GSP Returns - return customs fees?

[chessf]

Hi. All.

So I now ONLY use eBay's GSP to send stuff aboard, to give me cover against loss etc.

Have used it MANY times.
I sold a £500 item to a buyer in the USA.
Once the buyer had paid, I posted it off as usual to the eBay GSP address and eBay took over from there, sorting out the customs stuff and posting it on to the customer in the USA.

It arrived OK.
Then the buyer decided they did not want it after all, so changed their mind and wanted to send it back for a full refund. As a business seller I (have to) offer they option. I'm happy with that.

A few days later it arrived back with me in the UK.
As soon as the tracking proved it had been returned, eBay gave the buyer their full refund.

All good so far.......

Then DHL send me an invoice for customs duty and handling fees.

Note: If a buyer changes their mind, THEY have to pay for it's return.

As I never agreed to pay the return costs, or had the opportunity to mark the customs label as "A Return", or select which service was used etc. 

I do NOT feel I have any contract with DHL and therefore can NOT be held liable for costs initiated by the buyer.
So I did NOT pay the DHL invoice, I also did not pay the chase up (increased) invoice.
What do you think, do DHL have a leg to stand on, asking me to pay for fees I never agreed or signed up to ?

[sml192]

DHL are only doing what they are required to do by UK customs. If you don't pay the customs fees then the item won't be released to you.  You may be able to reclaim the customs fees from HMRC if you csn prove that it was a return. 

[chessf]

IF DHL had HELD the parcel, asking me to accept the fees before they released the parcel, then as I would not have known from whom the parcel was from or what it was, I may well have paid to find out....
IF the parcel was on hold by DHL and I did know what it was, I would NOT have paid. In which case, the parcel would have been sent back to the sending in the USA and eBay would NOT have released the buyer's refund.
Which would have been OK my me as it would not have cost me any money.
However what DHL did, was post the parcel to me, by leaving it on my doorstep, with NO attached or left additional paperwork. 
So, I have NOT accepted that I am due to pay the fees. 

In my mind they need to try to get the sender to pay, as it was the sender who made all the return postage choices.

[papso22]

That's how DHL operate, deliver first,  bill after.   It's different to other couriers.

[4_bathrooms]

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@chessf wrote:

In my mind they need to try to get the sender to pay, as it was the sender who made all the return postage choices.

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It doesn't matter; where a customs declaration is concerned the recipient (not the sender) is held responsible for the accuracy of it.

DHL have paid the import VAT and customs duty up front; they are now invoicing you so they are reimbursed for what they have paid (probably plus a handling charge). You need to inform DHL the shipment contained goods that were being returned to the UK. The one complicating factor here is that you didn't export the item; Pitney Bowes did. You will likely have to provide evidence of the eBay sale, your domestic tracking to the GSP hub and Pitney Bowes' outward tracking to DHL.

There is a procedure for reclaiming overpaid import VAT and customs duty from HMRC but I'm pretty sure it can only be used by the party that actually paid HMRC.