Overseas buyer has made a request. Advice?

worbikeman

I have just sold several philatelic items to a buyer in Canada (£20ish plus standard combined shipping).
Along with their payment the buyer has left a note about their purchases as follows:-

"Please mail with no contents identification or value. Thanks."

If I take it to the Post Office they will insist on a correctly filled in customs label CN22, otherwise it is not covered by COP (nor International signed for).
If I DO follow buyer's wishes - stamp it, address it and place it straight in the post box, buyer may file an INR (either genuinely or otherwise), whereby eBay will refund them automatically.
If I DONT follow buyer's wishes they may neg me or leave low stars.
Buyer has 1500+ 100% +FB so seems pretty legit.
Buyer may have a very good reason for not wanting others to know their 'business' (it's an office address), also, they may turn out to be a very good customer in future....

Any advice?

NIC26

I think the reason he is asking for no CN22 is because in Canada, goods imported worth over $20CDN (£12.84) are liable for customs duties and taxes. He would have to pay a handling fee of $8.50CDN per dutiable or taxable mail and depending on where he lives in Canada, provincial sales taxes (PST) or Harmonized Sales Taxes (HST) at 5%. So will have a fee of about £6.50 on delivery of item.

worbikeman

So if I agree to the request I send the items at my own risk with no customs declaration and therefore no chance of compensation if they 'fail to arrive' for whatever reason.
On the other hand, if I refuse and honestly fill out the forms correctly in order to cover myself, I incur my buyer with a charge of practically a third again what he has already paid!:cool:
Rock and a hard place springs to mind!
That's not tax, that's protection money!:rotfl:

NIC26

It's up to you how you proceed. I think you have three choices:
1. Send without CN22 as requested.
2. Mark item on CN22 as gift (tax/duty exempt to $60CDN/£38.44)
3. Email seller that you are not willing to make a false declaration to customs (for the sake of saving them £6.50). It is illegal to do so.
If you choose 3, I would not worry about negative feedback. Even if they left a negative, I sure ebay would remove on grounds it is not a reasonable request to ask you to make false declaration to customs. So really doubt they would.

martinthebandit

For a £20 ish item, to a customer with that amount of positive feedback plus the chance of further custom, I would go with his understandable wishes everytime.


The worst case scenario of losing your £20 ish seems such a remote possibility I would not worry about it.

Oliver14

martinthebandit wrote: »

For a £20 ish item, to a customer with that amount of positive feedback plus the chance of further custom, I would go with his understandable wishes everytime.


The worst case scenario of losing your £20 ish seems such a remote possibility I would not worry about it.

Actually the worst case scenario is getting hauled over the coals by customs and then contunually having all yourcfinances examined by the HMRC for the next few years. Yes chances are this wont happen but is it really worth the risk? There are many people this has happened to (just ask my numpty of a brother) If you are a business doing this is just asking for trouble.

macfly

Unless your items fit in a letter size envelope, they have no chance of passing through Canadian customs anyway.
If the buyer files an INR, they would win unless you were thinking of a courier, which is doubtful from your post, no matter whether you filled in a customs form or not.
If you did send as an ordinary letter, a standard COP would give you the same compensation. How would RM know what was on the envelope if it went missing?

If they fit in a basic A5 envelope, send as a letter with no customs.

forgotmyname

Would the buyer consider paying with the gift option to avoid any risk of chargeback?

I would contact them with the concern that if the package does not arrive or gets damaged you wont
be able to claim your money back.

knightstyle

Split them into two packets, each low value and not taxable?

macfly

But he would. They don't photograph every item that leaves the country. All you need is a proof of postage.

soolin

forgotmyname wrote: »

Would the buyer consider paying with the gift option to avoid any risk of chargeback?

I would contact them with the concern that if the package does not arrive or gets damaged you wont
be able to claim your money back.

Forget claims, I think asking the OP to defraud HMRC is a much more serious problem if caught.