I sold my business last month - it's basically a very expensive specialist piece of equipment which is small enough to fit in a large suitcase, so it was a mobile business for me and easy to sell.
I advertised on Gumtree UK on the advice of the manufacturer (who are UK based) and got quite a few responses - one in particular was very interested and we had an email chat about the service history, serial numbers etc and he seemed keen. He said he was a regular importer into the US of these machines second-hand, and was particularly interested in mine because it's the latest model with loads of extra features. A few days later he got in touch to say that his friend would like to buy it, but that she was in America so they would handle all the shipping details.
They arranged for a broker to come test the machine, pay the money and take it away to be packaged and Fedexed to the US. I wasn't really happy with sending to America but they were handling all the courier details so I agreed. With me so far?
Last night I get a call from the lady in America in a panic - the machine is stuck in Customs because it needs a "Medical Device Listing Number" in order to be released. Now, the technology is recently FDA approved and I was part of the blind panel that did the treatments for the 501K so I included all those details in the paperwork with the machine when I handed it over. The number they are looking for is a different one, issued by the manufacturer so I contacted them today to see if they could give it to me - and have opened up a huuuuge can of worms...
Apparently the machine was not supposed to be sold in the States because my particular machine has not been correctly labelled as per the FDA agreement (I bought it before the FDA approval came through). Also, there is an exclusivity agreement with their US distributor prohibiting sale of machines through any channel but theirs. So the machine has been illegally imported and will have to be returned to me. I had NO idea that this was the case, and am waiting for the Director to call me back to talk about next steps.
My AIBU is this - if the machine gets sent back, AIBU to think I'm not responsible? I feel it should be the guy who arranged the deal and his broker who tests and ships the machines on a regular basis - if he has been importing loads of these machines he should be aware of the restrictions on them. I did not advertise it for sale in the USA, I did not ship it to the USA so does that mean I bear responsibility for refunding the money if it's sent back? Is it up to them to get the correct paperwork and sort it out? Or should I have done the research before agreeing the sale myself?
Please help - it's a LOT of money we're talking about (over 12K) and I am stressing... 