eBay

pacpac-ke7cb0 · ‎08-26-2020

Hello.

On August 19th I filed an "Item not recieved" claim because the Pitney Bowes (GSP) failed to get my package delivered to me in Mexico. The item was held up in customs (in the Mexico City International Airport). DHL has informed me that I must register as a licensed importer and import it myself or hire a third party agent to import the package for me for well over 1000 USD because I, the recipient, am expected to directly pay the Mexican government all import fees. I have already payed Pitney Bowes 473 USD for import fees that are apparently not being considered, so I consider them and the GSP to be at fault.

After opening the claim, I was told that I could escalate it after three business days (which was yesterday), but the status in the resolution center was always "You contacted customer support. Awaiting response." Today, I checked the status of the claim in "my requests" and eBay has more concretely displayed the message "Pending eBay response" which makes me believe that it went to eBay customer service from the very beginning, in which case I should have heard from them within 48 hours. I have not heard from the seller beacause I told him that the situation was not his fault (he delivered it to the GSP center in Kentucky) and that I was going to escalate the case to get Pitney Bowes to either free my package or get a refund. Am I still waiting for eBay to let me escalate the claim, or am I waiting for a definitive response from eBay customer service?

Please advise me on what to do next, as I am afraid that Mexican customs will confiscate the item if I take too long to respond. Many thanks.

lacemaker3 · ‎08-31-2020

Please keep us informed about how this goes. This may be a very unusual situation, but that just makes it harder to figure out, and it's all the more useful to have someone who gives good explanations, and takes the time to investigate and report back. Thanks a lot for doing that.

If you haven't gone over the US$5,000 limit, then I guess they must have you flagged as a business account for some reason. Apparently, it's not because of your eBay or PayPal accounts, and I don't know what other possibilities there might be. Perhaps it is something to do with the Mexican government office that administers the rules about clearing imports and set the maximum limmits.

Maybe you could look into what it would take to become "legally registered as an importer/exporter in Mexico" so that you can give DHL your power of attorney to clear it through customs on your behalf. That might be a way out of this situation.

pacpac-ke7cb0 · ‎08-31-2020

@lacemaker3

I am afraid this is a horrendously complicated process that requires a multitude of other hard-to-obtain documents. I would have to make several e-appointments to get certain documents sent to me to be able to begin the certification process.

Regardless, I will let you know if anything else happens.

lacemaker3 · ‎08-31-2020

@pacpac-ke7cb0 wrote:
@lacemaker3

...
According to the General Rules for Exterior Commerce (Reglas Generales de Comercio Exterior en el Manual de Operacion Aduanera, capítulo 1.3.1, fracción XVII) ...
...

I don't know if you will find this helpful or not, but I found the General Rules you mentioned on line. Here is a link to a very recent version of these General Rules, dated 30/06/2020. There are some differences in the rules given here, which may be relevent to your situation.

I'm sure your Spanish is better than mine, but for my own use and other responders, I will also post the translation of the paragraph you mentioned.

https://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5595824&fecha=30/06/2020

XVII. Las realizadas por empresas de mensajería y paquetería, cuyo valor no exceda de una cantidad equivalente en moneda nacional o extranjera a 1,000 (mil dólares) y las realizadas por personas físicas mediante pedimento, cuyo valor no exceda de una cantidad equivalente en moneda nacional o extranjera a 5,000 (cinco mil dólares), siempre que en este último caso no se efectúe más de una operación en cada mes de calendario. Lo dispuesto en esta fracción procederá siempre que no se trate de mercancías a que se refiera otra fracción de la presente regla.

XVII. Those made by courier and parcel companies, whose value does not exceed an amount equivalent in national or foreign currency to 1,000 (one thousand dollars) and those made by natural persons through a petition, whose value does not exceed an equivalent amount in national or foreign currency to 5,000 (five thousand dollars), provided that in the latter case no more than one operation is carried out in each calendar month. The provisions of this section shall proceed as long as they are not merchandise referred to in another section of this rule.

The "new" part of this, that wasn't covered in the info I had found before, is that a private person can import up to US$5,000, but only once in a calendar month. Maybe this has something to do with why you are being flagged, if you had another importation recently, even if the total value is not over $5,000. As I read this, multiple importations under US$1,000 would be OK, but you can't have more than one per calendar month that is between US$1,000 and US$5,000.

pacpac-ke7cb0 · ‎08-31-2020

@lacemaker3

Yes, you understood correctly. I have only made national puchases these past months: Amazon.mx, MercadoLibre, Walmart, Home Depot, etc. Maybe one of my products was imported but I doubt it. As far as I know, this was my only import these last few months.