UK buyer leaving expensive item in UK customs. Is this the start of a scam?
Hi all.
Have been a member for over 20 years but this is only the second thing I have sold.
Is a high value antique item sold to the UK for $1999.
Seller was aware prior to buying that they would be liable for VAT and import duties and had no qualms with that. I send Auspost international express and it has been sitting in UK customs for two weeks now.
(HS cose "9706 9000 00", "antique")
Initially buyer did not respond to my queries, but after repeated emails says they are in communication and 'proving they are not a dealer' to uk customs. Seems a bit odd. Almost like they are deliberately trying to delay delivery.
I am starting to wonder if this is a scam and at some point they will simply claim 'not delivered', then get a refund, then pay the customs duties and get the item delivered also.
Is there a way for me to terminate the Auspost international express parcel delivery and get it returned to me if she lodges a non-delivery refund claim?
imastawka
·2 years agoI'll address the elephant in the room.
Have you fully signed up and been verified for Managed Payments?
If not, then you won't get paid at all - the money has nowhere to go.
Read this link please -
Registering as a seller | eBay
padi*0409
·2 years agoAnother elephant Stawks, they've "sold" that item twice as well - double lot of fees maybe ?
asteroider
OP2 years agoDo not impugn me. You do not know me or the circumstances.
I sold that item for $2700 and could not find her address in Royal mail and she did not reply to a query wrt that so cancelled the sale and refunded. She asked me to relist which I did on condition the address was corrected in Ebay prior, which she did.
Then discovered all the hassle involved in Australia exporting anything over $2000 so I told her I would sell it to her for 1999 to avoid having to pay to get yet another government ID to get an export permit.
padi*0409
·2 years agoWell that makes a lot of sense.............do yourself out of $700 because you couldn't be bothered to get an export permit...........
asteroider
OP2 years agoClearly you are not here to help. please go and 'help' someone else.
Thanks to all others though.
asteroider
OP2 years agoWhat a bureaucracy! Imagine all the hours, storage and people involved for maybe a few extra pounds of duty. The cost of the program would outweigh the financial benefits.
The VAT is outrageous but they could just do it at checkout like in Aus. It's the variable duty that clags up the system.
Thanks. I am still a little concerned. I mean: how can one 'prove' one is NOT a dealer? They go through all your bank records and check for companies in your name for every single postage item?
It still feels like a scam. But maybe the scam I am sensing is the UK government customs regime itself.
(sorry about errors in original post... no edit or delete feature I could find.)
domino-710
·2 years agoYou get a few minutess to edit - where the date and time are on the right of your post - there is a downward arrow - click on it - it will show ' edit reply '.
After a few minutes that choice will disappear.
gutterpunkz05
·2 years agoSo the UK system is not all that different to Australian Imports.
High value items IE: >$1000. all have GST and duties (if any), plus charges added at the Border,not checkout, and the importer will need to declare a reason for import IE: Resale,
siddieswans
·2 years agoMany years ago, before eBay collected VAT on the invoice, a buyer contacted me in high dudgeon because UK customs were accusing him of being a dealer, rather than an “enthusiastic collector”. According to him, the dozens of parcels they had tracked to his address indicated to them that he was a dealer buying for re-sale, and so they wanted to charge him the higher rate of customs duty. He was incensed, but when I checked his Feedback it was obvious that on eBay alone he was buying a LOT of parcels – in fact he admitted he had bought multiples of my item, which was obviously cheap to buy here in Oz but very saleable in UK. (Various colour types and shapes of Onoto bakelite travelling ink wells.)
Anyway he completely spat the dummy – there was no way he was going to pay the extra tax, so he left the item there. In due course it was returned to me with the label “collection refused” (or something like that.) So long as you have a return address that is what will happen to your parcel IF the buyer refuses it – I simply don’t understand why people will bite off their nose to spite their face. In the explanation I think it says the parcel will be returned to you by the cheapest method; it has happened to me 4 times (I think) in 20 years; once by sea which took forever, but the other times by airmail.
asteroider
OP2 years agoShe was fully aware up front she was going to be paying vat and duty and the HS code I was using, so I just think it is odd that it is just sitting in customs for two weeks now when the uk customs website says 24 hours and she was fully aware up front it was coming express.
The Buyer does not have a very busy ebay acc wrt purchases so very unlikely she is a dealer. Any customs official can see that if she simply sent them a link to the sale and her history.
Ought to be a 5-minute decision if a customs officer looks at her ebay history which is why I am wondering why it is unresolved. Buyer has not responded to a message on ebay trying to clarify what the hold up is.
Does anyone know how one gets to prove one is not a dealer in the UK?
Geez it's only a $2000 family heirloom, not a case of cigarettes, booze or pharmaceuticals.
gutterpunkz05
·2 years agoThe Buyer does not have a very busy ebay acc wrt purchases so very unlikely she is a dealer. Any customs official can see that if she simply sent them a link to the sale and her history.
Ought to be a 5-minute decision if a customs officer looks at her ebay history which is why I am wondering why it is unresolved. Buyer has not responded to a message on ebay trying to clarify what the hold up is.
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Very much an over simplification, How many legitimate ebay accounts can one have let alone the others. How many other trading sites can one use, then add in B&M and personal trading.
I would expect it to be more a complete vetting of an individuals finances and a requirement to explain any dubious funds.
Who knows, maybe their import records have been flagged
sugar249
·2 years agoWell yes that is an option, but than they would charge everyone the higher rate. Would you like to be responsible for that suggestion.
And why should it be Ebays issue to sort a solution, its a buyer and UK custos issue, they should sort it
sugar249
·2 years agoIt could be right, UK customs do have different rules for private buyers and dealers, I can't remember what, but remember a very good friend from over there going through the same hurdles, as she had purchased a few items over the years, and they were starting to think for resale. But she just liked old ''junk''. edit, junk a technical term, it was an in joke between us, not having a go at your item.