POSSIBLE EBAY SCAM CUSTOMS DUTIES IMPORT DUTIES

Summary: The discussion is about a possible scam on eBay involving customs charges. The participants are exchanging messages to better understand the situation and how to deal with it.

Good morning everyone,

I’m writing because I fear I may have fallen for a scam and I’m asking you how I can protect myself.

I sold an item on eBay to a buyer in the United Kingdom.

I received the payment and my funds were held pending the buyer receiving the item.

I shipped the item promptly, but since July 10 it has been held up because the buyer is not paying the import customs fees.

After numerous reminders, the buyer keeps making excuses and wasting time.

My fear is that:

1) the goods will end up in storage because they cannot be delivered since he is not paying

2) the customer opens a dispute and wins it because the package has in fact not arrived for him (but because he has not paid the customs charges)

3) the funds are released and returned to the customer

4) the customer goes straight to pick up the package (still stuck in storage) and pays the customs charges.

How can I protect myself and avoid this scam now?

Do I need to collect the package before the deadline for opening a dispute?

Thanks to anyone who can help me

gokussj2024

62 View listings

Posted 2 years ago·Last reply 1 year ago

7 comments

gokussj2024

OP2 years ago

View listings

Thanks everyone, guys. As of today, no updates.

Do you know how long UPS holds a package before it gets sent back to the sender? As of today, since June 10, it's still "awaiting payment of customs charges by the customer".

Thanks

alesssav_86

·1 year ago

View listings

Hi, goku, I'm in a very similar situation to yours.

How did you solve it?

thanks.

heavenwelkin

·2 years ago

View listings

@gokussj2024 wrote:

How can I protect myself and avoid this scam now?

Do I have to pick up the package before the dispute opening period ends?

Thanks to anyone who can help me

Good evening kire9211

First of all, I would avoid talking about a scam.

First because from your account only 8 items sold appear, so it is very likely that you are seen as a sporadic seller and your eBay funds are blocked by default, read here:

https://www.ebay.it/help/selling/getting-paid/getting-paid-items-youve-sold/pending-payments?id=4816

So your funds will be unlocked after a certain number of days.

Regarding the issue of the buyer not wanting to pay customs.

You sold a high-value item of about 1500 euros, so the buyer did not pay the VAT directly to eBay because it exceeded 150 euros/pounds, so all told he will have had to pay something like 300 euros just in VAT (20%) and perhaps also something else to pay, so maybe he was not expecting such an amount and is refusing to pay.

First of all, try to stay calm because if it is visible from the tracking that the package is blocked because the buyer does not want to pay, you have to wait for the buyer to open a dispute for item not received.

At that point in the dispute you will state that the package is stuck in customs because the buyer refuses to pay the related import taxes.

For now, try to wait for events to unfold and avoid getting agitated.

If the buyer does not collect the package because he does not want to pay the import taxes and this is evident from the tracking, he is in a rather disadvantaged position compared to yours.

Kind regards.

daxsisko

·2 years ago

View listings

@gokussj2024 wrote:
Good morning everyone,

I'm writing because I fear I may have fallen into a scam and I'm asking you how I can protect myself.

I sold an item on eBay to a buyer in the United Kingdom.

I received the payment and my funds were held pending the buyer receiving the item.

I promptly shipped the item but since July 10 it has been held because the buyer is not paying the import customs fees.

After numerous reminders, the buyer keeps making excuses and wasting time.

My fear is that:

1) the goods end up in storage because they cannot be delivered since he won't pay

2) the customer opens a dispute and wins it because in fact the package never arrived for him (but because he did not pay the customs charges)

3) the funds are released and go back to the customer

4) the customer goes straight to pick up the package (still held in storage) paying the customs duties.

How can I protect myself and avoid this scam now?

Should I collect the package before the dispute opening period expires?

Thanks to anyone who can help me

as indicated by Sika, and as written in several of my replies to various posts ( one just today... ) , it is preferable to avoid shipping abroad for certain amounts .....

that said, the advice is to contact eBay support ( and not the shipping manager support of eBay - Packlink, which obviously won't tell you anything about eBay's procedures since they are two different things )

gokussj2024

OP2 years ago

View listings

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I contacted eBay support (by phone, there’s no other way) four times over several days. Four different agents replied, and they assured me that payment of import taxes is the buyer’s responsibility and that, in the event of a dispute, the funds are released in favor of the seller since it is the buyer who has “failed” to pay the charges. My concern, though, is that by the date the funds are supposed to be released (August 4), my package may still be held there, and the buyer could somehow win the dispute and then also pick up the package by paying the charges!!

daxsisko

·2 years ago

View listings

@gokussj2024 wrote:
Hi, thanks for the reply.
I contacted eBay support by phone (there are no other ways) no fewer than 4 times on different days. 4 different operators replied, and they assured me that the payment of import taxes is the buyer's responsibility and that, in the event of a dispute, the funds are released in favor of the seller because it is the buyer who has "failed" to pay the charges. My doubt, however, is that on the presumed date of the release of the funds (August 4), my package may still be on hold, and the buyer may somehow win the dispute and then also pick up the package by paying the charges!!

ok, in the first post it wasn't indicated that you had already contacted Ebay ( unfortunately the Ebay chat was recently removed.... so by force of circumstances you have to use the remaining methods like the phone .... ) and that in any case they reassured you in the event of the buyer not paying the charges....

so, for the moment, you can't do much except monitor the situation until something "new" happens

PS: not to jinx it, but Ebay, in the event of a dispute by the buyer, will very likely look at the courier's tracking "statuses" and so let's hope that the latter correctly reports all the aforementioned "statuses" ( and this is NOT always a given.... )

sika700

·2 years ago

View listings

Good evening,

selling items of significant value, abroad and moreover outside the European Community, requires considerable courage.

So wait and see how the situation develops, because the risks of something going wrong are well founded.

You can't do anything else.

Kind regards.