Customs Charges

martindow

Seller is an idiot also as his insurance cover is the declared value. If they wanted you to avoid charges it is too high as it would still be liable for customs charges being over £15. Fedex often deliver an invoice later.

One option might be to call them to say it has been mis-declared and give them the actual value to avoid customs charging the list price. If it has already been submitted to customs it may be too late. What does Fedex's tracking say?

theonlywayisup

How do you know the seller marked it as £20?

In all the thousands of transactions I do, the only time the buyer asks the value I am putting on the customs form! it is always followed by a request from them to mark it below value.

Whatever the seller's motive for undervaluing, the problem lies with the importer, you.

I too am of the opinion that there is no inference in your first post of how to reimburse the seller.

Failing to accept the parcel due to customs can leave you completely out of pocket with a dispute on EBay, they are very clear on this policy since it changed a few months ago. The likelihood is that if you refuse and raise a dispute, you will lose all your money. Meanwhile the item will be returned to to the seller.

It's tough luck the value has plummeted and you should have made more serious investigations on the legalities of buying an item to import.

greeneye

martindow wrote: »

Seller is an idiot also as his insurance cover is the declared value.

Is that definite for Fedex > US to UK? I know it's not the case with RM and I don't think it's the case for USPS either.

richto

chancesare wrote: »

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

Yes it does. He is selling to you in the UK, so UK law applies. Not that you could likely enforce it...

richto

martindow wrote: »

Seller is an idiot also as his insurance cover is the declared value. If they wanted you to avoid charges it is too high as it would still be liable for customs charges being over £15. Fedex often deliver an invoice later.

Not true. All major carriers request the insurance declared value seperately from the customs declaration.

And its VAT + Duty due on items valued at over £18 (£36 if sent as a gift).

shaun_from_Africa

richto wrote: »

And its VAT + Duty due on items valued at over £18 (£36 if sent as a gift).

The VAT limit is £15. It hasn't been £18 for quite a while now. (it was reduced around Feb this year), and there is no duty due until the value of the import reaches £135.

theonlywayisup

richto wrote: »

Yes it does. He is selling to you in the UK, so UK law applies. Not that you could likely enforce it...

DSR ONLY apply in the EU not elsewhere regardless of you being in the UK or not. Other countries may have their own rules but you cannot enforce DSR for purchases from the USA for example.

martindow

richto wrote: »

Not true. All major carriers request the insurance declared value seperately from the customs declaration.

But surely they wouldn't accept an insurance value higher than the declared value?

richto

martindow wrote: »

But surely they wouldn't accept an insurance value higher than the declared value?

Yes they do.

richto

theonlywayisup wrote: »

DSR ONLY apply in the EU not elsewhere regardless of you being in the UK or not. Other countries may have their own rules but you cannot enforce DSR for purchases from the USA for example.

The DSRs apply to most things sold to a UK customer. Other EU countries will have their own version of EU Directive 97/7/EC . You might not be able to enforce them in many cases, but if the USA company had a UK office you could...