Shipping to the USA as a private seller - eBay collected customs from the buyer - declaration?
Summary: The discussion centers around shipping items to the USA as a private seller on eBay. ?There is confusion or concern about eBay collecting customs fees from the buyer and how to handle declarations. Multiple participants, including dr._seltsam and perfect-sally, engage in the conversation to address these issues.
I sold a book worth 99 euros to the USA as a private seller from my deceased father's book collection. For shipping, I charged 15.99 euros as an international small parcel XS. DHL writes the following:
"Private shippers can continue, as usual, to send gifts to private individuals with a value of up to 100 USD per shipment and documents via postal shipping to the USA and the U.S. customs territory of Puerto Rico.
Please make sure that:
- the total value of the goods does not exceed 100 USD / 85 EUR
- the contents of the gift shipment are declared as “gift” in accordance with U.S. import regulations, or documents are marked as such
That would have fit. In the email I received from eBay, it also only says that the buyer paid the item price + shipping. But if I look at the ended auction now, it does say that the buyer also already had to pay sales taxes to eBay. It says:
Unfortunately, the linked help text does not say anything about how to handle shipments to the USA. How can I make sure that U.S. customs is informed about the tax that has already been paid and does not charge it to the buyer again?
And the next problem is that then the declaration as a gift unfortunately no longer applies, so I can’t use that shipping option at all, but would have to take DHL Express, which is about as expensive as the book itself...
Can anyone help me?
raffke2012
·1 month agoPlease make sure that:
Shipping to the USA is possible from €22.27
voli-maus
·1 month agoRead up on it, @dr._seltsam
Pay taxes on eBay purchases | eBay
dr._seltsam
OP1 month agoYeah, right. The red X stands for "isn't" 😟
dr._seltsam
OP1 month agoThe International Päckchen XS is with tracking and the only shipping method with which you can economically send a book to the USA.
If I don’t declare it as a gift, DHL won’t even accept the shipment and points me to DHL Express, which is intended for goods shipments. That then costs 86.40 EUR!
If I declare it as a gift and the recipient presents the US customs with proof of the ebay purchase, I am found guilty of fraud and end up on some US sanctions list 😱
perfect-sally
·1 month agoWhere are you looking? I can clearly see at DHL that the XS parcel has no tracking and no insurance.
Tracking no. & insurance are only available starting with the 2 kg package.
voli-maus
·1 month agoThe parcel is not tracked
Send a parcel to the United States of America | Private customers | DHL Parcel
bootyooty
·1 month agoWhat do you mean by economically?
Did you completely ignore the safety notice on the DHL page?
https://www.dhl.de/de/privatkunden/pakete-versenden/weltweit-versenden/land/vereinigte-staaten-von-amerika.html
Of course you would have had to send it with DHL Express because the value as a gift was exceeded.
perfect-sally
·1 month agoHow does someone even get the idea to declare the items incorrectly for customs? That could still cause you massive problems.
The buyer then has to prove to the customs authorities or the parcel service that they have already been paid for.
With a printout of the purchase details, it should work, provided eBay also properly remits the fees.
And I’d also advise you not to ship it as a small parcel without proof of dispatch; otherwise, in the end, you’ll be out both the money and the goods!