I had an offer on my t17 1st ed psa 9 for 2.5k. I accepted the offer and the guy said to message him on Instagram. Okay no problem. I message him and he asks if we can do the deal off ebay saving us both fees. Okay fine. He asks to send it either FedEx or ups. No problem, I choose FedEx. Because it’s a slightly higher ticket item, I ensure it for 2.5k. Because I don’t want to be out 2.5k if it gets lost. This causes FedEx to put 2.5k on their sheet that let’s customs in the UK know what it’s worth. UK customs wants to charge the recipient 770 British pounds. I think thats outrageous and the customer is pisses. He wants a full refund or reimbursement for the incoming customs charge. Question. Can customer claw back his 2.5k payment? I offered to do a partial refund for him of 500 usd because I feel bad. Even though I didn’t know this would be an issue beforehand. I feel like it’s not my problem. He even told me he wanted to do it off ebay so he could avoid customs charge. Any advice on what to do?
Edit: Guy is just shady. See screenshots down below.
This is not your problem. Everyone in the UK should be aware of customs charges. You did the correct thing in declaring the item at its full value and you shouldn’t reimburse them for any amount. As an example of what it’s like to buy from overseas in the UK, I’m expecting to pay over £3,000 customs/VAT for my recent purchase - it’s simply a cost I had to factor in when buying.
Let this be a lesson to them on how UK customs works.
Hey @chavycat, everyone’s got to pay customs tax for big ticket items and it’s pretty common knowledge (or at least in my country). I’m not savvy at all with what to do perse, but I don’t think you should be paying that USD 500 to him either.
I’d advise keeping a copy of your chat logs with the buyer so that you can show PayPal why they issued a chargeback if they go down that route. It’s not your responsibility to pay customs, furthermore if the buyer does not pay the customs charge the item should get sent back to the return address on the package (assuming you provided one).
This is what pisses me off and worries about selling in collectible markets. I dont get how people throw that kind of money out without having experienced some dealings with customs.
Anyway, Its not your issue at all as others have said. They cant claim the money back without opening some sort of case/claim saying the item has issues. Im guessing if they dont pay it and leave it unclaimed after a lengthy period customers will return the item to you but this may need confirming from others.
To be completely honest you are not responsible for this at all but must bare in mind that the buyer can be a dick and open some sort of item not as described case to flip you off, but he would have to pay and receive it first. I would have to judge how he is responding, explain that customs is a buyers responsible to know their countrys rules and regs. And explain why the item is insured to its full value as things do get lost and then you will only get back whatever it was declared as.
Another note is if they do pay the duty, and then push a return, he would be out what was paid for the customs so try and sweet talk him into saying its a shit situation but it is the norm, and then try to explain how his investment will highly likely rise passed the additional amount he has had to pay.
If he opens a not received case you can explain to paypal that it is at customs (with proof) and say he needs to pay it to receive his item and will in turn loose that one.
If he refuses to pay for customs, doesn’t the item go back to sender (you) after a period of time? Just refund him the money if/when you get the product back.
DO NOT PAY HIM A Dime!! I hope this transaction starts to get smoother for you. It’s ridiculous someone would spend almost 3k on a card and choose to buy it from over seas just to complain about customs. Did you do express shipping? I’m wondering if it will even arrive without delays. If they don’t want to pay customs fees don’t buy from over seas simple answer. Also that $500 was part of your selling price. If someone offered you 2k you most likely would have turned it down and waited on a better offer
If he does not pay you will get the item sent back.
This is the problem here. To avoid custom fees an item has to be declared as a gift or like under £20. You can’t insure it if you are trying to avoid sellers getting custom fees.
Oh so he has to pay the 770 British pound in order to get the item? Good. Just making sure he can’t have PayPal take the funds he sent me and give it back to him
Correct, you get a message or letter through the door saying you have to pay this custom fee online or at the closest depo and then you get the item. It varies between companies but for example royal mail hold items for 21 days and if it’s not paid for it will be sent back.
Originally he said he just wanted to avoid ebay fees. That i get. Later in the condo he said he asked to buy it off ebay because maybe ebay puts the price on import fees automatically? Idk
Never help someone break the law. Always claim it’s value. He never should have moved it off eBay in the first place let alone ask you to break the law by under declaring it. Fuck him it almost sounds like a scam. What’s he want a refund and the card? That’s what it sounds like already. It’s against eBay policy to even ask to move a deal off eBay
If you receive the card back and still have the funds in your account, just issue them a refund. Do not refund them until you have the card back in your possession.
When selling it through the GSP on ebay yes he would of been charged the fees / made aware of them upfront. Some here hate the GSP as they seem to put a mark up on it like 900 instead of 770 from what I hear. However there is 99 twats for every 1 descent buyer so I recommend to be wary of situations like this in future, protection is key. If the person is a reputable known buyer with some report, say a member on here then the situation can be viewed differently.
He had 100% positive feedback on ebay so I figured it was legit. Looking at it objectively, I don’t think he’s trying to scam me or anything. I think he he’s just having a knee jerk reaction to the fees
