Sending an item to the Czech Republic

[hazel_grif]

Hello everyone. I'd be super grateful for advice. 

I advertised a piece of kitchen equipment. It is 23kg and over the size covered by Ebay's Global Shipping programme. I advertised it as collection only.

I was contacted by a buyer in the Czech Republic - they made an offer which was auto-accepted. It seems I need to send them an invoice and include the cost of shipping plus arrange the courier myself (I have read before that accepting a buyer-arranged courier is a bad idea but I'm a bit hazy as to why - anyway this doesn't seem to be an option I'm being offered by Ebay)

I have been going round in circles ever since trying to work out how to arrange shipping and what my obligations would be regarding paperwork. Not unreasonably the buyer doesn't want any surprises re tax and import duties so they would like an all-in price for the shipping plus taxes.  So far I have a quote for delivery and insurance via Ebay International shipping through Packlink (courier UPS) but I don't see a way to book this to include duties and taxes too. I called UPS who were no help at all.

Help - completely out of my depth here! Can anyone advise what I need to do?

[simplybygone]

Cancel the order. Not worth the hassle 

[**peaseblossom**]

You cannot prevent possible surprises and can't be expect to know about Czechia import duty.   If it was listed as collection only you'd have to cancel and relist with postage.    If you can opt out Simple Delivery do that otherwise you could end up with incorrect postage.  

To be honest, unless you're desperate to get rid of it, I would probably cancel the transaction, full stop.   And put the buyer on your blocked bidder list.   Too many issues.

Either way issue a cancellation via the dropdown menu for the item on your orders page.    If you want to sell to them use "Buyer asked to cancel" and then relist.

If you decide not to proceed use the reason "Something wrong with buyer's address".   And put their ID on your blocked bidder list:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/bmgt/BuyerBlock

[jckl1957]

It is clear on your listing that this is a collection only item and you are under absolutely no obligation to send it.

Your best course of action is to cancel the sale.  Even if you managed to arrange a courier and collect payment from the buyer, so much could go wrong.  Do you want to spend the time finding a courier and then wrapping the item to survive a journey overseas?  No, you don't.

Cancel the sale using the reason 'issue with buyer's address'.

That will automatically refund the buyer and you will be able to relist the item.

I would block the buyer in case they tried to purchase it again.

[robe_2]

My advice, if you have not already done it, is to cancel this order as soon as possible it really is not worth the hassle, sales to other countries are fraught with problems that you really do not need. If you relist it make sure you list it UK only, I never ever sell abroad.

[lucy_farmer]

If this buyer should leave you negative feedback after you cancel this , you *should* be able to get the feedback removed.

 You must use the reason ' buyer wanted something not on the listing'. ie. delivery on a 'collection only' item. (you might have to be pretty firm with CS, should you have to deal with this : don't let them tell you they can't remove it!)

[hazel_grif]

Gosh thanks everyone. Who knew this would be so complicated! It is a very specialist bit of kit that is worth £900+ and I've had it listed a long while so was delighted to get a buyer 😞

[hazel_grif]

One last shot - I suppose a buyer-arranged courier is not an option? 

[**peaseblossom**]

You could do that.   The good thing about that, from your point of view, is it removes their buyer protection as far as ebay is concerned.

[hazel_grif]

Thank you @**peaseblossom** 
The buyer actually wants to do this but the invoice format I am being presented with by Ebay doesn't seem to offer it as an option. The buyer has not paid yet but the item is marked as sold, awaiting invoice from me.

I would really like to progress with this if I possibly can but obviously don't want to get myself into trouble here. So if the buyer had a complaint after delivery and had arranged their own courier do I understand they would have no come back? I mean the item is in excellent nick and as described so I can't see why they would but this is all new to me.

[**peaseblossom**]

If buyer arranges their own courier and something happened to it in transit they would have to take that up with the courier, not you.  

As far as I'm aware (eBay have changed so much recently)  you'd have to proceed as if it's still a collection.   Buyer pays for the item and then they will receive your address.   After payment they will get a QR code which they would normally give to you when they collect.   You need to get that from them before you give the item to their courier.

See "Proof of collection" on here:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/local-collection?id=4181

[hazel_grif]

@**peaseblossom** 
Thank you so much ❤️

[ile136yz]

If the Buyer arranges UK Export Freight Courier from UK to the Buyer's Country. You would only have to get the item to the UK Export Courier depot, then it is the responsibility of of the Courier & the Buyer.

I personally would not want the bother of an heavy item delivery.

As you stated 'For Collection only'  I would consider Blocking the Buyer asap.

[**peaseblossom**]

Good luck.  I hope it goes well.   🙂

[*vyolla*]

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@hazel_grif wrote:

 So if the buyer had a complaint after delivery and had arranged their own courier do I understand they would have no come back? I mean the item is in excellent nick and as described so I can't see why they would but this is all new to me.

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You should be aware that if the buyer paid with a debit or credit card they'd still be covered by them, they can simply issue an item not as described chargeback and get a full refund that route (and they'll still have the item). 

[lucy_farmer]

'As far as I'm aware (eBay have changed so much recently)  you'd have to proceed as if it's still a collection'

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Yeah but....... 'collection only' items. Buyer collects, gives the code and takes it away.

(I think the fact that's it's a courier collecting makes no odds here- *if* it's still treated as 'collection')

Buyer gets item home and decides it's 'not as described'.

Seller has to arrange to get it back........... from Czech??

The buyer will get a refund if seller manages that or not.

I don't wish to be pessimistic . But I'd seriously cancel and block.

[the-nutwood-collection]

You can send an item DDP (deliver duty paid).  Just Google 'How do I send a parcel delivered duty paid' and you'll see the carriers that support this.

However, some countries have a habit of ignoring DDP (including the UK), and imposing taxes.  As OPs have said, you could be heading into a whole world of pain.  Your choice.  

[hazel_grif]

Hello everyone. I just wanted to thank you all so much for taking the time to help me with this. What an awesome community! Also to let you know the outcome which was that I cancelled the order.

Thank you all x

[lucy_farmer]

'Also to let you know the outcome which was that I cancelled the order.'

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Good.

👍

I'd have been pretty worried trying to deal with the Czech situation!

Better luck with your next buyer ..... 😊

[crg_music]

As far as the collection element goes, is probably best canceled although if the buyer is willing you could still sell it them.

Shipping through parcel2go is under £30 so not that wild. Ebay should collect any taxes automatically and the buyer will see these before bidding.

Paperwork is pretty minimal, in fact there likely wont be any with a broker, you just fill in the parcel details when booking and ebays ioss number + the totals. Worst case they give you an invoice to print and attach.

Now the only time things could get complicated are if the order was over 150 euros or if the box was oversize.

150 euros is the electronic customs limit into the eu so there will be most likely duty added and box size can vastly increase shipping cost although it would have to be huge.

Its not as easy as it was to sell into Europe but its also made straight forward for us, after all couriers want our business.