Sanity check please - was I 'devaluing her art' or is this seller a headcase?

[catPA]

I bought some items from an online artist based in Canada. The first purchase was for just under £200 and I paid about £45 in customs tax for that. Fine.

After my first purchase (but while it was still in transit), I looked at her Instagram and the seller had done various posts about how her business is struggling to survive, 'artist poverty is real', '30% off with code 'help me pay my electric bill' etc. I thought all this seemed a bit 'unusual,' (also possibly a bit 'tone deaf' as she lives in a huge, beautiful house by the sea and does her art full time so she can be a SAHM - not a choice many women could make)! But I thought fair enough, she's being honest; I genuinely love her art and good for her living her dream. I wanted to support her business if I could.

So I bought another item for £280 which had previously been listed at about £450 (I think). She was doing a sale across all her work.

I couldn't have afforded it at £450 and also the higher customs tax would have been a bit much for me, on balance.

Anyway, both packages didn't arrive for ages and it turned out they were being held at the post office, pending customs charges. The first package, as I said, required a £45 customs tax payment. However, the second package, required a customs tax payment of £95! I asked how that could be possible, when I had paid £280 for the item. Then I saw that the unexpectedly high customs tax was because the seller had stated the value of goods as £450 (or the equivalent in Canadian dollars).

I messaged the seller and told her that surely it's standard practice to state the actual transaction price on a package for customs purposes.

Thst was it. She was straight into "What do you expect me to do?" etc. Then went into the woe-is-me 'artist poverty is real' and how could I be devaluing her art in this way. She got very personalised very quickly. She said she will never devalue her work again because I had done that for her! She said I was essentially asking her to defraud customs. She basically said she wished she had never sold me anything because I don't value her art!

Ffs I had spent over £600 on it (with the tax). I was talking about labelling for customs tax - I believe it should be the transaction amount stated, not some previous price. How is that in my control?

In summary, she became very unprofessional with me and then blocked me.

I had left her a really positive comment on Instagram as well - before all this!

Apologies for the length.

WIBU?

Also, should I leave her a review stating my experience?

No, not those initials @Forgottenmypasswordagain.

Thanks Squigglewigglediggle and everyone else.

I spend quite some time researching the tax charges in the destination countries. As a result, I have at times "devalued" my paintings to just 10% of the transaction value to save on customs fees. Sometimes the shipping charge alone has been £90 and no one really needs any extras on top of that!

She sounds zany enough to need a studio assistant 😂

If she is hoping to sell to overseas buyers, she is crazy to falsely inflate her selling price on the customs docket. I’d find it hard to let this go!

This!
I think I'd want to belt her one and for that reason I would back away & not interact with her again.

This makes no sense…

agree with others asking what the value is to her of doing this? She doesn’t get any more money, she is just making you pay more customs.

it’s baffling.

but also- don’t leave a terrible review, you want her art to appreciate so you can make a nice profit one day 😉

She is making fraudulent declarations. Putting an inflated value, rather than an actual value helps noone. Her art is only worth what someone is prepared to pay.

And whatever is paid, needs to be honestly stated.

Have you got a receipt or a record of goe much you actually paid?

You may be able to claim the overpayment back from HMRC.

I'd also email the seller and state you are reporting her to the Canadian Revenue and Customs department for inflated value and fraudulent declarations. Even if you don't actually do it, the threat of it may be enough that she won't do it again to some other poor soul.

What a cow she is. Customs value and price paid should be the same thing. Ugh.

The messages read like a misunderstanding to me. I think she genuinely believes you're supposed to put the "value" rather than selling price, so she thinks you're asking her to state the selling price fraudulently.

She's still clearly confused and ott and talking rubbish, though!

I'd send her evidence that the selling price is what's required by law, if that's possible.

Ducking carrying on like she's Van Gogh.

Burn it and video it. Tell her you see that as art and if she kicks off she's devaluing your art.

