Buyer From Spain Says I Tricked Them By Providing Tracking Number

[mozartbach1971]

I have a buyer who bought an item and I sent it by Stamps.com large envelope flat first class.  He e-mailed me back and says he can't believe I sent it with tracking. He said I never did this before.  With tracking he said they usually take two to three months to arrive. He said with my old way he would get them in 8 to 10 days.  He says I played a trick on him.   I previously sent his other items by stamped mail because they were not that expensive, I decided to send this one differently because it was more expensive so I could insure it for most of the value.  Does anyone know if this buyer is really complaining about the customs charges he will receive? He is in Spain.

[luckythewinner]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

I have a buyer who bought an item and I sent it by Stamps.com large envelope flat first class.  He e-mailed me back and says he can't believe I sent it with tracking. He said I never did this before.  With tracking he said they usually take two to three months to arrive. He said with my old way he would get them in 8 to 10 days.  He says I played a trick on him.   I previously sent his other items by stamped mail because they were not that expensive, I decided to send this one differently because it was more expensive so I could insure it for most of the value.  Does anyone know if this buyer is really complaining about the customs charges he will receive? He is in Spain.

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First you said he complained about delivery speed.

Then at the end you brought up a completely different complaint about customs charges that had not been mentioned before. 

We need more information about the latter.

[mozartbach1971]

I'm not sure how to explain it more.  I'm asking could he really be complaining about customs charges instead of shipping speed?  He bought several items from me in the past and I think I may have always sent them by stamped mail to save on postage. I never made an agreement saying I would always send his items by stamped mail.  I sent this one with tracking so I could insure most of it.

[a_c_green]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

I have a buyer who bought an item and I sent it by Stamps.com large envelope flat first class.  He e-mailed me back and says he can't believe I sent it with tracking. He said I never did this before.  With tracking he said they usually take two to three months to arrive.

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That's nonsense. The only issue I can see with that is that Spain is not a member of the e-DELCON group of countries that support sending First Class tracking data back to the source, so I don't think the tracking is really going to help you; it will probably stop at the point where your package leaves the U.S. 

Ref: https://support.pirateship.com/en/articles/2094182-list-of-countries-with-usps-e-delcon-internationa... 

I can't recall the travel time of my last shipment to Spain, but it definitely didn't take two to three months for delivery; I would have remembered that.

He may be charged whatever Customs duty will be imposed based on the value you declared on the Customs label. This is where I think your previous stamped-mail shipments probably slid on through without a Customs label (yes?), and thus no duty charges to the recipient.

[luckythewinner]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

I'm not sure how to explain it more.  I'm asking could he really be complaining about customs charges instead of shipping speed?  He bought several items from me in the past and I think I may have always sent them by stamped mail to save on postage. I never made an agreement saying I would always send his items by stamped mail.  I sent this one with tracking so I could insure most of it.

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Okay I understand. You are speculating that his reason for complaining is really about custom charges instead of delivery speed. I thought you were saying he made an additional complaint.

[mozartbach1971]

Yes, that is what I'm speculating on.  Because maybe he could use this excuse to leave a negative feedback.

[dbfolks166mt]

     There should not be a speed issue. I just shipped an item to Spain, however, it went through the eBay GSP which handles all the customs paperwork and collects the custom fees up front. I sent my package using USPS priority mail but I am not sure what the GSP used for the shipping leg from Erlanger, KY to Spain. I do know however the package arrived in about 12 days since the GSP provides the international shipping leg tracking information. 

[mozartbach1971]

I shipped it via Stamps.com large envelope flat first class. I think that does not show a delivery scan. The label says, Global Post on it.

[soh.maryl]

Is he (or you) complaining that the customs fee will be a surprise to him?

Neither you nor any of us has any idea exactly what his underlying motive might be.  

Tracking does not cause a package to be late in arriving.

[ms.rodriguez*]

Most likely the buyer has to pay customs fees on the parcel since you insured it.  He probably thinks it's because of the tracking  or doesn't know how to say it in Spanish.  Anyway, you tell your buyer that you have NO choice but to use tracking  and insurance on some items.  ONLY a seller decides how to ship their items, not the buyer.    Let them know if they want to avoid customs fees, then they should buy from Ebay Spain.

It's possible that the item took longer because it went through customs and had to be checked out. Anyway, do NOT worry about that.  If the buyer posts a negative, it is removable.  Sellers ARE NEVER RESPONSIBLE FOR CUSTOMS FEES/DUTIES.  

[mozartbach1971]

Most likely the buyer has to pay customs fees on the parcel since you insured it.  He probably thinks it's because of the tracking  or doesn't know how to say it in Spanish.  Anyway, you tell your buyer that you have NO choice but to use tracking  and insurance on some items.  ONLY a seller decides how to ship their items, not the buyer.    Let them know if they want to avoid customs fees, then they should buy from Ebay Spain.

It's possible that the item took longer because it went through customs and had to be checked out. Anyway, do NOT worry about that.  If the buyer posts a negative, it is removable.  Sellers ARE NEVER RESPONSIBLE FOR CUSTOMS FEES/DUTIES. 

I did e-mail him and told him that I had to send it this way because I needed to insure it.  He then e-mailed me back and said please read his message again I have more possibilities of getting the parcel lost through this method and he's losing a highly valuable collectible for his collection.    Something I did forget to mention in my original post is that he also said in the first message that sometimes with tracking they get lost.  So he was also worried about the time it takes and that it was more likely to get lost than the other method.