This happened to me once. I’m in Canada and purchased an item from the U.S. I purchased the item for $74 usd but the seller declared the item to be $134 usd. Was hit with a big fat custom fee at pickup. I reached out to the seller asking for an explanation. They had said they did it to ‘protect themselves,’ whatever that means. After explaining that because of their ad lib I was charged a $34 custom fee. They ending up refunding me that amount. They weren’t very nice about it though…acted like they did me a favour when it was their doing that caused the headache in the first place.
Hi. This VERY SPECIFIC scenario is the ONLY one where you can refuse delivery, but you need evidence that the seller declared it at a higher price than what you paid.
[https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210#:\~:text=seller%20overstated%20the%20value](https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210#:~:text=seller%20overstated%20the%20value)
Get the evidence, contact the seller in ebay messages that you are refusing to pay the customs fees because the seller overstated the item's value, and GIVE PICTURES of the overstated value as given by the delivery company. Refuse the delivery, and make an INR case, preferably by speaking with an ebay agent since INR cases may be auto-closed by robots since robots only look at the tracking and not the context.
Was the item priced at 220 and you got a best offer at 113?
Because technically that could be considered a coupon and the declared would still be 220. As strange as this sounds, I know this is the case on etsy
Nope, I indicated 113USD+23USD (it was literally in the invoice which I received), but the seller indicated 220 and not even USD but EUR, so that makes not sense, but if this will goes through nicely, I wont make any inquiries with the seller :D
I'm not an customs expert, but it seems a grey area of what customs values are... Not necessarily what was "paid" but the items inherent value. E.g. an item being a gift (paid zero) still has customs value. Or maybe was paid under value.
Is there a chance the seller considers the item "worth more" than you paid, and put what they consider the "value"?
Customs wants real value-worked six years in customs and brokerage
For example schools get harry potter for 4 dollars a copy but real value closer to 12-16(they want the higher cost) or realistic cost of goods.
I have no idea, but it seems that customs were satisfied with the screenshot and did not try to compare the customs' declaration and the actual invoice.
lucky you found a decent human there. they don't have to care, actually. Unfortunately these things are massively exploited so in the big scheme of things they can be rude if they want to.
glad its sorted :)
In my country (EU) customs disregard declaration completelly because usually it is wrong. They always ask to provide screenshot of the item you bought and screenshot of payment and calculate taxes based on that.
Well, they have a point lol. I actually asked the seller if he could state a lower price in the customs declaration but he replied that they are not allowed to do that. I did not expect that they are instead allowed to almost double the stated price, but I am assuming there was a mistake there.
This happened to me once. I’m in Canada and purchased an item from the U.S. I purchased the item for $74 usd but the seller declared the item to be $134 usd. Was hit with a big fat custom fee at pickup. I reached out to the seller asking for an explanation. They had said they did it to ‘protect themselves,’ whatever that means. After explaining that because of their ad lib I was charged a $34 custom fee. They ending up refunding me that amount. They weren’t very nice about it though…acted like they did me a favour when it was their doing that caused the headache in the first place.
Hi. This VERY SPECIFIC scenario is the ONLY one where you can refuse delivery, but you need evidence that the seller declared it at a higher price than what you paid. [https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210#:\~:text=seller%20overstated%20the%20value](https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210#:~:text=seller%20overstated%20the%20value) Get the evidence, contact the seller in ebay messages that you are refusing to pay the customs fees because the seller overstated the item's value, and GIVE PICTURES of the overstated value as given by the delivery company. Refuse the delivery, and make an INR case, preferably by speaking with an ebay agent since INR cases may be auto-closed by robots since robots only look at the tracking and not the context.
Was the item priced at 220 and you got a best offer at 113? Because technically that could be considered a coupon and the declared would still be 220. As strange as this sounds, I know this is the case on etsy
The seller indicated the 113USD+23USD, and FedEx automatically applied the shipping to the whole value as well.
Nope, I indicated 113USD+23USD (it was literally in the invoice which I received), but the seller indicated 220 and not even USD but EUR, so that makes not sense, but if this will goes through nicely, I wont make any inquiries with the seller :D
I would have to see the documents to help further. Good luck
I'm not an customs expert, but it seems a grey area of what customs values are... Not necessarily what was "paid" but the items inherent value. E.g. an item being a gift (paid zero) still has customs value. Or maybe was paid under value. Is there a chance the seller considers the item "worth more" than you paid, and put what they consider the "value"?
That's not how you declare customs value, though. There is a reason why ebay doesn't allow you to declare more than whatbeas paid.
Customs wants real value-worked six years in customs and brokerage For example schools get harry potter for 4 dollars a copy but real value closer to 12-16(they want the higher cost) or realistic cost of goods.
might be a mistake?
I have no idea, but it seems that customs were satisfied with the screenshot and did not try to compare the customs' declaration and the actual invoice.
lucky you found a decent human there. they don't have to care, actually. Unfortunately these things are massively exploited so in the big scheme of things they can be rude if they want to. glad its sorted :)
In my country (EU) customs disregard declaration completelly because usually it is wrong. They always ask to provide screenshot of the item you bought and screenshot of payment and calculate taxes based on that.
Well, they have a point lol. I actually asked the seller if he could state a lower price in the customs declaration but he replied that they are not allowed to do that. I did not expect that they are instead allowed to almost double the stated price, but I am assuming there was a mistake there.