Best Solution for Customs? International Sales

[virgin]

I'm in the US and recently began selling iPhones on eBay.
I've sold about 10-12 successfully with all satisfied buyers.

However, one problem many buyers had was custom duties.
France, Italy, Croatia, and Germany were among the countries where buyers had to pay custom duties.

I get daily emails from prospective buyers asking me if it's possible to declare as a gift and with low value ($100-$200) in which i typically agree. However, I'd like to find an alternative as this leaves me at risk in the case the shipment is lost/stolen, I won't be able to claim the true insurance value.

What are you international sellers doing to alleviate customs duties of your buyers, while still having the peace of mind of being fully insured?


Thanks!
virgin

[para58]

hi

as i am from germany i might explain something about our customs.

Shipping iPhones as a gift will not prevent the package from beeing openend.
Everything with a worth above 175 Euros will NEVER be declared as a gift by custom.

It's just luck if you can get a package through the custom without being opened.

If it gets opened it will be charged with 19% tax. So they take 399$ plus US Sales Tax --> lets say something about 445$ and transfer it into Euros and than charge 19% on this.


Best shipping method might be FedEx or UPS.
I hate USPS because they update their tracking infos only once a day.

[redfanatic]

well, i am a buyer at the moment and looking to buy iphones, and some sellers are just saying they cannot be held responsible and if it gets lost it is not their fault so they are not liable to do anything. so when sent with fedex or ups whats the difference?

im in UK so here we are charged 17.5% VAT and then sometimes around 5% for Costums, and this will total too much. its either insure it = more peace of mind, pay more for insurance, and for vat etc, lower value and send = less peace of mind, lower charge and so cheaper total. what do you think?

[maek24]

hi virgin im interested on buying the iphones
contact info
margote45@hotmail.com
miguel_argote@yahoo.com

2 8gb iphones per week
thanks,