How to Keep Your Overseas Customers and Keep Them Happy : eBay Guides

--- It's no-one's pleasure to face additional costs in custom duties when purchased goods cross the borders. This guide helps Sellers to minimize the cross-border costs to the Buyers and ensure Buyers return. --- --- Sellers usually know that the way the goods are declared determines the final amount of duties the customer is going to pay. What they may well be missing that it may also affect the delivery speed. --- --- A commonly spread misconception exists that gifts cross the borders free of taxes. True - there is a minimal amount in gift value that is indeed tax-free, such as C$20 in Canada. True also that Custom officers are well trained to deal with human creativity when it comes to "saving on taxes." Therefore, parcels marked as gifts get examined more frequently than the others and, if there is anything inside that proves otherwise (invoice, a packing slip, a thank you note or a business card from the seller, etc.), the duties are assessed on the declared value. In some cases, when the declared value seems to be too low, the Customs have a right to re-assess the value and thus re-calculate the taxes. And they do. --- --- From my experience, a used ring that I won on eBay for $4.95 US dollars declared as a gift of the same value with a thank you note inside fetched $11.98 in duties when the value was re-assessed to $45 Canadian dollars. If it was declared for what it was a USED RING marked MERCHANDISE or OTHER, there would be no taxes whatsoever. Customs examination delayed delivery for almost 4 weeks. Sure enough, I found it very difficult to feel happy when I finally received the item though I liked it very much. --- --- The rule of thumb in filling out the declaration - be truthful. You will save a lot of trouble to yourself and to your buyer, get your merchandise delivered faster, and get more buyers happy and returning to your auctions over and over again. --- --- Being truthful means: --- 1. if the auctioned item is not new, comes from a friend, from an estate, from a thrift shop, or from your grandma's attic, be sure you call it such on customs declaration. Used merchandise does not attract excise taxes and the other custom duties may be well lower in rate; --- 2. never mark it as a gift. The truthful option is the least expensive one for your buyer. In most cases it is a merchandise, or, if selling on eBay is not your prime source of income, there is always an option OTHER to mark; --- 3. be frank putting in the value as there are ways for the Customs or Insurance to learn of it. Any inconsistency in dollar-value will not be interpreted in favor of yourself or your buyer; --- 4. if there are duties to be paid, better let the buyer know in advance to get him/her prepared for the additional costs, and put forward your best effort to make sure your package avoids Customs examination and gets to your buyer sooner. --- --- Global trading is tricky. There are so many variables to consider. At the end of the day what matters is whether your customer is happy and willing to come back. I hope, this helps a bit to make eBay eperience better. --- --- --- Good Luck. ---