dneul: Looking for Input on Bricklink Transaction Issue

dneul

I am new to bricklink and I need some advice. I had an international buyer contact
me to purchase a set I had listed. The buyer had a request for a set that I did
not have. He wanted to save on shipping. I made a special trip across town to
get a very accurate shipping quote as one was not available online.

A request was made to find the set as low as possible. I offered to sell the
set at cost to me if it was purchased directly from me and not added to the order.
The buyer purchased the first set and it sat in my orders received. I
found the second set on lego for a good price and ordered it. The set came yesterday
and i added it to my inventory for him to purchase because I changed my mind
and wanted it to go through bricklink. I notified the buyer that I had it in
my store and it was ready for purchase. I prepared the invoice and included the
second set to the invoice even though he hadn't officially purchased it yet.
I require insurance on any international order over $75 and informed him on that.
It is written in my store policies. I accidentally added the handling fee twice
and the total was off by $4. The buyer wrote back that it should be $178.xx
and not $184.xx. I reponded that i had a math error and apologized for the error
and said that the total was $180.xx. He asked why the $2 extra and I said it
was insurance. He stated that he did not need insurance, would I mark the package
as a gift and/or lower the declared amount. I responded that I would not. He
responded that he did not understand what the problem was and was I sure I couldn't
mark it as a gift. I responded no. He then asked me if he bought the set outside
bricklink if the total amount could be $178.xx. I said yes. He paid in PayPal
but that is when the angry emails started.

I canceled the order and refunded his money through PayPal. The reason for cancelation
was that he did not abide by my store terms and in the comment I added that he
asked to ship as gift and lower value.

He is very angry and is threatening bad feedback.

What should I do?

y2josh

Completing the sale outside of BrickLink was a very bad idea, as they likely won't be able to do anything about it, but I guess I'm not understanding why you made the sale at all, given that the reasons you give for cancelling the order were already on the table before you agreed to sell it outside of BrickLink.

That said, you can try contacting the BrickLink admins, but it's likely they'll tell you you're out of luck. You may be able to present it as feedback extortion for the set he did order through BrickLink, but I'd surprise if they didn't also reprimand you in some fashion for trying to skirt their fees.

Praias

No clue what can you do but just wanted to say that sometimes asking for it to be marked as a gift and with a lower value doesn't mean is some sort of scam.
I've asked this in the past and it's only because customs really hit you hard when you receive the parcel. So far most people I know do it this way and works fine but I wouldn't mind paying the $2 insurance.

graphite

Appears to be a tough decision there. If it was a normal BL transaction (no outside of BL sales) and terms weren't followed and the transaction was cancelled then the BL admins could probably do something about the bad feedback.

Since you violated the BL terms by offering to sell outside of BL then they could just cancel your account.

ColoradoBricks

I ship intentionally about 30% of my orders, lowering the price or marking it as a gift is not quite compatible with insurance as they are usually asking for the declared value.
Once I have a relationship with an existing buyer we can make some arrangements, but they are always through bricklink and paypal, so we both get protected.

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

Being honest imho is more important than the worry of one negative feedback. I appreciate the fact that you declined to falsify the customs forms. I wish all sellers would be so honest. Your only mistake appears to be agreeing to sell outside BL. Hopefully you will have learned from this experience.

LegoFanTexas

Praias said:

No clue what can you do but just wanted to say that sometimes asking for it to be marked as a gift and with a lower value doesn't mean is some sort of scam.
I've asked this in the past and it's only because customs really hit you hard when you receive the parcel. So far most people I know do it this way and works fine but I wouldn't mind paying the $2 insurance.

It is a scam, because it is illegal.

Those customs and import fees help pay for all the social services those countries have. If I was a LEGO dealer in one of those countries, I'd be annoyed that someone was taking business away from me by cheating the system.

For all the talk of "fairness" when it comes to resellers, it seems everyone is perfectly happy to cheat the tax man.

I pay my taxes, it buys me civilization.

Cam_n_Stu

[...outburst redacted... ;) ]

If it is a low value item then I'll mark it as a gift. If it is over £50 and I think it might end up making any insurance claim a hassle I won't mark it as a gift.