru customs. Obviously not. Just be sad for me, pls?

Too many of you sellers are slating us buyers only. You have the high ground knowing more about it, but when we make mistakes you simply tell us we're wrong. This forum used to give me kind support. I feel worse, like I'm being vilified for asking a simply thing like put "gift" on my parcel. I'm not smuggling heroin. Fed up of this subject I'll go back to feeling sad my shoes were a disaster if that doesn't offend anyone. Not even a "what a shame". Thx
 
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#10
Lady Vee, please don't take what the girls have said as an offense to you or lack of sympathy toward you. I think most are just being realistic about the situation and not neccessarily making you a villain for wanting to avoid added costs. I think most are speaking from experience or from knowledge regarding this misfortune you are going through. We have all had some disaster happen with CLs at one point or the other. Don't get so mad, no one is blaming you or attacking you.:sad:
 
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#11
Lady Vee, SO many people get charged for sending items through customs. EVERY item that goes through is seized and opened and looked at. No one is being offensive or trying to put you down. I read through and no one said anything that was meant to criticize or hurt you in any way, so it's a shame YOU feel that way. The amount of money you are being charged is the normal amount for custom fees.

Also, you mentioned in your original post about people calling you a "fool". No one even did THAT after you mentioned it, so how can you accuse people of making you feel worse when everyone has spoken the truth about ordering internationally, to make you feel better?
 
#12
I just want to note this is not because of purchasing items from the US. Duties are based on your country's allowance on how much you can import. For example in the US (what is written but isn't always followed) if you purchase anything over $100 as a gift or $200 non-gift you should be charged duties on the difference. In Canada its $60 as a gift or over $20? for non-gift. Australia is like $1000? Its different in every country so it doesn't where its coming from it is whatever limit your country set.

You can refuse payment and have the shoe sent back to the seller if you want, then you don't have to pay the duties. You can also accept it and then tell the seller you're returning it and get proof (other than the shipping receipt) that you returned it (maybe Paypal refund invoice) and claim your duties back that way. Of course your seller has to be nice enough to let you return the item or re-ship it back to you at your cost or something.

I had two of my recent packages opened by customs because of the way people were marking things but I'm glad things got here safely and not slashed open or damaged when they did it (I've heard stories where Balenciaga bags got a huge slash mark on it because they just cut opened the dust bag to check :nuts:).

Oh well these things happen so maybe next time you'll get lucky! ;)

Forgot to add that depending on which carrier you use it makes a difference in how much you pay in duties/taxes too!
 
#13
Daisy, i'm sorry. I'm being really defensive I'm just upset and it wasn't a good day in many ways yesterday. Just really wasn't expecting that. Sorry for being oversensitive I shouldn't come on here when I'm upset, ill and hormonal, and my shoes have been kidnapped! Sorry guys. Just for info, my seller said she put value of $400 so that means I was charged VAT at 25%, so think they have placed their own value on them.
 
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#14
I would bring a copy of the eBay Auction and your Paypal Payment to customs. At least that way, you may not be overcharged. Sorry this has happened to you. I understand how disappointing this must be. I hope you loooove the shoes when you get them. You deserve it after all you've been through.
 
#15
Lady Vee,
I'm sorry this happened - you really must be gutted. The same thing happened to me, I got a pair from Ebay USA and they were held until I paid the Customs fees. The seller had marked them Gift (I didn't actually ask them to do this, they did it anyway) but the insurance value marked on the customs form meant that I got charged around 30% for import duty and VAT.
You can only pick the parcel up once you've paid the duty but the Customs people put a sticker on the package explaining how they have calculated the total and also how you can go about appealing if you think it is too high. Good luck.
 
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