Problems with return

killiegirl_2

I sold a bag on ebay to someone in the USA about a month ago. She paid straight away but then about a week later changed her mind and asked for a refund. I said no because I'd already sent the bag, but told her if she returned it I would give her a Paypal refund less postage costs.
She posted it back to me last week, but today I got a letter from Parcelforce telling me I needed to pay £134 to get the bag, a combination of customs and VAT charges! The buyer stupidly marked the value as $1000 on the customs form.
I'm not sure what to do now. The selling price of the bag was only just over £100. I don't want to get into a big fight with her but if i pay that then refund her I'll be massively out of pocket!
She only has a few feedbacks and I don't think she's clued up enough to know about Paypal chargebacks.
Can anyone help?

Hintza

Phone customs and tell them what has happened if neccesary send them the ebay number or copies of all the information you have.


Marking it as $1,000 does not sound a mistake to me and how you deal with her is upto you. It should certainly include a negative!!

black-saturn

Tell her that she didnt send the bag back in a satisfactory way and now you are incurring high charges for it. Retrieve the bag and then relist it on ebay but don't give her back her refund. Explain to her why your not giving her a refund. When you bid on ebay you enter into a contract. You cannot change your mind about an item before you've received it. Scan the letter from Parcelforce and send her a copy if you can.

Jellicle

What a nightmare...
- Like Hintza says I think you need to sort this out with the Customs before even thinking about doing anything with your buyer!
- Don't retrieve the bag until you have sorted it out with Customs.
- Email the buyer to explain what is happening, be brief and factual.

If you can't sort it out with Customs then it may be best not to accept the package back, (will they return it to the sender?) if it is still with Customs (or is returned) then it is possible that Paypal will not grant a 'charrgeback' ... [I'm not sure about this, maybe others on this forum have had a similar experience and may be able to advise on this...]

Good Luck...

angelcake

sorry haven't a clue what to advise! but good luck and hope it works out ok!!

killiegirl_2

Thanks for all the advice! The letter says if I don't pick it up in 21 days it'll be sent back, I'm hoping it can get sorted out before then!

Milky_Mocha

Out of interest what brand of bag was it? You may be sitting on a tiny fortune there! In any case you shouldn't be liable for the charge because it was not a purchase but a return. I'm sure with your proof of sale and correspondence with the buyer the customs officials should be understanding.

shelly

If you sold it a month ago, and she changed her mind after a week then you must be close to the 45 day cut off period for chargebacks.....if you haven't already gone over. So maybe you won't have to refund her after all?? I would definately get in touch with her and tell her about the mistake and also customs to explain that you have proof of how much the final value was and go from there.

Good Luck!

lapat

you are not liable for the charge of customs as this is returned goods regardless of the value just provide your local customs via fax the original paypal invoice and also the senders emails and address and it will be cleared up in a mater of minutes(apart from royal mail then will want you to retrieve it from them)

killiegirl_2

Thanks for your help everyone! Customs are going to reassess it, hopefully they'll waive the charges. I e-mailed the buyer to tell her the situation, and she made me the very generous offer to take the bag back if I refund half the amount she paid for it! Shockingly enough I declined!

Milky_Mocha

killiegirl wrote:

Thanks for your help everyone! Customs are going to reassess it, hopefully they'll waive the charges. I e-mailed the buyer to tell her the situation, and she made me the very generous offer to take the bag back if I refund half the amount she paid for it! Shockingly enough I declined!

LOL!! What? Americans!
I ask again (if you don't mind) what brand of bag was it? I'm a bit of a bag fanatic!