Mad cracked cow.

I can only think that it's an ego thing for her. She can't bring herself to declare that her creation failed to sell at her original price.

You make an excellent point about the review though, but that said, it's well documented that Picasso was a complete cunt.

I've never been one of those posters who asks for extra detail for no other purpose than to be nosy, but I find myself really invested in this and really want to know who it is! 😂

I really can't be doing with creatives who are mega precious about 'their art' and think the world revolves around it. Please leave that honest review. Then feed back on how it's received!

Bonkers.

Leave a review saying you would have bought more of her work if she hadn't stiffed you with the customs charges.

Explain that customs charges are based on orice paid, not what someone feels their item is worth. If the charges were based on what the artist felt their piece was worth, what's to stop them saying $100,000,000 on the declararion?

If you have a receipt from her, or a payment confirmation, could you get your money back in part from the Customs?

Please tell us her instagram page!!!

Her original error could have been down to ignorance or ego, or a bit of both. Costly for you, but people make mistakes.

Her responses are mental though. What an unnecessary escalation, painting herself as a victim.

She says she doesn't make the rules, that she just abides by them, and that she's never paid import fees on anything but the value of the product.

She does not abide by the rules. The value of the goods for duty purposes is the amount paid - the actual value - not some notional 'value'. Sadly from what she's written any attempt to put her straight would be banging your head against the wall. But if you still have the invoice (price paid) and the packaging with the Customs declaration on it and the inflated amount, I'd hang on to them. You don't know where this might go next and if she really starts on you on SM having the evidence would be very useful.

Headcase. She chose to discount it because no one wants to buy it at over-inflated, pie in the sky prices. Leave a truthful review saying seller is hostile and caused you to pay £££ is customs charges by listing the item at higher price than paid.

I Quoted wrong post 🙄

Your description sounds like my relative who create things, but seems to get infrequent fights with people online, then of course the woe is me posts to social media, everyone is jealous of her and her work, etc, etc. 😂

I would likely try to sell the art or gift to someone and get that bad energy out of your house.

😂🤣🤣 now THAT is escalation done properly 😂

Unfortunately, there are plenty of them who are precious about their art and otherwise batshit.

on a somewhat but not quite related topic mailing stuff to the uk from canada using canada post is a problem.
i mail stuff to my dd occasionally (when absolutely necessary) my latest experience was returning clothing she left behind after a visit (pj's in the wash several pairs of socks). i claimed $0 worth clearly wrote i was returning used items left while visiting. the uk side decided the value on pj's and socks meant 20 gbp vat fees.
she needed to pay 40+ gbp on christmas gifts i sent and another 40+ on christmas gifts her brother sent. and the gifts were tiny and she was miffed as certainly not worth the fees.
i'm sorry about the artwork hard feelings etc. but the way the uk charges vat doesn't sit well with me right now (yes still harboring hard feelings from christmas).

Playing devils advocate, is it possible she put the higher (non-sale) figure/value of the artwork on the paperwork in case it got lost in transit and she needed to claim on the postal insurance?

Even if that was the case, she's clearly a prat and it's a shame because she's lost a loyal customer/fan

@funnybunny2 i have caught myself doing that. it's a fine line especially at christmas when there is a possibility of things getting lost or stolen.
mailing 4 pairs of pj's Canadian value $80 (which is a lie since no where can you find adult pj's for $20) and the vat is 40gbp (yes that is what i mailed at christmas) i only claimed the price was $20 cad but obviously the government officials thought different. but i wanted some money back in case it didn't make it.

Why does she even care? Customs tax doesn't go to her right?

Anyway try not to buy from woe is me struggling artist types (even if you really like their stuff) because the lack of professionalism feeds into their customer service too. Most artists struggle but those who run their business professionally won't centre their online existence around pitiful posts

Totally mad. Maybe she ships from a small post office and is showing off about the sale price 😆