Clueless People- Customs Duty??????

[AirgunSavant]

Daily I get reamed and its usually from the Britt's.
They f'bomb me because on occasion when I ship them something they
get charged customs duties and fees.

I have been importing since I was 14. At that age I knew what was going on.
Do these people think no imports are subject to any fees? Its crazy.
I'm dealing with 50-80 year olds mostly.

I ship worldwide but UK complaints are easily 90% of the abuse.

My website explains this in excruciating detail but as one Britt kindly informed me,
none of them read anything.

 

[dernp]

Not sure whats going on over there but my daughter recently moved there and besides it being stupidly expensive, I had to ship her a small package that she left behind. They charged her $45 for something she already owned.
Crazy

 

[AirgunSavant]

Yeah I know, you're right! UK and Germany seem to be very expensive on the shipping.
But I pay sometimes $2000 on a $7500 shipment in fees etc when I import.
I hate it but expect it.

I often lower the value but you have to be careful about that.
Plus if it gets lost- you can only insure it for what you put on customs.

 

[expat]

I would guess that the complaining Brits are used to ordering from EEC counties, and not being charged duty.

How do you ship?

I often orderfrom the US, If the shipment is sent via USPS I VERY seldom get charged Duty or Tax.

But many US shippers ONLY use UPS or Fed Ex, They calculate Taxes, Duty etc. (Even when Duty is not applicable) and charge a Brokerage fee on top.
Very often the fees exceed the value of the shipment!

As a counter point, yesterday I received a bunch of Reare earth magnets from China, $1.75 including shipping!!!

 

[AirgunSavant]

Expat
I only ship USPS because of exactly what you said.
Also I ship very cheaply. They can't and would not afford if I used UPS or Fed EX- it would cost a fortune.
It ticks me off I make custom parts and ship often the same day
as ordered. No one cares about great parts and service.
They only want to moan about shipping like I own the post office and I'm responsible for it all

Oh well- LOL

 

[eljefino]

Had this happen with an ebay buyer.

1) List police scanner for US only
2) Canadian emails, says he'll pay extra to ship to canada
3) I say sure, if it's legal to have a scanner up there, and you'll pay fees
4) canadian buys, pays extra shipping, begs me to call it a gift
5) me: No
6) expect negative feedback. Think he might have not though.

Also tracking ends at the border, usually, so scammers can hide behind that and say they never got something.

 

[AirgunSavant]

Exactly
I get ticked off at Paypal and Ebay both as they allow foreign fraud. I never got it. Well I went through this [censored] with Italy, Germany, and France. They never get it and I never get it back.
The gift thing is a joke. That never works anyway. Also when you get the scammers you should always list the cost on the customs at 100% because that is a protection for you. They will most likely pay duty and that's a record that can save you.

But the Paypal folks never opt for Insurance. Why? They know all they have to say is I never got it- as you said USPS tracking is worthless. But I do register it now and Insure on my own dime.

I got it down now to where they can rip someone else off and not me. Its disgusting we live in a world of frauds and cheats.




Originally Posted By: eljefino
Had this happen with an ebay buyer.

1) List police scanner for US only
2) Canadian emails, says he'll pay extra to ship to canada
3) I say sure, if it's legal to have a scanner up there, and you'll pay fees
4) canadian buys, pays extra shipping, begs me to call it a gift
5) me: No
6) expect negative feedback. Think he might have not though.

Also tracking ends at the border, usually, so scammers can hide behind that and say they never got something.

 

[user52165]

If you are an ebay seller - Use the Global shipping program - check it out.

Eliminates a lot of problems.

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Had this happen with an ebay buyer.

1) List police scanner for US only
2) Canadian emails, says he'll pay extra to ship to canada
3) I say sure, if it's legal to have a scanner up there, and you'll pay fees
4) canadian buys, pays extra shipping, begs me to call it a gift
5) me: No
6) expect negative feedback. Think he might have not though.

Also tracking ends at the border, usually, so scammers can hide behind that and say they never got something.


Learned that lesson years ago, US shipping only. If I can't find a buyer in the lower 48 whatever I have must be trash.

 

[expat]

Originally Posted By: user52165
If you are an ebay seller - Use the Global shipping program - check it out.

Eliminates a lot of problems.


I can see it eliminates problems, and the buyer can see the costs.
But for me, as a buyer, those costs are too high. As soon as I see Golbal shipping program I move on to the next item

I recently collected a bunch of stuff from the US. Shipping within the lower 48 was free, shipping over the boarder would have doubled the item cost, it would have been a deal killer.
ie. A pair of shoes would have cost me an additional $75!

So much for Frre Trade!

 

[user52165]

Originally Posted By: expat
Originally Posted By: user52165
If you are an ebay seller - Use the Global shipping program - check it out.

Eliminates a lot of problems.


I can see it eliminates problems, and the buyer can see the costs.
But for me, as a buyer, those costs are too high. As soon as I see Golbal shipping program I move on to the next item

I recently collected a bunch of stuff from the US. Shipping within the lower 48 was free, shipping over the boarder would have doubled the item cost, it would have been a deal killer.
ie. A pair of shoes would have cost me an additional $75!

