Unfortunately, it sounds legitimate to me. I think UPS turns over the duty paid to to appropriate governments. I hadn't considered that when I recently used "buy it now" on ebay for some Universal 61/68 NOS brake levers. I will let everyone know if I have to pay a large duty.
Maybe you should contest the value of the item being taxed. It shouldn't be 100% tax.
Keith Kessel Shreveport, La. USA
On Tue, March 10, 2009 4:04 pm, Mitch Harris wrote:
> Just received a bill from UPS for $90 customs charges for an item
> purchased from Germany several weeks ago. This is almost as much as the
> item cost, and I haven't seen a customs charge like this in years of
> buying from Eurpean sellers on ebay. This was a large dealer/seller on
> ebay that has very good feedback and for which there was no report of
> customs difficulties--report was that they handled all this through their
> bonded shipping. Anyone seen this?
>
> "Merchandise released by customs is done under bond and is subject ot
> redelivery to customs on demand. Failure to rerturn mehcandise makes the
> consignee subject to penalty for sull amount of bond..."
>
> Why is the bill from UPS if it's US customs?
>
>
> Why and how can UPS bill me if I did not contract business with them?
> Isn't this the seller's obligation if it's part of the UPS service?
>
>
> Why does it sound like they demanding return of merchandise--just
> return if payment is not made?
>
> Does this mean that the ebay seller did not pay some part of the duty
> that he was supposed to according to the shipping charges agreement?
>
> It's weird to pay a bill that you don't know the legitimacy of,
> especially in these days of scams. Should my next contact be the seller,
> or UPS, or customs?
>
> Mitch Harris
> Little Rock Canyon, Utah, USA