I got hit with an exorbitant £71 customs charge, what will happen if I refuse the delivery?

[sharpereye]

I recently purchesed a bunch of Criterion blu-ray's from a US based seller and got hit with an exorborant £71 customs/charge due to VAT + hanlding fee (the order was over the £135 limit, however I've had orders in the past be slightly over and not receive a fee). As a result I'm considering refusing the item so that it's sent back (which according to info on the UK Customs website, will happen after 3 weeks.)

I've already contacted the seller and explained the situation and they said they'd offer a refund 'if I wish to return the items'.  but I'm relying on their good faith in that regard as from what I've read they'd be well within their rights to refuse the refund, in accordance with Ebay policy. I'll also be putting faith in Royal Mail to correctly send the items back and not add additional charges.

Has anyone been through a similar situation? Did your stuff get sent back correctly and did you receive a full refund?

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

If you refuse to pay the charges you run the risk of losing your payment and the item.

Refusal invalidates ebays MBG.

See :- https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-poli...

[3942rick2005]

I may be wrong but I thought that you will still be liable for the charges whether you send it back or not - you committed yourself to accepting them at purchase. I feel that refusing delivery would still leave you liable as the goods have physically entered the country and are imported.

( based on how Customs worked when I worked for them many years ago, so not up to date )

[xyz307xyz]

I once bought something from the US, and the value on the handwritten customs form was written as US$ 3 oo. The seller meant $3.00 but there was no decimal point and it was interpreted as £300. Even if that happened in your case, I don't know what you could do about it, if that is what happened. (My purchase wasn't actually sent to me, so the recipient paid whatever the customs charge was - a lot more than the value of the item itself!)

[sharpereye]

I doubt it as according to this: https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty you can receive a VAT refund if you return items and given I've yet to receive them and they'll get sent back, even if they were to pursue charges I could then just fill in the refund form.

[papso22]

It's your choice.

If you refuse to pay the customs charges ebay won't help you get a refund, but the seller might still give one if they get the item back.

If you pay them and get the item, returning would be at your expense and the seller may not refund.  But you can get a  refund of the customs charges.

[cheekychippy210]

as pointed out by other, you can get a custom refund, I did, it took some time though, and it was only the duty not their fee.  I used to buy stuf from US, not worth the trouble now. i felt at basket stage there is a message about import taxes. 

[sharpereye]

Update: 

Royal mail had the option to return to sender when I went to pay the fee on their website, which I chose to do. I've since received a full refund (from the seller). 

I'd advise anyone looking to do the same, to first check the sellers return policies and to contact them before sending anything back, as I may have just gotten lucky with my seller accepted returns.

[papso22]

I have to say you got lucky.  You had no way of getting help from ebay if the seller got difficult about the refund.