another question on consumer protocols

[nineking]

if a person from the UK is buying a cd from a seller on ebay residing in the US will the seller have to some how provide or make visible documentation indicating how much was paid for the item. Assuming the customs officers are going to open the pakage. I f no such receipt indicating how much was paid for the article is displayed are the customs officers going to use their own discretion on the value of the cd and add tax on it? is it the responsiblility of the seller to do this? THANKS

[Buenchico]

Items posted in the US, for delivery to the UK, (excluding simple letters) must have a 'CN22 Customs Declaration' attached. The sender is obliged to mark one of four boxes to indicate whether the item is a gift, a commercial sample, documents or 'other'. ('Other' would be the appropriate box for an item sold on eBay).

The sender also has to complete a box labelled "Quantity and detailed description of contents". The next section to be completed requires the weight of the consignment. The last section then requires the vendor to state the value of the goods in US dollars. The vendor also has to supply his own name and address, together with that of the recipient, before signing a declaration that the information is true.

If an item is received in the UK with no customs declaration attached, customs staff might permit the goods to be delivered (and make their own judgement as to the value of the contents) but they could also simply decide to impound the goods or return them to the sender. In practice, the routine examination of items is carried out by employees of Parcelforce Worldwide. Their contract with HMRC requires their staff to work to strict rules so it's unlikely that the package would get through.

Chris

[dzug]

It is the sender's responsibility to fill in a customs label stating the value on any goods sent internationally by mail. Not always observed though.

If it's not done then the customs officer will if he decides to open the package use his own discretion as to the value - the same as he would if the declared value was obviously too low.

[nineking]

thankyou dzug and hey chris you are a great mine of information and i am extremely appreciative. thanks