I have recently been contacted by someone from Italy looking to purchase a 1500 graded card from me. From my understanding overall I am willing to pay the shipping price and he wants to do a g and s sale. I find this ok, however they want me to send the item as gift to avoid customs for them. They seem reliable and have good feedback from others, so don’t think it is a scam of any sort. Any tips on how to deal with this as they really want their package insured understandably, but with that they pretty much have to pay customs fees correct? Otherwise I don’t think I can insure a gift package for 1500 without it being suspicious. I’d prefer to have them not have to pay customs fees but I just don’t see any way around this. Thanks for any input!
Hi, I don’t know any way of purchasing insurance without declaring the value and paying customs. A good compromise may be shipping with DHL because it is tracked, rather than risking it untracked with USPS especially during the holiday season. When shipping a bubble mailer DHL was about $90 while USPS was about $25. Hope this helps!
dangerous, bc if the value isnt declared propperly an something happens to it, guaranteed postal insurance isnt going to cover the propper value + this is fraud to. i live in the EU and always pay customs to avoid the above.
Never do what others do. always declare the value of it unless you wanna commit tax fraud. I bought a card from Netherlands and thankfully didn’t have to pay import charges.
@navsferatu customs in Italy are 22% of the item’s declared value, which would be 330$ in this case, so that’s why they buyer would like you to under declare. I’m no expert in laws even of my own country, however just marking the item as gift should not be enough to avoid customs. The only option would be to declare the value lower than 1500, however that would prevent you from being able to insure the package for the full value I guess. I would only consider declaring the value lower if they took the risk of paying with f&f.
If you need more info on the buyer you can PM the name, though I cannot guarantee I know the guy.
You can’t underdeclare as a gift AND insure the package at full value.
This is a situation where you need to understand your responsibilities as a buyer or seller. As a seller G&S means you are responsible for the safe delivery of the item. If it gets lost or the buyer has am issue with what they received, YOU are on the hook. Insurance is your problem to deal with, it’s not on the buyer.
F&f is basically a donation. As a seller there’s no obligation to do anything to fulfill the deal outside of your honour, dignity and reputation. If the package is lost it’s not really your problem as the seller unless you feel compelled to compensate in some way.
Someone who asks to pay G&S AND to underdeclare is not only asking you to commit mail fraud but also to take 100% of the responsibility for the safe delivery of the package with no option for a security net should something go wrong, ie. insurance
Honestly I refuse to sell if someone wants me to underdeclare and to pay g&s unless I personally know them. They want their cake and to eat it too and expect you to foot the bill. It’s a sign of someone new or just someone that doesn’t have respect for you as a seller. Couple that with am Italian buyer and that’s a hell no from me
Recently I sent an very expensive card to a buyer in Italy (deal was made on this forum). I used FedEx express to ship the package from Canada to Italy. My declared value was $100 uninsured. He accepted the risk. The package was tracked and delivered in three days.
If he paid via G&S then it doesn’t matter if he says that he is accepting the risk. He would still win the paypal case if it didn’t get to him and he opened one.