Customs Charges

monstevie

Hello - I purchased an electronic item some time ago and the tracking is showing that it's being held by customs.

The item is worth around £500 and further investigation shows the seller has placed a very low value on the packaging. I had not requested this but I guess he did it to try and bypass customs duty which is a bit naughty.

I am happy to pay customs - but since then the item has actually fallen in price in the UK so I would actually end up paying more than I would if buying here once I add on duty, handling fees and whatnot.

So I wonder what the legal aspect is with regards to paypal and ebay if I chose to not accept the fees? I assume it would be returned to sender and I can claim via Paypal?

Or is it a case of Fedex delivering then invoicing me afterwards - in which case I lose out.

chancesare_2

I think you should forget about what Ebay and Paypal think.

Would you really expect the seller to lose out? They have paid for postage and will also probably have a returns post surcharge.

Shame on you.

monstevie

You are jumping to conclusions - if I decided to return or reject my package I would certainly compensate the seller for the postage fee.
I am not that kind of person.

I just wonder as to the best way of doing it - should this even arise.

If it was a UK business you have certain rights for purchases online (distance selling). Changing ones mind is fairly normal.

chancesare_2

But it wasn't a UK business, so that's nothing to do with it.

monstevie

...and hence the question.

F&L

Fedex deliver quite quick I thought so I'm not sure over what time period this item has dropped in value? Anyway if you refuse the parcel it will be returned to the seller and there would therefore be no duties to pay as you wouldn't effectively have imported anything. You would win any paypal chargeback as you wouldn't have signed for anything although filing chargebacks can impact on a seller's account. Perhaps discuss the situation with the seller especially if you intend to reimburse their postage costs. A seller can reclaim their fees for a mutually agreed cancellation.

monstevie

F&L wrote: »

Fedex deliver quite quick I thought so I'm not sure over what time period this item has dropped in value? Anyway if you refuse the parcel it will be returned to the seller and there would therefore be no duties to pay as you wouldn't effectively have imported anything. You would win any paypal chargeback as you wouldn't have signed for anything although filing chargebacks can impact on a seller's account. Perhaps discuss the situation with the seller especially if you intend to reimburse their postage costs. A seller can reclaim their fees for a mutually agreed cancellation.

Thanks for this! A nice helpful post unlike the one above.

Much appreciated.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

You would lose an eBay case for "refusing to collect" the parcel. Not sure about Paypal but again I would hope they'd find in the seller's favour.

EDIT, in reference to the above posts, a chargeback is done via the card provider which in this case isn't advisable as the seller would defend this with proof of postage and for this kind of sum I guess Paypal would go back to the buyer to recover.

An INR claim is a different process.

Taadaa

If the item has been sent tracked you will lose an INR claim via eBay as well - their policy states that if refusal to pay customs charges is not grounds for an INR claim. The seller can prove that the item has been delivered and held at customs awaiting your response. Info on their help pages if you search on it.

greeneye

Gotta love the seller is always right mantra on this forum.

The seller is an idiot for marking a low value on a high value electronics item. You might get away with it for clothing and collectable items that are hard to value but boxed electrical goods forget about it.

How are customs going to decide how much the import duties are?
I doubt they are going to accept an ebay print out for the sale price.
Unfortunately I imagine they will use a list price which is likely to be significantly higher than an ebay price. So the OP will end up paying more than they should have done.

OP have you been provided with a breakdown of your customs charges and how they were calculated?

monstevie

greeneye wrote: »

Gotta love the seller is always right mantra on this forum.

The seller is an idiot for marking a low value on a high value electronics item. You might get away with it for clothing and collectable items that are hard to value but boxed electrical goods forget about it.

How are customs going to decide how much the import duties are?
I doubt they are going to accept an ebay print out for the sale price.
Unfortunately I imagine they will use a list price which is likely to be significantly higher than an ebay price. So the OP will end up paying more than they should have done.

OP have you been provided with a breakdown of your customs charges and how they were calculated?

No not yet.

I am happy to pay (fair) charges - but obviously now that I can save £300 odd quid buying from the UK it would be better for me to just return it unopened and unused.

My concern with signing for it and then posting it back is whether this is tracked.

And yes - it is silly from the seller - I think he put something like £20 value down.