Customs charges for item listed as in UK. Advice please.

[6565chrisd]

I ordered an item on eBay UK which is clearly listed as "Located in: Worcester, United Kingdom", and the courier as royal mail. Today I got a message from royal mail that there is a customs charge of £37 for the item which arrived from china. Obviously the goods were not in the UK at the time of sale. What is the most expedient way of resolving/getting a refund? I don't want to pay the customs charges and then be put in the position of having to prove I was duped. Any advice please?

[tressygirl]

This seller is breaking selling regs,  if listing location for their items as UK,   then buyer informed the item is coming from China.

Message the seller to ask you wish to cancel the order, cancellation is in the seller's hands,  if they don't agree,  it's worth contacting Customer Services and explain this country misrepresentation,  and that you wish to cancel the order because of this custom charge, which obviously was not showing, as the item is wrongly listed as located in the UK.

I strongly recommend only contacting CS first thing in the morning when the lines first open for 'live agents', at 8 a.m. on weekdays,  as there's more chance of Dublin answering.

This is the easiest and quickest way to contact eBay Customer Services, for a Call Back option.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

Lines open 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. on weekdays

9 a.m. - 6 p.m. on weekends.

Automated agents will be available on chat outside of the above hours.

@6565chrisd 

[jckl1957 · Accepted solution]

Are you 100% certain that the message you got 'from Royal Mail' is connected to the parcel you are waiting for?

My guess would be that it has nothing to do with the item you have bought and is just a scam - if that is the date at the top, it's from last year, and 'xiexiaowen' is not an Ebay seller.

Double check the source of the text - I strongly doubt it is from RM.

[6565chrisd]

Well spotted, I goofed. Or should I say I goofed because of a **** phone update that has somehow marked it as unread and I didn't pay attention to the date. Thanks guys, have a chuckle at my expense 🙂

[jckl1957]

Not chuckling here, honest.

It's a useful post to show (again) that all buyers need to look at those texts carefully and not to jump to conclusions.

There are lots of people out there who want to part you from your money.

If you stop, think, check, that is less likely to happen.