Buyer Disputes Across International Borders

[ppOOTStore]

I sold a BlackBerry Bold 9700 on Feb 13 2010. The buyer wanted the cheapest way to ship so it took me 6 days to find the cheapest shipper and I was paid on Feb 19th at 11PM EST. It was shipped on the 20th and picked up on the 21st.

Due to a shipping error, the UPS employee forgot to attach the commercial invoice. UPS shipped it back and the error was corrected. Then it was reshipped on the 24th and scanned on the 25th (which is the 6th day).

Now the buyer has to pay $107.04 for taxes and brokerage and doesn't want pay. He filed a dispute with PayPal.

PayPal said that it's the buyers responsibility to pay for all these taxes and brokerage fees.

The buyer said he will refuse delivery.

UPS told me that if these taxes and brokerage charges are not paid for then the package will sit in the Canadian facility for 10 days before it's sent for Abandonment.

UPS also says that these fees MUST be paid before the package is released or returned. 

After the buyer (recipient) refuses, then they said they will call Staples UPS (because they're the shipper) and ask for payment.

My worry is that the phone will be sent to this abandonment center since no one will pay these fees.

What can I do?

[ppOOTStore]

Anyone?

[BigKahuna97]

It's a no win situation and sadly you had to learn the pro's and con's to international shipping the hard way.  If you can get the package back and re-sell it I would definitely do so.  The buyer will win the dispute as the tracking info will not confirm a delivery.

[surplusdealdude]

Well, you should not have used UPS in the first place - always use USPS to ship outside the US - UPS tacks on clearance charges of $50+ for every order.

If you want the item back, you have to pay the fees.  You'll be able to claim a refund on the Sales Taxes (there is no duty since Blackberry is made in Canada), but it's an involved process.  The clearance charges are gone, though.