So much for Frre Trade!


As an active ebay seller who ships worldwide, I am sorry to say that Canada is the cause of this. Almost every other country has lower rates or none at all. And Canada Post and customs service is s-l-o-w. It is faster and cheaper to Asia, South America, anywhere, really it is.

BTW - sellers who only ship to the "lower 48". Well aren't 49 and 50 part of the USA? And to exclude APO/FPO - shame on you - excluding the military - really!

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: expat
I often orderfrom the US, If the shipment is sent via USPS I VERY seldom get charged Duty or Tax.

As a counter point, yesterday I received a bunch of Reare earth magnets from China, $1.75 including shipping!!!

Most orders from China are shipped with Chinese postal service then USPS takes over when it is in USA. If the Chinese seller ships with tracking it will be tracked by USPS.

I think Chinese postal service subsidizes shipping cost to oversea, it is not possible to ship/mail anything, even 1/2 oz, to oversea for less than 50 US cents. How the heck did they sell anything for $1.75 shipping included to North America from China which is about 10,000 miles away.

A half ounce first class mail in US is already $0.49, USPS is virtually delivery a package from China for free.

 

[AirgunSavant]

Sure they do
1 to 3 ounces just in the USA now cost $2.04 for a small package- bubble mailer. And then from there its upwards

I think Chinese postal service subsidizes shipping cost to overseaquote]

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

Maybe its just me but I had to deal with some Brits for work related stuff and it seems that being abusive to customer service people is the norm.

 

[PierreR]

Originally Posted By: user52165
If you are an ebay seller - Use the Global shipping program - check it out.

Eliminates a lot of problems.


For a seller im sure there will be less problems.
But as a buyer that program is a main reason to stay away from a seller that offers the gsp.
But then again i always count on paying duty on almost everything i buy on ebay so i never complain about it. I get surprised when i dont have to pay it for something.

There are several times where i have had to pay customs and tax on things that are tax free because the item value isnt high enough.
Shipping times, it takes about 2 weeks longer to get anything with gsp compared to regular shipping.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: expat
Originally Posted By: user52165
If you are an ebay seller - Use the Global shipping program - check it out.

Eliminates a lot of problems.


I can see it eliminates problems, and the buyer can see the costs.
But for me, as a buyer, those costs are too high. As soon as I see Golbal shipping program I move on to the next item

I recently collected a bunch of stuff from the US. Shipping within the lower 48 was free, shipping over the boarder would have doubled the item cost, it would have been a deal killer.
ie. A pair of shoes would have cost me an additional $75!

So much for Frre Trade!

I believe if the seller sends something along that says the duty on the item was paid when the item arrived in N.A., then there's no further duty to be paid when the item crosses into Canada.
Lately though I find if the US shipper uses USPS then I don't get charged anything extra by customs. I have recently bought a few trinkets direct from China and it doesn't seem any duty is paid at all? They've all been under $10 so maybe no one bothers?

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR

Most orders from China are shipped with Chinese postal service then USPS takes over when it is in USA. If the Chinese seller ships with tracking it will be tracked by USPS.

I think Chinese postal service subsidizes shipping cost to oversea, it is not possible to ship/mail anything, even 1/2 oz, to oversea for less than 50 US cents. How the heck did they sell anything for $1.75 shipping included to North America from China which is about 10,000 miles away.

A half ounce first class mail in US is already $0.49, USPS is virtually delivery a package from China for free.


I got an LED marker light from amazon for $1 shipped from China. It even arrived in a bubble mailer. Huh????

 

[Win]

The only time I've shipped to the UK, it was trouble.

First, he wanted me to misstate the purchase cost on the customs forms. Um, no.

Then, he lied and said he didn't get the items. It went USPS ( insanely expensive to the UK ), so this was pretty easy to refute. Then his response was the items he hadn't received were misrepresented, and were not working properly.

But for some unique circumstances that I could leverage, he would have succeeded in stealing from me. PP was rolling over for him.

It was sort of refreshing to see that it's not just our country that is full of lying scum. Sort of.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I buy records on EBay from sellers in the UK and some will charge maybe $7 U.S. dollars and then some will charge $25 U.S. to ship an LP. Does it just depend where in the UK it's being shipped from?

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Just make it plain in your Item Description what kind of buyer you are willing to sell to, and stick to it (ie don't reneg and ship anyway, reject the bid, which you can do anytime including after the auction, IF your restriction is in the auction).

I'm not going to write a primer on buying or selling on eBay, but that's because

1) eBay already has primers on just about every possible situation, it's a tool for you, use it, and link to them in your auction.

2) it would be book length. Really.

Remember the key words "Find out yourself FOR SURE what the correct answer is".
There is lots of close but not correct info out there, this post has some.

Legally EVERYBODY is subject to Customs and Importation rules. How many readers here know what conditions under which a US buyer begins to pay duty when buying on eBay? Most assume it's always never. Wrong.

And so on.