posted on September 7, 2003 12:09:11 PM new
I had a few auctions go off in the last couple of weeks with four being won by Canadian bidders.
Three of the four have asked me to mark the customs form as a "gift" rather than "merchandise" so they won't have to pay customs fees.
I consider myself a pretty honest guy and I don't think this is an honest thing to do. I guess the thing that really burns my butt is that I have a link in my descriptions to ask any questions BEFORE you bid. I'd think this might be a question that should be asked.
On the other hand, maybe I'm makin' too big of a deal out of this. I don't know...looking for some advice.
By the way, I'm not picking on Canadians as a whole but I've shipped stuff almost all over the world and the only folks who have been concerned about the customs form are from Canada.
posted on September 7, 2003 12:14:42 PM new
I would just ignore it and put the value of the bid price.
I never check any of the boxes on the customs forms and have never gotten a complaint from the post office about it.
posted on September 7, 2003 12:16:44 PM new
Unbless it is a "gift" check merchandise and state the winning bid amount in value and send it off... just ignore those "requests"
posted on September 7, 2003 12:22:42 PM new
You might want to add that "duties, customs fees and taxes are the responsibility of the buyer" to your auction and EOA TOS.
Once I did that, the gift requests went away and it didn't seem to stop Canadian bidders either.
posted on September 7, 2003 12:23:18 PM new
make sure they are not using paypal ,else if they find the customs fee unbearable,they may refuse acceptance.
the item will come back to you and you will hear from paypal
-sig file -------The thrill is gone!!
posted on September 7, 2003 01:05:19 PM new
why would it be a PayPal problem? just tell the buyers upfront that "lying on a customs form is a felony and you refuse to do that". this is the very reason i have US only in my auctions. I will sell internationally if they ask, but when they do I tell them about the form up front. have not had a problem yet.
posted on September 7, 2003 01:33:22 PM new
the problem is,and it has een reported on this board,that the canadian does not realise how high the customs and other fees can be,so they refuse the item.
the item came back to the seller.
posted on September 7, 2003 01:49:36 PM new
that's why you just thank them for their gift...
Tom is right, don't accept paypal for International sales and you don't have to worry if they refuse it.
posted on September 7, 2003 02:17:21 PM new
Not only that, but let's examine EXACTLY what PayPal says about accepting NON-USA payments (verified or un-verified/confirmed or un-confirmed -- makes NO difference, ALL NON-USA payments are EQUALLY problematical):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please note that if you ship to a non-U.S. buyer, you do so outside of the Seller Protection Policy.
PayPal has taken measures to help prevent fraud and chargebacks internationally, including verification of all non-U.S. buyers' credit cards and limiting sign up access to a list of PayPal Approved Countries. However, risk still exists and you may be held liable for chargebacks due to fraud. If you make the decision to ship internationally, we also ask that you take several simple measures which will help minimize your exposure to risk:
Ship only to countries on our list of approved countries.
PayPal has limited its international services to exclude countries that are known to have excessively high rates of credit card fraud. Verify that your buyer's shipping address is indeed within one of the 38 PayPal Approved Countries.
Do not ship internationally to a U.S. user.
You can find a user's account type in the payment's transaction details. Fraudulent non-U.S. buyers may claim to be U.S. PayPal members to get you to ship to them directly overseas.
Ship to the address on the Payment Details page
If the buyer's address is shown in the payment details, ship to this address.
Failure to follow these risk-averting business practices may result in account access limitations. (Ralphie added the BOLD)!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, I LOVE PayPal, but if ya read between the lines, PP is really saying: "Lottsa luck, sucker if you accept these foreign payments"
Well, Ralphie wasn't born under a cabbage patch, & I don't choke on pretzels, and...
posted on September 7, 2003 02:56:29 PM new
I ship to lots of Canadian buyers and only had the why didn't you send it as a gift problem once.
I followed the advice of one of the postings on this board about putting something in the description. I reduced it one sentence under shipping policies-
All international shipments are marked MERCHANDISE.
Short and to the point. Very hard NOT to understand.
