Be careful when accepting returns from outside the EU!

[fgianni]

A while ago I sold a summilux 75 to a forum member in the USA, to my best knowledge the lens is spotless and focuses correctly with both my M4-P and my two R-D1, however the buyer found that the lens was backfocusing with his M8, and he refused to have the lens checked by a repairman at his end (I even offered to pay for any possible repair costs, quite confident that it was probably his M8 RF that needed calibrating), so I accepted the lens back.

However the lens took some time to clear customs, and today I received a bill from DHL with a VAT charge of £186 that they had to pay to customs to clear it.😡

I am really angry at British Customs, I did not buy the lens, and it was clearly marked as a return ny the buyer, and documents were enclosed to show that the lens belonged to me, has any of the forum members found himself in the same situation?

Is there anything I can do to recover the money?

 

[flipflop]

damn, thats horrible! Seems like you could call customs and explain.

 

[Xmas]

Ian

You need the origional receipt from a UK source or the origional VAT receipt when it was imported. Then you need to have a nice dialogue with customs.

Noel

 

[mike_j]

To be fair it probably wasn't Customs that levied the charge as this is handled by DHL on their behalf, no doubt in a purely mechanistic way. You have a good case and should be able to get a refund if you talk to customs.

There is no doubt that the duties, taxes and handlers surcharge is a huge disincentive to dealing with sellers and buyers outside the EU, I know I won't sell to non EU buyers on ebay because of the hassle. Of course, US buyers see our prices as ridiculous anyway.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

There are customs offices all over Britain, and they are usually called the VAT office by local people.

Try a face to face meeting in your nearest 'VAT office'?

 

[fgianni]

Yipee, I got a letter from customs today, my refund for VAT has been accepted!
So in the end I ended up losing only a fiver for DHL clearing, not bad at all!

Thanks all for the advice.