Bartertown.com

Hey Guys,

I have been reading through the bad trader information but was wondering what to do about a situation I am facing. I did a trade for models with said trader. We both shipped the same time and supplied tracking information. The items arrived on his end all intact and good. I received the items on my end and were packed well and good but the problem I have is he sent the package COD?? Which was a $44 dollar charge. I have contacted the trader and awaiting a response. I have made a good number of trades on BTown and this is the first time I have faced something like this...

Thanks in advance,

Jason

Did he say anywhere during the trade negotiations that you had to cover both sides of the shipping costs? And did you agree? If you can answer "no" to both of these questions you have a case for a BTR. The definition of a BTR is a report against someone who caused you to be out money. Typically, yes, this is due to the theft of models. However, him trying to force you into paying shipping is another way for you to lose money. (And quite possibly your models are gone as well if he refuses to return them.)

However, my first piece of advice, (assuming you didn't agree to pay for the shipping and these aren't just customs duties, see following paragraph,) is that you contact the other party and tell him the CoD charges are unacceptable. I guess you already paid the charges since you said you checked on the models? Personally I wouldn't have paid. I would have told the postal carrier to return the package. At this point though that's not an option, yes? So you need to contact the guy and tell him he needs to get you the $44 dollars.

Oh, and I notice you're in Canada. Are these actually CoD charges? As in he didn't pay his own half of the shipping? Or are they customs duties? If they're customs duties then you can't complain. Those, unfortunately, are the cost of getting packages shipped into Canada from abroad. It's your country collecting taxes. There ARE some ways around them that aren't entirely legal/ethical, but I won't get into those and you can't force a trade partner into doing any of these actions. You can stipulate them as part of doing a trade with you, but the other person also has the right to walk away from a trade if you make said demands.

HI There,

Thanks for the reply and all the information. It was never agreed that I would pay both ends of the shipping and he was aware that each would cover the cost to send to the other party. I was nervous about not paying as I was afraid I would be out the models I sent already, maybe it was a bad decision on my part.

I have contacted the trader on the other end and will await to hear from him. I figure I would give him at least a week before I start the report, as it has only been 3 days.

As to duties it doesn't appear to be that way, i'll double check the the receipts and papers when I get home to confirm. When I asked the delivery guy why I had to pay he said the sender sent the package COD.


Cheers,

Jason

Where is the sender located (country)?

This sounds more like Customs than a COD issue.

I could be wrong, mind you, but it sounds like it.

A couple things of note:

1) How big a trade was it that shipping would've been $44?
2) I'm not sure COD is available on international packages.

Eric

Yeah that sounds like a Customs fee. I don't think there is international COD, although it is available in Canada, it is expensive though. He would have had to pay an extra $7.50 for it. Very weird. Is this other guy in Canada?

No the other guy was sending from the States and it was a small package of a couple of vehicles. Its strange as in the past I did have to pay customs one time in the past. It was based on the value, which was started to be $500 and the custom fees were 50 bucks. Where the value of this package would have been 40-60 dollars making the customs (if that's what it is) as much or almost as much as the value of the package. But if it turns out that this is indeed customs I will not push the subject and as it is not the traders fault and more forward. Once I get home I will clarify to be sure.

Jason

If the value's listed at $500 that's almost guaranteed to be the problem. I've had the same problem before. Next time make sure the value on the package is listed appropriately for customs purposes (i.e. what a normal person would pay for a box of used toys) and not the full retail value.

Labelling the package as 'used toys' helps too - I can't imagine many customs agents know what warhammer/etc is

I actually had a friend get charged extra for importing "manufacturing components" when he got a package labelled as containing "war machine"...


PS: You can appeal to customs - there's a phone number on the back of the form. Just call and explain the value was misstated and should have been $50 (or whatever you mentioned). It's a slow process but you may get some cash back.

Marking "USED TOYS" is a MUST!!!!

Havent had to pay customs since I started getting my trade partners to label that way.

HarlequinZero wrote:There ARE some ways around them that aren't entirely legal/ethical, but I won't get into those and you can't force a trade partner into doing any of these actions. You can stipulate them as part of doing a trade with you, but the other person also has the right to walk away from a trade if you make said demands.

If you ask them to do something illegal (i.e. not legal), and the guy fails to comply, even if they say they'll do the trade, you'd still be on the hook. Telling Customs that "he didn't break the law like I asked him to" isn't a valid excuse, and probably gets you into deeper trouble.

You also won't be able to post a BTR over their failing to do something illegal, because illegal contracts / clauses are *never* enforcible.

I just checked USPS.com , and like I thought, COD, collect on delivery, IS NOT available to Canada.

Here's a link to the page I ended on. I figured a 5 pound package going priority mail which cost $27.
The only options available are: Insurance, Certificate of Mailing and Pick-up of Demand.

http://ircalc.usps.gov/ExtraServices.as ... 5&o=0&mt=9

You defiantely need to read over the form you signed.

If memory serves, depending on where you live in Canada you can get double-tapped on customs fees. Country and Regional taxes I believe.

Why don't we all stop speculating on what it might be, and see what the OP finds at home?

Because he asked it in a public forum?

Ironhide wrote:Because he asked it in a public forum?

I believe he was asking about what he should do if his trade partner sent the package COD for delivery charges. It was suggested that maybe it wasn't COD, and then the customs debate began.

Let's see what the OP in fact paid, before we speculate about how he could have avoided paying the customs charges...that there is a good chance he didn't actually pay.

s_o_r_r_o_w wrote:Why don't we all stop speculating on what it might be, and see what the OP finds at home?

Because that's no fun?
: )

Don't worry. At this point, we're all just speculating. I don't think anyone's really debating customs, so much as speculating what the charges might've actually been for.
I was looking at it more along the lines of giving the OP something to think about while reviewing his receipts/paperwork.

Regardless, I look forward to the OP getting his tush in here and clearing it up.

Eric