Sent a trade pony to Spain with insurance...

[Kazzellin]

And my partner has been told that because I insured the parcel with USPS for $150, she must pay ~42 Euros to get her package from customs.

Say what?

What can I do? What can either of us do? Should I have her send the package back, or would that be a bad idea?

[Baby Mischief]

Wow, that is a lot of money. What did you send?

[NoDivision]

Import duties and fees are just a fact of life, sadly. Your trade partner should be aware of what the guidelines are in their country. Sending it back isn't a good idea, IMO. Paying to ship it both ways again would be costly. And if the item was insured for that much, then presumably you don't want to risk it getting lost, especially if you resend it without insurance.

Since it was a trade, maybe you two could split the cost of the fees if you want? You're not obligated to of course.

[Baby Mischief]

Is the pony even worth that much money? She is being charged because they think it is an expensive item inside the package. Maybe you two can contact customs and explain that something went wrong when you sent it? That the people at the PO told you to write that amount, but that the pony is actually worth a lot less, or something similar?
One time I was charged a lot for a handbag I bought from the US, and the customs lady I contacted to get some help told me that sometimes people write really high amounts on the packages to get some extra money in case something happens, but if I could just show them a reciept of a lower amount they would fix it. That was in Sweden though..

[Kazzellin]

The amount I insured the package for is what I would have charged for the ponies I made if I was selling them instead of doing a trade.

Edit: It's a custom swap I'm doing with an arena member, via Deviant Art. Any time I ship overseas, I get insurance on the pony(-ies) in the package, as I've had ponies go AWOL every time I didn't.

[NoDivision]

The amount I insured the package for is what I would have charged for the ponies I made if I was selling them instead of doing a trade.

Edit: It's a custom swap I'm doing with an arena member, via Deviant Art. Any time I ship overseas, I get insurance on the pony(-ies) in the package, as I've had ponies go AWOL every time I didn't.

Which is why I would not suggest having it sent back. You did the right thing getting insurance. If you have both sent equal values of items and spent about the same on shipping, then splitting the custom fee might be the most diplomatic thing to do.

[Thunderwing]

What is the appeals process in her country? I have had similar things happen, where an item was 'declared' at $100 and I got dinged with customs fees, and it was supposed to be only $10. I appealed, and had to get a signed letter from the sender stating that the value of $100 was an error. Perhaps she can pay the duty fees, and then appeal to get at least part of it back?

[CupidStrikes]

What is the appeals process in her country? I have had similar things happen, where an item was 'declared' at $100 and I got dinged with customs fees, and it was supposed to be only $10. I appealed, and had to get a signed letter from the sender stating that the value of $100 was an error. Perhaps she can pay the duty fees, and then appeal to get at least part of it back?

Appeal before paying or it'll likely be a lot harder as they do not want to let go of your money once they have it >.<

[Ringlets]

Import duties and fees are just a fact of life, sadly. Your trade partner should be aware of what the guidelines are in their country. Sending it back isn't a good idea, IMO. Paying to ship it both ways again would be costly. And if the item was insured for that much, then presumably you don't want to risk it getting lost, especially if you resend it without insurance.

Since it was a trade, maybe you two could split the cost of the fees if you want? You're not obligated to of course.

This ^^ .    Its such a shame that the fees are so high, but you couldnt risk that parcel going MIA and yo did the right thing getting it insured.  I think maybe the fairest thing to do is to spilt the fees and pay half each

[ponylady]

What an unfortunate situation Kazz  I would have insured the package myself if that what was the value of the ponies were if you had sold them.

I am just curious though did your trade partner declare that kind of value on your parcel and did she also insure the parcel being sent to you for the $150 value?

Because if it were me personally...and I was in this situation, I would wait to see if I was going to get hit with a customs charge also.
And if I didn't I would most likely meet the other person half way on the price. That is me though.
 

[Buffy]

In my oppinion the buyer(or trader) is responsible for the fees...

[kitkatvintage]

If I were in a trade & both parties agreed to send their packages with appropriate insurance (or accurate value listed on the customs form), I personally would not expect to have to split customs charges with my partner.   It's up to the buyer/trading partner to know what their country's policy is regarding customs. If you know your country charges for packages with a certain value, those details should be worked out before both parties send their parcel. If I were in a trade, I would not be willing to split the other person's expenses... sorry, that is just my humble opinion.

[tulagirl]

As long as an agreement was made ahead of time that both packages in the trade were the same declared value then each of you is responsible for your own fees.  When ever you agree to a trade that involves international shipping each person should be aware of their country customs rules and be prepared to pay their fees.  I always discuss fees when I am shipping a trade item to another country prior to shipping.  I made sure they are aware of how I will be shipping their item as well as insurance amounts.  Its up to them to say something if they are concerned about a fee.  All of this is communicated before you ship so this kind of thing doesn't happen.
I don't know if you had this discussion before you agreed to your trade, but having the item sent back sounds like a huge mistake to me.
Even though I agree with what is being said that its their responsibility to pay the fees, I kind of think I would split if I were in your position.  I try to not be a stickler about things like this and chance having a bad transaction where someone will leave me a negative and ruin my reputation just because I wasn't will to budge because of the principle of the thing.

[Kazzellin]

I'm... Honestly not sure if OokamiAmaterasu shipped her half yet, actually. We didn't discuss insurance and customs in any of our notes, either. I generally don't even do international shipping, since it's so expensive to ship something in a way that makes it so the box comes back to me if they somehow decide it's "not deliverable" (which means I generally ship priority; I've found it's the only way to keep things from going missing); I made an exception because I doofed and somehow forget she was overseas until 2 months after we'd agreed to the trade and she'd already finished my half (she works very fast!).

Going half on the customs fee sounds like a good idea to me. I'll see if she's okay with it and get her Paypal info.

Thanks everyone!

[Kazzellin]

Okay, apparently since it's been over a fortnight in customs (she noted me on the 25th and I haven't been online much after my father died), it's already been sent back to me. Apparently the whole cost thing is for anything over $50, they charge through customs. She recommends sending it the regular way, with declared vcalue of only $20, as she's never had a package go AWOL to her.

Thoughts?