HELP HELP HELP!!!!!!!!! Buyer being charged by the postman on delievery?!

[cloud_weaver]

Hi all!  I'm super distressed at the moment.  As many of you know, I recently sold my Thailand Ice Crystal to a buyer on ebay.  I mentioned in the auction that I would cover all shipping fees as I wanted to ensure that he made it safely to his new home.


The buyer was from The Netherlands and when I went to ship him via DHL they said it would be $90 to ship him.      So I went to the USPS by DHL's recommendation and talked to the man at the office as to what was the best and safest way to post him.  The man said that regular postage w/o insurance (non-priority) would be $10.  I told him I needed the item to be insured and the best way to get him to his destination insured was express priority for $45.  So I choked back the fee and paid the shipping charges, thinking that he would be there in about 5 days. 


Well, it's been just over a week, and I just got the following message from the buyer (who's been very lovely BTW!):

Hi Melinda,
When I came home today I expected Ice Crystal already, but instead I got a message from the mailcompany that he would come back tomorrow, because I had to pay him cash on delivery... I was very shocked about the huge amount that I'll have to pay: 123 euro or 162,55 dollar!!!!!! O_O Why didn't you inform me about this?!? That's a LOT of money!!! The pony was expensive enough already... :S Thought shippingcosts (and insurance) were part of the deal.

Hope to hear from you soon!!!

What in the world is this about???  I've already paid the postage fees on him, and have no idea why the post office would charge her an addition $165 !?  I'm super stressed...what is going on???  Help please!!!!!

[Chi]

It sounds like his value ended up costing a pretty brutal customs fee. I've never seen a fee that high, though. 
I hope someone else can shed some light on this issue, it seems like WAY too much to be paying..


EDIT: Went through my PMs and found a message from someone who was buying things in the UK and ended up with a little over £100 in customs fees. I guess they can be pretty brutal, huh? I really have no idea what to suggest you do here.. Either one of you having to pay over $165 seems so unfair.

[cloud_weaver]

It sounds like his value ended up costing a pretty brutal customs fee. I've never seen a fee that high, though. 
I hope someone else can shed some light on this issue, it seems like WAY too much to be paying..


EDIT: Went through my PMs and found a message from someone who was buying things in the UK and ended up with a little over £100 in customs fees. I guess they can be pretty brutal, huh? I really have no idea what to suggest you do here.. Either one of you having to pay over $165 seems so unfair.

Yes, I just got off the phone w/the post office and they said if the postage was paid prior to shipping then it must have been customs fees.  And honestly I had no idea the buyer would be charged customs fees - seriously $165?!  I can't even wrap my mind around that.  I have no idea what to do...I feel like crying right now, I feel horrible for her and really don't know what to do.  I don't know how it came out to $165!!!  Is it because I insured it for so much????  Oh boy...I really don't know what to do........  If I would have known shipping would come out to over $200 I never would have sold him overseas.  =/  But there was no way to know. 

Advice please!!!  I've never had to deal with customs fees and don't know what the proper proceedure is on them.

[Prismatic]

The buyer is responsible for all customs fees.  If you claimed his actual value (which you should have, to cover yourself, that's a pricey pony) then it's not surprising he has fees.  They cannot blame you for customs fees, and can't leave you negative feedback just for that (I think ebay is actually changing their policy on this, making it easier to remove negatives left for this)  They probably should've known there were fees.  They can choose not to pay the fees, but he'll be returned to you.  That's all I know tho, hope that helps.


Edit: info on the customs thing.  Ebay should have had a message saying there may be fees:

Global protection: Earlier this year, eBay started displaying an automatic message on the View Item page to buyers outside the US regarding customs-related delays and customs duties. Because of this, any Feedback from international buyers that only references customs issues will qualify forFeedback removal.

[Moondancer115]

Wow that is one high fee!!!! I also life in the Netherlands. The fee overhere can indeed be very brutal!
But I find it so weird. Afterall it is second hand why do you have to pay fee it is not like they mist money because it came from another country. It wasn't even sold here this pony!

[ponylady]

First and foremost all packages sent abroad are subject to custom charges especially of that value.  There is nothing you could of done to prevent this.  No matter what shipping method you used.  It is her responsibility as a buyer to know this. 
 
If she refuses to pay the package will be sent back to you.  Which leaves you the choice of trying to send it again at a lesser value(which I don't recommend unless you know this person) or just returning her money and relisting the pony.
 
Cloud_Weaver in terms of feedback,  did you state in your auction listing that the buyer is responsible for all taxes and fee's?  If so ebay will remove negative feedback if it is left.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Hope this all works out, but I am always shocked that people don't know about customs fees when they import something! 

