Product now as advertised - is there any way for me to recover paid import taxes?

[monovertex]

I recently bought a handheld console that was quite expensive and at 19% import taxes landed me with a significant sum to cover at customs.

However, there are many minor defects that were not advertised in the listing and not visible in the photos, and I also have reasons to believe that parts of the outer shell might be counterfeit (and the shell is what makes this particular device valuable), after discussing it with several other people in the community.

I would like to initiate a refund, but I'm not sure if there is any avenue through which I could also recover the import taxes that I paid. Obviously if I only request a return with the seller, they'll give me the original cost back, but I'll still have to cover the shipping back, plus the import taxes. Had I seen these issues in the original listing I would have never bought this item in the first place.

Any ideas and help are welcome, thank you!

[sandypebbles]

Is the seller in Australia ?

As you are registered in Romania and posting on the member to member forum for eBay Australia 

If the seller is'nt here, then what the rules/case is here may not apply between your country and where the seller is

As in, the last seller who left you feedback is in Japan for example  

[sugar249]

Can't help with the import taxes, as that is a minefield at the best of times.

But don't deal directly with the seller, open a case via Ebay,  a seller could drag it on for ever until your time runs out.  Do it via formal Ebay channels and not with the seller.

[monovertex]

My bad, I did not notice that I'm on the Australian forum. I ended up here from searching this question on Google. I'll go to the proper forum.

[monovertex]

Thank you for the suggestion!

[springyzone]

If you go the route of an ebay dispute for item not as described or faulty, as others have suggested, I think you would probably be refunded the item value as well as the postage paid. That is what would happen in Australia at any rate.

A seller would also have to pay for return shipping of a faulty item. 

Those are probably fairly general ebay procedures across the board but you'd have to check in your country as I can't say for sure.

The import taxes though. Nothing to do with ebay. That's gone into government coffers. They were legitimate charges as your item was being imported so it is not as if they were a mistake.

My guess is your chances of getting any refund on those is buckley's and none, as we say here. Means I think it is very unlikely.

But again, you'd have to check your own country.

And yes, we'd like to know how you get on!