Buyer opened a payment dispute after refusing to pay import fees

[robin_vught]

I sold an item for £550.

Got a message from the buyer saying he received an invoice from Parcelforce of £108.36 for Import VAT and that he was not planning on paying these costs, asking me to pay them or the item would need to be returned as not described/undelivered.

I answered him that I couldn't help him with that because buyers are responsible for paying any import fees, not sellers.

He has now opened a payment dispute, reason buyer hasn't received their item yet.

I of course challenged the dispute and added documents of:

1 The original shipping label with declared value

2 Tracking info showing the package is awaiting payments of customs charges

3 The buyers message showing he is refusing to pay the import fees

4 The invoice the buyer received (and sent to me) explaining the costs

Should I be worried about losing this dispute?

I assumed I would be covered by the fact that the buyer has admitted he doesn't want to pay for the import fees and the tracking proves this but apparently this only applies to a case that is opened through ebay and not a payment dispute?

If the buyer does somehow win the dispute, is there any advice on what else I can do?

[12345jamesstamps]

This might be tricky or trickery in the process.

If buyer refuses to accept item usually a seller will be OK.

But giving a refund and then buyer grabs package at the last minute  when refund has been issued...

One cannot go by what a buyer saids and what the buyer might do instead.

Finding out how long package sits might help before it is returned to you.

We have had read situations where seller gives refund and then buyer goes to get package.

A seller needs to know when package is being returned where it is in the process of being returned...then do a refund...unless buyer refused it.

Others here might  give a better idea what to do.

[soh.maryl]

You might want to ask your question on eBay's UK site.      

[dbfolks166mt]

     This may be a tricky one and will depend on how the CC company views it. While they technically have not received the item the reason for that is the fault of the buyer. I am not sure what country it shipped to but the buyer should have seen a notification when they were looking at the listing that VAT or import taxes may apply. 

     Where  this may get tricky if you do prevail in the chargeback a couple of things could happen. The buyer could pay the taxes and then open a return request or do another chargeback using NAD as the reason. That opens a whole other can of worms so to speak. 

     They could refuse to pay the taxes and it would depend on the policy of whatever country's customs office is as to what they do with the package. They may return it to you or they may simply destroy it. If they return it to you under eBay policy you are not required to refund them but it is ethically the right thing to do, minus the shipping and fees of course.