Question about customs fees.

  • Thread starter Deleted member 96510
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Deleted member 96510

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I recently sold a motherboard to a trader in Canada. He recently sent me a pm regarding a statement he received for customs fees. He seems to feel as if I mislead him in some way. When we negotiated the deal. I was upfront about the shipping charges and we worked out the deal. I don't want to be unfair to anyone, but I believe taxes and customs fees in the buyer's country should not be the responisibility of the seller. I also think the buyer should be aware of their country's laws regarding bringing in items originating in another country. How should this be resolved? I don't want this person to feel like I cheated him, because I would never do that. He seems like a good person and our transaction was pleasant so I want us both to walk away from this in a fair agreement. I always try to make things right for a buyer, but I need some guidance on this.
 
The buyer is responsible for knowing their own country's importation laws and taxed/duties. It is completely unreasonable to expect the seller to either advise the buyer of the importation laws or to bear any responisiblity for payment of such taxes / duties.

The fairest resolve I can come up with would be for the buyer to not accept delivery and to be responsible for the shipping costs, being deducted from the refund. One problem with this is that it may take some time for the package to be returned to you. It does not sound as if you have done anything wrong and it is the buyers responsiblity to know their own laws. I can understand how they may have been suprised at the duty / tax charge but for the buyer to "feel like you cheated him" is a misdirection of his frustation at you, when it should be directed at himself for not knowing the laws. How in the world would you be expected to know the duty /tax charges in his country when he doesn't even know it?
 
Well, there's your problem.
FedEx and the other private couriers charge a brokerage fee on top of the customs fees. So it doesn't matter if the buyer knows about the customs fees of the country, they're being asked to pay more fees to FedEx. USPS doesn't do that. This brokerage fee is often outlandish, exceeding the value of the item
Did you inform the buyer of how you'd be shipping?

The other thing to be aware of in this is that FedEx will release a package to the recipient without payment, and then come back after you for the brokerage and customs fees, either on your FedEx account, or send you personally to collections if you shipped a retail location. You did read the fine print, right?
 
When shipping overseas I usually use USPS & claim the item as a gift & have it's value less than $50. That way they all most never have to pay any more fees.
 
You shouldn't have shipped Fedex. If he did not request Fedex, or you did not inform him that you would be shipping Fedex, that's your fault IMO. Fedex and UPS both (as already said) charge huge brokerage fees and should only be paid by the buyer if they requested you use a private carrier.

USPS should always be used for Canadian shipping, no matter how much of a PITA it is.
 
I did inform him it would be shipped Fedex since the shipping was actually lower.

I just offered to cover 1/2 the customs fees. I think that's a generous resolution
 
I wouldn't offer anything. I've always been responsible enough to understand import and export laws. :rolleyes:
 
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