Nervous about shipping to eBay buyer - any advice?

DullGreyGuy

soolin said:

Firstly, it is up to you as the seller to mark the customs declaration honestly, never make a fraudulent statement to HMRC.

Declaration would be to ITA not HMRC... you dont pay taxes on exportation... though fully agree that lying to any tax authority isnt a good idea. The other issue is that you're insurance would be limited to this amount too so if it gets damaged in transit/missing etc then the OP is down as no doubt eBay would say the buyer is entitled to a full refund.

itm2

I was originally planning to use a Royal Mail service which offered £100 insurance cover, but presumably that would only provide cover within the UK - so I would not be adequately covered if it was lost en route to Israel?

RFW

itm2 said:

To clarify - this would be shipped under the Global Shipping Programme (not directly)

Global shipping programme is essentially sending within the UK. Ebay handle all the rest, covering insurance, taxes, etc, outside the UK.

Ebay writes:
With the Global Shipping Programme, you simply send your item to our UK shipping centre, and once it reaches us, your job is done – for all eligible items we'll manage the international postage and customs process for you.

Exodi

cymruchris said:

Cancel the sale, say the item is damaged and no longer available, and then sell on fb marketplace....

Personally I find goods sell for far less on fb marketplace than on ebay - which would make sense as the audience on ebay is generally far greater (fb marketplace still primarily sits in the 'local collections' niche - and recent changes to their policy show they only intend to focus more on this).

As such, I generally buy items from fb marketplace, and sell items on ebay. The only items I'd consider selling on fb marketplace, are those that are unpractical to ship - e.g. wardrobes, beds, fridges, etc.

soolin said:

diystarter7 said:

soolin said:

diystarter7 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

soolin said:

A cancellation for 'problems with buyers address' might be in order since they are expecting you to make a fraudulent statement.

I would go with this, it's doubtful they'll leave bad feedback, if they do have a chat with eBay and point out you cancelled because the buyer wanted you to lie about the value on the customs form.

Indeed, honesty is always the best policy and like most sites, ebay is very good and can easily determine fact from fiction.
so cancell but call Ebay first they often answer the phone quickly.

This is one instance where I wouldn't call ebay first, leave it alone unless you need to explain yourself. Just cancel and wait to see if buyer makes any move- I doubt they will.

Personally, I would as I worry a lot and a call to Ebay would address the concern and I could move on. You do have a valid point for many but not me and possibly some others.

Ebay CS will either just say 'fine' and not understand what OP is asking- and they won't give guarantees about anything anyway so OP would not be in a better position, or stick to the ebay rules, tell OP to email and say they cannot make a false declaration- and then they must ship regardless.

I think calling could give more cause for concern.

I agree with soolin.

I understand what you are saying diystarter7 about liking things to be tidied up as soon as possible (I hate waiting for confirmations, refunds, etc) but I generally find calling CS lines often does the opposite.

Oftentimes you agree something over the phone, get off the phone and then... nothing, with the additional frustration that you have no proof of what you were expecting to happen, or even really of the conversation. You're then stuck deciding whether you want to raise an additional case, but you worry whether it'll cause issues should the first be actioned.

At least if you open a support case (or whatever it happens to be), you have clear traceability.

I think nowadays, I generally call customer service phone lines as a last resort.

se2020

If the buyer has purchased using the GSP then the price they have paid will have included all the international shipping and import taxes already.

You will have received the original amount you sold for (minus ebay & currency fees)

The gsp center will know how much the item sold for and charge the appropriate duty.
You do not declare any value or fill in any other forms.

I would use the buyers name as it appears in checkout. Copy and paste if you don't have the character's on your keyboard.

All you need to do is post it to the uk address given in your sold items and make sure the reference number is on the package.

You could email the buyer and tell them how the gsp works if you like or just don't say anything and then it will be a nice surprise for them when the item arrives with no import charges and you might get some decent feedback.

Exodi

se2020 said:

If the buyer has purchased using the GSP then the price they have paid will have included all the international shipping and import taxes already.

You will have received the original amount you sold for (minus ebay & currency fees)

The gsp center will know how much the item sold for and charge the appropriate duty.
You do not declare any value or fill in any other forms.

I would use the buyers name as it appears in checkout. Copy and paste if you don't have the character's on your keyboard.

All you need to do is post it to the uk address given in your sold items and make sure the reference number is on the package.

