Customs Fees When Shipping to International Addresses

If you are selling internationally, you may want to take some time to research the import fees and limits for the countries you ship to. Many eBay buyers don’t know what the limits and fees are in their own countries. Here is a scenario of what can happen if the seller is not informed:

1) Customer orders eBay item(s) from you.
2) Package arrives in customer’s country.
3) Customer is charged a hefty fee because the value of the shipment.
4) Customer refuses package due to the additional fees, or customer pays the fees to obtain his product.
5) If the customer refuses the package, it probably won’t make it back to the seller; and the customer will probably file a Paypal claim to have his money refunded.
6) If customer pays the fee, he will probably leave negative feedback for the seller.

Granted, it is not really the seller’s responsibility to understand all of the customs rules in other countries. Sellers who go the extra mile to stay informed can avoid situations like these. The following links will help:

Shipping to Canada

Shipping to The United Kingdom

Shipping to Australia

[Image Source: Flickr]