14cue

messy situation indeed. this is the reason why i shelled out extra cash to buy my BBS LMs from a canadian vendor. no sense in trying to save by "cheating" the sys. i purchased some wheels from a member on here a few years back and ended up paying about $500 in custom fees. when i refused to pay it, they went to the shiper so i split the bill with him.

i know a mobile wheel guy in Vancouver that can probably fix the wheels @ $100 a pop since it's just blk. have you asked him which company he got that quote from? i find the bigger companies out here charge way too much and they dont even do that good of a job.
if you want the mobile wheel guy's contact, please PM me.


best of luck.

mrlabguy

This could have all been avoided if you were BOTH honest. In this case I would say buyer beware and face the FULL consequences of declaring the items as gifts regardless of the amount listed. There is no such thing as being Half Honest. Consider this an expensive lesson but a lesson none the less.

SheryarYO

i don't think seller should be splitting any cost whatsoever. buyer tried to cheat the system and now he's paying for it anyway. it sucks, but at the end of the day, just learn from this lesson.

advans

I think he said he went for the "best of the best shop" since he wanted me to pay full for the repair. That's why he quoted me a high price.

I'm currently trying to "beg" UPS to overturn the claims, to at least approve it for the minimum. or even put a "damage call tag" and have it shipped here.

but guess what? UPS=jerks

TemjinX2

lesson of the day...dont ship rims international.

FrankW

lol, that doesn't sound right at all. seller should not have to pay for anything. anyone making purchase out of their country should be aware of their country's policy on importing goods.

If the buyer doesn't pay the customs fees the custom gets to keep the goods. seller has no obligation to pay the customs fees for the buyer unless it is previously discussed that the seller is also paying the taxes.

Viper98912

I have also been screwed on wheels in the past.

I sold some wheels to someone in NY from FL. In the process, FedEx decided to flip the truck over, dumping all it's contents. The receiver only got 2 of 4 wheels (2 boxes), one of which was ok but the other was "scratched only slightly" that the buyer could live with it (they were stock wheels). After that, I had to submit a lost package claim, in which I was only reimbursed 100 bucks plus my cost of shipping for the other two wheels because I didn't declare/insure my package (base included insurance is 100 if you don't declare). Luckily I was able to work it out with the buyer that I would take whatever money I got from UPS and would get him another couple wheels from another seller and drop ship them directly to him. In the end, I barely broke even, and that's ONLY because they were stock wheels, and ONLY because I found a seller desperate to sell his final 2 wheels (it's hard to sell something that's not a set of 4).

At $1000 a piece, I don't know what I'd do. And international? Even worse.

I learned my lesson. 1) I'm never going to ship anything ever again of major value without insuring it, and at the buyer's expense. It only costs a few more dollars / $100 value. 2) I will never sell anything of major value to someone through Paypal. Paypal is very quick on the draw to side with the buyer and debit your account. And then hold it for months on end, without caring what you have to say as the seller. No *** thank you. 3) Everything I ship international I guarantee has insurance and tracking on it for this very reason, and that the money is sitting in my bank account first. I also don't do the "gift" stuff anymore.

In this case, the buyer decided to claim this as a gift so he wouldn't be charged fees. This is good, except for when something like this happens. I feel that the buyer holds a major amount of responsibility for wanting to claim this as gift to save the duty fees. If you buy something from here, then you must EXPECT to take on the fees. THE BUYER is the one taking the risk and gamble by wanting to do this, so I side with the fact that the buyer has to take on a MAJORITY of getting the wheels fixed. As the seller, you need to "do your best" to accomodate the buyer's requests, just so you're both on "somewhat" even ground. That doesn't mean forking over a lot of money though because it isn't your fault either and you shouldn't need to be screwed on something that you had nothing to do with.

I also disagree with the calls to close this thread. Yes, this matter needs to be held privately and not on a forum or the internet. And it seems that it did start out that way, which is the way it should be. Yet it's obvious that the two parties are deadlocked and needed more opinions, regardless if it's going to become more bitter. It's no different than asking your friends and family for help. As long as this thread doesn't turn really south with threats and namecalling, I think the advice needs to keep on comin.

Good luck.

advans

^thankyou for your input!

nickgailloux

I'm still not 100% sure who to side with on this. Its just a really bad situation for both parties.

In Canada, when we ship something to the US, you have to fill out this form. As you can see, it has an area where you can mark if the item is a gift or not. You also mark the value of the items. With this form, if you were to put the value at $4000, and check the gift box, the reciever would not be charged any duty, and the package would be insured at a $4000 value if you choose to pay for the extra insurance.

I'd be interested to see the forms filled out at UPS in the US when shipping to Canada. It seems like the buyer asked for the item to be marked as gift but not valued at $1.

jcnash

Thats the most important detail in sorting this out...

If the buyer said "mark as gift", that does not mean "mark value as $X". That makes no sense...things don't lose value just because they're a gift.

My understanding is that if the item is marked as a gift, the SELLER becomes responsible for any customs, but usually, the item is cleared with $0 customs (because its a gift). The buyer is not responsible for any customs charges.

However if a private shipping company (like UPS) loses/damages the items, just because its a gift, doesn't automatically mean they get away scot free. They are still responsible for the full value of the item.

Therefore, if the buyer said "mark as gift" the seller could have (as a favor to the buyer) marked the item as a gift OF VALUE $XXX. Obviously this means the seller is assuming responsibility for customs duties (if any), but usually like I said, most customs officials let the item pass without any charges.

advans

Well, with UPS, there is a declared value, which I filled out "Gift".
(guess what I'm on the phone with UPS again, right now)

jcnash

Advans,

Didnt mean to take sides..(although my previous post does seem to imply the opposite).

Just pointing out that that detail is very important.

Anyway, goodluck!

joyofcola

Thank you everybody for your opinions and Gary for all your above and beyond help.

This have been such a bad experience and I am going to make a hault to it...I have decided to get this fixed on my own and if the claim does go through with UPS Gary you can keep the money as compensation for all your hard work. I don't want anything to do with the inside claim or whatever you call it.

BTW thanks for not replying my emails it just shows me how much you care and want to solve this...well good luck to your claim.

Also I would like to say I did not go to the best of the best shop.. i quoted from all the wheel repair shops around and they all came back with the same price and it was for UPS to pay in full for repair not you...and when I did ask you to pay it was half never full anyways I think I have explained enough and I believe this thread can be closed once and for all

joyofcola

I quoted from Greens, Nu-Brite, Panther, and Shinez all around the same price to get it fixed because the lips had paint chips as well as bit n pieces gone and also nudges. The face had damaged as well. I didnt quote from mobile repairs beacuse they do not have the machinery to bake the paint into wheel soo it will chip easily...i don't think you will bring ur LM's to a mobile repair would you