eBay has become HORRENDOUS! Buyers can claim a return because they want Duties refunded?!

[surge2017]

Since making changes to where payments are made, eBay has become horrendous.

Sold an item which was cleary listed in Canada. The buyer was in the US, he didn't want to pay duties and taxes. Now he's opened an "item not as described" return request, and wants to get the duties and taxes back.

eBay is not helping at all, it's a complete a joke!

[marnotom!]

Was the item's final destination the US or did it get forwarded to another country from there?

[pjcdn2005]

Other than putting your funds on hold, I doubt that this scenario would be any different with or without Managed Payments.  But I can understand why this would be frustrating.  Since US buyers aren't charged any duty unless there purchase is $88US+ they don't expect to pay duty.  If you used Fedex, they probably added on extra surcharges on to that duty too as most couriers do. 

It's very rare that ebay will change an item not as described case but if it is clear by the tracking that you might have a chance.  The best way to contact cs that have a bit of power is via a message on ebay Facebook or Twitter. 

[reallynicestamps]

At one time eBay supplied a bit of boilerplate about this, and I still have it in my descriptions.

Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding/buying.

To the best of my knowledge, this is still eBay's stance on import fees.  tyler@ebay ?

[marnotom!]

I think @pjcdn2005 means US$800 for the duty-free limit, but she has a good point about the use of FedEx Economy to get the item to the States.  FedEx charges us Canadians a fair bit in clearance fees, etc. for International Economy shipments from the States, and it's likely the same in the other direction.

Something else complicating things is that your buyer should have been charged taxes at the time of sale and eBay would have collected them.  If there was nothing in the FedEx documentation to suggest that taxes had already been paid on the drone(?), then FedEx may be hitting the buyer up for a second tax charge.

[pjcdn2005]

Yes I meant $800 US..thanks for correcting that.  I meant to go back and fix it but got sidetracked.

[lucitabby]

If you did use Fed Ex to ship it, they do charge a brokerage fee to the recipient.  This often comes as a bit of a shock to your buyer when they are not expecting it.

[lstechnologyca]

I recently had a invoice sent to me by UPS from a buyer,

it was a brokerage fee, with no duty.
Called up UPS, explained the situation, got it canceled.

I would double check with the buyer if it's a brokerage charge.
Shipper could be trying to upcharge the buyer. ($600 item was $85 is fees!!!)

[reallynicestamps]

Couriers are set up to make a profit.

It is interesting that the GSP/Pitney Bowes is able to process across the border for a fee of ~$5 while UPS et al charge $25 or more.  (Canada Post charges $9.95).

The $85 may be the customs brokerage /service fee, or it may include duty and sales taxes. Was there a breakdown of the total?