Could someone please explain the relevance of this to small-scale sellers on Ebay? I can understand that those who use Ebay for business purposes will have to do proper declarations, etc, as there is more likely to be a paper trail that could be audited. But I still cannot see the likelihood of prosecution of occasional senders of parcels ticking the wrong box, or no box. The financial cost of pursuit, prosecution and punishment just doesn't seem to add up to me.
If there is information in these webpages that is pertinent to such sellers, with penalties, etc., please direct us to it.
I'm not sure why that URL won't open for you, but here's the jest of it.
The person IMPORTING the item is responsible for having the proper documentation for said item.
In other words, if someone from the UK ships an Elephant Tusk to the USA, the person *Importing* the item can expect to have to pay the Duty involved, and they also best hope that they have all the proper paper work in order for the Importation of said item.
Generally speaking, when shipping an item out of ones home country, it won't be inspected until it enters the country it's destined for. If it's then inspected by Customs, it best be legal to Import that item into the country, or the item may be confiscated, or worse.
What Customs is saying, is that when Importing an item into your country, ignorance is definitely NOT bliss.
posted on February 25, 2001 04:34:06 PM
It pays to do it right regardless of whether you are an infrequent or frequent user. Declare the full or estimated value, and let the bidder pay whatever duty they might incur. Character is what you do when no one is looking.
posted on February 26, 2001 11:46:26 AM
Thank you, reddeer... I have always advocated a proper description of what was inside parcels, and have suggested to Ebay that they should leave the decision of what is acceptable to the buyer, perhaps with category warnings. For example, they do not allow anyone from outside the US/Canada to view, sell or buy in the "Mature audiences" listings. This is ridiculous, as much of the stuff there is perfectly legal in Europe, and rather than banning ALL of it, they should "let the buyer beware", and simply warn then that items in the mature audiences (former adult listings) MAY contravene local law.
mballai - you are so wrong about putting the "full or estimated value" of the item. It is the PURCHASE PRICE that should be quoted, nothing more. They have the Ebay auction listing to back it up. If you put the full or estimated value on, you will be making buyers pay over the odds on duty and taxes, negating the "deal" they may have made on Ebay.
edited to add: I believe you could even put the value as the seller's purchase price, if you are feeling kind.
[ edited by mivona on Feb 26, 2001 12:12 PM ]
