International buttholes on eBay

[save2600]

**** Jim! I just wrote up a 4 paragraph note on this whole topic, only to have been booted off A.org in a time out session or something!? This new site, ahem... calming down now.  lol

Just wanted to say I totally feel your pain regarding International orders. ALL of the countries you mentioned have typical patterns of "lost" mail. It was only $20 for crying out loud. And yes, seems like character assassination for sure. You unblocked and started communicating with some of us again after 'the hunt' as you put it (lol) and this is what you get. :-(

My .02¢:

Ideal - Redrumloa sent out your ****, period. That's obvious and while you and some of us have differed in the past on other topics, Jim is NOT a thief OR a rip-off con-artist. Everyone knows him well enough to make that observation. If you purposely bought something on the cheap, just to have a conveniently "bad" experience to assassinate his biz on ePay - than shame on you! If that's not the case and you truly feel duped, then know that packages DO get lost all_the_time abroad. As an adult that trades internationally, you should know that by now. The feedback you left was totally inappropriate. Hopefully you two can come to some kind of agreement, retract the awful feedback, grow, learn and move on.

[save2600]

I
Sometimes, they ask up to 500% extra in "taxes" they made up in that moment like "this card looks like new, its impossible that is form a Commodore Amiga, even tough it says 1992" (like a Blizzard card). "For us, its a new card and you are trying to scamm us". That is why i beg sellers (from here, from other Amiga forums and from ebay, to declare item as gift/non working hardware/non commercial value) so no harm to anybody, and i can have the item without having to leave a kidney at Local Customs Office.

This is where it gets dicey. Keep something in mind here: while I don't agree with having to pay duties or taxes, there IS usually a substantial monetary "value" and you're asking us to commit fraud by "fudging" the numbers. Where this really becomes a problem is when the package actually does get lost or damaged. All the international customs forms I've seen always have 2 boxes for value: declared value (this is where you can check "gift") and insured value. At the request of a customer once, I was asked to enter $5 gift and then insure the package against loss or damage at it's full ePay purchase price. Well, the clerk at the USPS had something to say about that - and it made sense. It was clear the customer wanted to avoid unnecessary taxes on something he bought, but in no way would either post office honour an insurance claim had something gone wrong. And actually, last time I went to dispatch something, I wasn't "allowed" to insure at a higher rate and declare at a much lower. Maybe they're cracking down now like everything else. Seems everyone has to get their money for nothing these days.

Oh - and Argentina sounds like a real lovely place to live. But then again, so does 98% of South America. I hope, wish and pray things turn around for you guys down there. The drug and corruption rings HAVE to cease, but we all know it never will. Seems you've kept a good sense of humour about things though, so that's good.

[save2600]

Hope i made my point little clearer now, and please, dont think about me like some kind of thieve or a guy who wants to commit fraud, or who wants you to commit fraud

Sebastian

Oh no, no, no. I get where you're coming from. I was just generalising when I said: "you're" before. It does happen often when dealing with international trading. It's just a shame good people are "forced" or "tempted" to do something "left" (as you put it - good one!) but in this light, what is obviously corruption and extortion under the guise of taxes, I am not empathetic for a crooked governments plight. And I'm not (civilly) judging either, just pointing out some of the inherent hazards of dealing internationally is all.

And yes, honestly - *if* it can be avoided, I prefer not to deal internationally - for all the reasons above. But when I do, it's nice that both parties understand and accept the risks involved. Your proposition of declaring for cheap and not insuring is clearly the way to go if you do not want to pay unfair taxes. Just be sure you're dealing with mature and well established traders though. As most of the members here on A.org are  :-)

[save2600]

Sigh.. Anyone speak Italian who is familiar with Catweasel feel like giving a hand?

Maybe Google Translator could be of use?

http://translate.google.com/translate_t#

[save2600]

It's getting harder to win....

Truer universal words have not been spoken as of late.