So I had a dude who had good feedback that’s from canada buy some cards, about $147 worth. He pays, all seems well. Asked it go through usps which I was going to do anyway. Then asked I declare the value at half the actual. I’m not doing that. I did send a message letting them know thats not happening but also not sure if I need to do something further. I still have the items and the money. Depending on the buyers response should I go through with sending the items (at correct declared amount) or if they want a refund should I just refund or do I just need to get ebay involved already? Anyone have a similar experience and any advice?
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That is very common, but usually people have the decency to ask before buying… Try to work with your buyer, but if they don’t budge I would just issue the refund.
If they ever decide to leave you negative feedback, I’m pretty sure ebay will get it removed when you explain the situation and they have a peek at the messages.
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I have just started to open to international buyers so I had no idea that was a common thing.I appreciate your advice.
You’d be surprised. I had someone ask me to declare a $2000 item as 25 euros gift. lol
What I would recommend is put it in your item description that you will not undervalue items or mark them as gift. You also have the option to use the Global Shipping Program.
In this case, it’s rather silly what your buyer is asking you. Even at half value they run the risk of paying $10 or so in customs as anything above $20 can be taxed in Canada, so they’d really only be saving about $10…
Wow, thats incredible. Also i guess the buyer i have is a bit rediculous doing all this for minuscule $10 difference. I will be sure to add that into my “terms and conditions” description for all future listings.
I had a similar experience just this month. This dude from Malaysia bought my cards and didn’t understand the import tariffs and fees he would have to pay. Dude was literally scolding me because I declared the full value of the package, then threatened to return the item if I didn’t pay his fees which was over $200.
If I was a bad guy I could’ve told him to screw off and have him refuse to pay the fees. Then I could’ve kept the money and my cards. But instead I just sent him a message from Ebay explaining that he messed up and needs to pay the fees.
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very common but extremely rude to do it AFTER buying/winning your item. Dont be swayed over into doing it just because they have bought something from you, do what you feel is right and what you want to do.
also happy Easter 
I would just mark it 20.00 and move on.
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I’ve asked for it but on high priced orders, we have a 26% tax including shipping for anything customs decides to get their greedy paws on, I once got a $600 Pokemon card order from Japan in customs a couple of years ago, had to pay $150+ just to get it from them, thankfully “fromJapan” added an option for an altered customs charges and I ended up paying much, MUCH less after that for large orders; All in all, it doesn’t affect the seller in the least unless you have it insured and signed-for to protect yourself just in case.
www.mceldrewyoung.com/customsfraud/
Undervaluation of Imported Goods
Once the appropriate tariff rate is determined, import duties are calculated based on the declared value of imported products.
So if fraud is commit-ed, is the requester also liable or only just the shipper?
Living in Canada, I got to say this dudes request isn’t as ridiculous as you may think lol. I’ve had to pay upwards to 30-40% on international orders before and it becomes not even worth the item after paying fees. Yes he should’ve asked you before because some sellers aren’t comfortable doing this for buyers, but it really isn’t that big of a deal to mark some pokemon cards as $20 so the dude doesn’t have to pay import fees and keeps the buyer happy. As a seller I almost always mark down the values for international buyers so they don’t pay fees and I’ve never had a problem. Even as a buyer, when I ask sellers to do it for me it never ends up being a problem. It may seem sketch, but I think for $147 worth of Pokemon cards the government isn’t going to be opening the package and looking up the values of the cards if you mark it as $20 and try to make an issue of it.
I mean if were serious the cost of the cards at retail is like 10 cents 
Its only slightly bending the truth.
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International buyers frequently ask you to be complicit in their illegal tax evasion. Whether you do so or not just be aware that is what is happening.
Also, if you end up with the unfortunate circumstance of having mail lost and it is underdeclared you can be sure that when they open an item not received claim through eBay they will be fully reimbursed and you will have no recourse to collect the items true value through insurance or anything like that.
I will only underdeclare items for friends on the forum that pay via friends and family. They just happen to donate me a big monetary gift and then a few days later I just happen to send them a present of Pokemon cards worth about 10 dollars. It just isn’t worth the risk for an eBay nobody especially when there are so many countries out there that don’t fully update the item as delivered half the time.
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Yeah that’s one of my biggest problems. Lets be honest, there’s maybe a 1% chance your package is going to go missing, but there are just too many cases of that happening.
I actually had a European buyer here on efour pay F&F and the tracking never updated. They were honest about receiving the cards, but if I had done it on ebay or through goods and services to a random stranger, I would have lost hundreds of dollars and would have only been able to file a claim for the small amount I declared/insured the package for.
I respect all the guys here that do accomodate their buyers, but no one can force a seller to underclare. If you don’t want to do it and you want to ship everything insured for the full amount, that’s your decision. 
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People do this all the time. It’s common.
It’s also how you grow your base (international)
You can use separate insurance in case your item gets lost
I sympathise with those in counties that get slammed by import tax, it’s so ridiculous. We’re about to get it in Aus and it will cause a gigantic headache.
I would never advocate for mail/customs fraud though. You just never know when the government is going to make an example out of you. =\
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I had no idea 3rd party insurance was a thing. I’ll have to look into that.
I don’t do international at all really. Once a Canadian guy bought something from me. We talked about it and agreed on a US shipping location just across the border. I can’t remember exactly where but he lived almost right there. It’s a long shot because Canada is massive but you may be able to work something out that way.
Probably a bit of a tangent but…
If the legal implications are so severe, how does an established business such as PWCC get away with declaring things so low?
Being from the US I have no idea what exactly they do so can you elaborate on that?
Do they automatically just declare everything low to avoid customs or do they cater to buyers on an as requested basis?