You could email the buyer and tell them how the gsp works if you like or just don't say anything and then it will be a nice surprise for them when the item arrives with no import charges and you might get some decent feedback.

I think the duty declaration part was only a minor part of this.

Reading between the lines, I suspect the seller is more worried that they will be scammed - e.g. "I received the parcel and it did not contain the media player, instead it contained [insert low value item of similar weight]".

soolin

Exodi said:

se2020 said:

If the buyer has purchased using the GSP then the price they have paid will have included all the international shipping and import taxes already.

You will have received the original amount you sold for (minus ebay & currency fees)

The gsp center will know how much the item sold for and charge the appropriate duty.
You do not declare any value or fill in any other forms.

I would use the buyers name as it appears in checkout. Copy and paste if you don't have the character's on your keyboard.

All you need to do is post it to the uk address given in your sold items and make sure the reference number is on the package.

You could email the buyer and tell them how the gsp works if you like or just don't say anything and then it will be a nice surprise for them when the item arrives with no import charges and you might get some decent feedback.

I think the duty declaration part was only a minor part of this.

Reading between the lines, I suspect the seller is more worried that they will be scammed - e.g. "I received the parcel and it did not contain the media player, instead it contained [insert low value item of similar weight]".

Then the only way round that is not to sell online- but to stick to face to face trading, whether or not cash sales at the door is a viable way to shift items is dependent on where you live - I can imagine sales would be better in the middle of a busy city, but few and far between in a rural setting.

soolin

itm2 said:

I was originally planning to use a Royal Mail service which offered £100 insurance cover, but presumably that would only provide cover within the UK - so I would not be adequately covered if it was lost en route to Israel?

It might be useful to remind yourself, and any other newbies reading this about the GSP. It is basically a UK sale and that is all a UK seller needs to worry about.

International postage for sellers | eBay

• You only need to send your item to our UK shipping centre and we'll take care of the rest. We'll manage international shipping and customs, and add tracking information so you and your buyer know when the item will be delivered
• If anything goes wrong during international shipping, your seller performance won’t be affected and you won't have to handle eBay Money Back Guarantee cases

and also here

Global Shipping Programme | eBay

How it works

When you're listing an item, simply select Send it to the UK Shipping Centre, and the rest will be taken care of for you in the International postage section.

Once your item is sold, we'll send you the address of a UK Shipping Centre, along with a unique reference code. Make sure you either print the label we provide or include that reference code if you're using your own label. Then post your sold item to the UK Shipping Centre and the rest of the processes will be taken care of, including international tracking.

The item must weigh no more than 30kg and be no larger than 125,000 cm³, and no longer than 120cm on the longest side.

The item's price cannot exceed a price of £2,000 (not including postage), except when selling to buyers in the following countries:

and most importantly

How you're protected

With the Global Shipping Programme, you're protected in the following ways:

• You qualify for automatic 5-star protection on postage and dispatch charge detailed seller ratings when you provide free domestic postage to the UK Shipping Centre
• You qualify for automatic 5-star protection on delivery time detailed seller ratings when you post with same day or 1-day dispatch, upload tracking information within 1 working day of receiving cleared payment (or mark the item as shipped if you don't use a tracked service), and the item is delivered to the UK Shipping Centre within 3 working days
• Your buyers will be able to leave you feedback for transactions involving Global Shipping Programme items. However, eBay will remove neutral or negative feedback associated with Global Shipping Programme transactions in some circumstances
• You aren't responsible for item loss or damage that occurs after the item reaches the UK Shipping Centre. Once an item has been forwarded by the UK Shipping Centre, you won't be responsible for refunding the buyer if an eBay Money Back Guarantee or PayPal Buyer Protection case is filed against you for one of the following reasons:
  • A buyer claims an item isn't received or a package is damaged in transit

itm2

Yes I was concerned about some sort of scam - either claiming that the item was damaged or otherwise not as described. it would be impossible for me to prove otherwise (and I've lost out on claims like that before).
Anyway I have now cancelled the sale, and will try selling on FB marketplace.

se2020

Well, if the op has a dodgy feeling about it then the simplest thing to do is just cancel the sale and relist. Block the buyer.
Won't stop another 0%FB buyer or even the same user under a different ID buying it though.

Although,  re-reading the op's first post,
The only thing that I would worry about is that the buyer has not been registered for long.
That might just be due to the recent currency changes so they might have created a new buying account to source items for resale.

Check what feedback they have (if any?)
Have a look and see if they have any items for sale (or sold items?)