[babystarz]

Yes, I agree with everyone else. You did the correct thing in declaring his full value, because if he had gotten lost you would have only gotten insurance money for the declared value. Besides, you have to declare the value of the item even if it's not insured. The buyer should have known that her country has customs import fees, and that's something you had no control over, nor should you be expected to know what percentage of an item's value will be charged in import fees for a particular country. Yes the fees sound crazy, but they were calculated based on the actual price she paid for the pony, and unfortunately that's the cost of buying expensive things from other countries if you live in The Netherlands.

You said you'd pay shipping fees. A customs charge is not a shipping fee. It's an import tax, to be paid by the person importing it (the buyer).

[Maniah]

I wouldn't expect customs fees to be part of shipping fees.. You paid the cost to ship it to her.. It's her responsibility to pay the customs fees for importing.

A polite offer to refund when the pony returns to you would seem in order, or she can pay the customs fees.

You only offered to pay shipping right? Your exact wording on that could be important..

[hokuspokus]

Yep, i live in the Netherlands &  i bumped into this too, not too long ago (although the fee was alot less, thank God).

When it happened to me, i just PMed the seller, but she had no idea (like you) about those custom fees. It's not your fault, you did not know. In my situation i paid the custom fees because i knew it was not the sellers fault. I can see the person who bought this pony is shocked about the fees, but you, living outside Netherlands, could not possibly have known about shipping fees over here.

I hope this end well!

[kCherry]

ZOMG!!! I was so afraid of something like this happening to you on this auction, C_W!!! What a major pita!! I am so sorry to hear about this. What nightmare for you! ... More s..

 Okay, firstly, I have to stress the fact that customs fees ARE NOT shipping fees! They pertain to the country of residence and you have absolutely NO obligation to pay them having stated that you would pay shipping costs. You had no control over who your winning bidder would be and the buyer should have been fully aware of the fees that would be due in customs!

  Considering that this auction did not go as high as I personally expected/ hoped, were I in your position I would state, as nicely as possible and with many apologies, that customs fees are not shipping fees and that if she is not happy paying them that I would offer her a full refund on Thai Icey upon his arrival back home. It's really the only choice that you have unless you are willing to fork up those fees!
 
  Ugh, ugh, ugh! 

[PandoraFox]

Unfortunately, the custom fees around here can indeed get pretty insane.
Depending on the price of the item being send, it can end up being 1/6th of the value of the item or something I believe.
(I'd have to check the exact percentages again, it's been a while. >>)

It's not your fault this happened, the buyer should have checked this before she bought anything from outside the country.
I can imagine it taking her by surprise and I do feel for her, our custom fees seem pretty darn ridiculous to me at times, but in the end it's not your fault at all.

[lemontwist]

That sucks for both of you! I agree with everyone else that it's not your place to cover those charges. They should have known that the customs would be wild for something worth so much money. In any case, since you paid the shipping for her when you didn't have to, it's still only fair for them to cover the customs charges since they didn't have to pay shipping. That is such a bummer for them though It's a good thing the pony is so worth it. I hope they'll be able to pay so they can keep it, and you know they'll take good care of it after all that lol!

The worst I've had to deal with is randomly being charged 85 cents for a pony on delivery, lol. If I saw that fee, I would probably faint

[balletpot]

I don't live in the Netherlands but in the EU. If you receive something here from outside the EU there can be fees, especially if it's marked as a purchase and it's expensive. A certain percentage of the shipping costs, the value of the item and the insurance are included in the fees, plus there's a fixed fee for administration. Not the same country but the EU, just to give you an idea as to why it got so expensive. I think the package will be sent back to you if the buyer doesn't pay the custom fees.

[Ringlets]

Oh hun! how awful for you and your buyer!      Unfortunately I have had this situation many times as a buyer and had to pay very high customs fees,  but thats all part of buying valuable items from outside of Europe/UK for me and other Euro pony peeps. Your buyer should not be surprised that she would be going to get some customs fees  (even if the actual amount was a real shocker) . You did the right thing declaring the real value for him , and the customs fees are not your responsibility! they are something completely different from shipping fees.  Please dont feel bad! this isnt your fault I know its disappointing and shocking for her too, but she cant expect you to pay those fees and  she shouldnt be able to give you a neg due to this because ebay states that the customs fees are not the sellers responsibiilty.

  Considering that this auction did not go as high as I personally expected/ hoped, were I in your position I would state, as nicely as possible and with many apologies, that customs fees are not shipping fees and that if she is not happy paying them that I would offer her a full refund on Thai Icey upon his arrival back home. It's really the only choice that you have unless you are willing to fork up those fees!
 

I completely agree with Cherry  ^^  the only thing you can do is to let her know you are sorry to hear what happened, explain about the customs fees and see if she will still want him. If she doesnt want to pay the fees then offer to refund her once the pony is returned to you  (he will be sent back to you if she doesnt pay the fees)
   this is such a stressful situation to deal with! I hope that your buyer is understanding