HELP Buyer refuses to pay customs fees now a Paypal dispute
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2014 2:11 pm
Sorry this a bit long, I tend to be wordy.
Since I’m a still very new at selling on eBay advice may help in this situation.
I Sold a pair of vintage Exxon Coveralls to a buyer in Canada, he paid pretty quickly and selected the more expensive UPS option vs USPS. He then opened a Paypal dispute and sent me a message last week on eBay stating that he was sorry for opening the paypal dispute and that he had the package was sent to his families house, 2 hours away for him. His family refused to pay customs fees and he’s sick to his stomach that they wouldn’t pay it for them. But he didn’t know that there would be any fees and he just wants a refund now.
I did not state that international buyers must pay all customs fees, ect. in the auction, hindsight is 20/20.
At this point all of my messages to him were though paypal. I called paypal and they confirmed that is the buyers responsibility to pay. I messaged him and told him that is what paypal told me and that he should contact UPS to collect the package.
He messages back saying he didn’t know about the fees and now wants a refund and he’s tried to contact UPS without much success.
I call UPS find out how much the fees are $21 USD. Message the buyer and explain that I am willing to meet him in the middle and refund him half the customs fees because it wasn't stated in the auction.
$25 to ship to canada + $30 for the item and if I want the package back it will be another $25.... it’s just not worth it.
What should I do? It’s been 3 days since I made that offer.
I don’t have a lot of feedback and I’m scared that if I escalate with paypal and I win he might give me a negative feedback, which I can’t really afford to have.
Should I offer to refund the customs amount and just make less then 10 bucks on this? If he’s even willing to do that.
Should I just offer to refund him the cost of the item sans the cost shipping and just forget about the coveralls?
or should I just fork all the $ over and use this as a learning experience.
I know $55 isn’t a ton of money but it’s not a small amount of money either.
Since I’m a still very new at selling on eBay advice may help in this situation.
I Sold a pair of vintage Exxon Coveralls to a buyer in Canada, he paid pretty quickly and selected the more expensive UPS option vs USPS. He then opened a Paypal dispute and sent me a message last week on eBay stating that he was sorry for opening the paypal dispute and that he had the package was sent to his families house, 2 hours away for him. His family refused to pay customs fees and he’s sick to his stomach that they wouldn’t pay it for them. But he didn’t know that there would be any fees and he just wants a refund now.
I did not state that international buyers must pay all customs fees, ect. in the auction, hindsight is 20/20.
At this point all of my messages to him were though paypal. I called paypal and they confirmed that is the buyers responsibility to pay. I messaged him and told him that is what paypal told me and that he should contact UPS to collect the package.
He messages back saying he didn’t know about the fees and now wants a refund and he’s tried to contact UPS without much success.
I call UPS find out how much the fees are $21 USD. Message the buyer and explain that I am willing to meet him in the middle and refund him half the customs fees because it wasn't stated in the auction.
$25 to ship to canada + $30 for the item and if I want the package back it will be another $25.... it’s just not worth it.
What should I do? It’s been 3 days since I made that offer.
I don’t have a lot of feedback and I’m scared that if I escalate with paypal and I win he might give me a negative feedback, which I can’t really afford to have.
Should I offer to refund the customs amount and just make less then 10 bucks on this? If he’s even willing to do that.
Should I just offer to refund him the cost of the item sans the cost shipping and just forget about the coveralls?
or should I just fork all the $ over and use this as a learning experience.
I know $55 isn’t a ton of money but it’s not a small amount of money either.