Customs cock up by son

[Rhinosaurus]

My son purchased a laptop from USA for £675, via PayPal using a Barclaycard - when it arrived he received a customs invoice for £143 which he could not afford to pay, he had no idea he would have to pay VAT and the seller had told him he wouldn't have to as he would mark it as a "gift".

My son did not pay it as he doesn't have the money, it has now been deemed return to sender and got exported back to USA on 19th July by parcel force. That is where the tracking ends.

Where do we stand here -'the seller is down a laptop and my son is down £675, who is responsible for chasing this up with parcel force?

I know my son has cocked up and I wish he had told me what was going on, so that I could have sorted it out properly, but any advice what to do now much appreciated.

I can't phone them till tomorrow when he is here. He had phoned Barclaycard and they have logged a dispute and frozen interest and charges, and are sending some forms to fill in.

if it isn't your account then they won't speak to you.

I always thought that if the item wasn't delivered to the address with proof then it wasn't received so you can get your money back?
It's not the same as having received it decided you don't like and send it back..in that case the buyer would need to send it tracked back to the seller.
Why is PayPal saying that they need to have proof it got back to the seller? Am I missing something here?
Sounds like they think you had the item and sent it back hence not as described and need tracked return?

OP please please follow nauticant's advice. That is exactly how to play the PayPal game. Nothing about gift, tax, invoices, tracking totally put the onus back on the seller. The item was never received so there is no way anyone can rule that it was significantly not as described. Your son must keep using PayPal's language 'the item was not received so xyz' It is not his problem it has not been returned to the seller. He didn't return it, the depot did because he never received it. The item was not received by him so it wasn't returned by him and therefore it was never in his possession to decide whether it was significantly not as described or not. PayPal are shits. Utter shits. They do everything they can not to be out of pocket. They do not give two shiny shits about the seller or the buyer. Your son did not receive the item. End of.

Update on this.
PayPal found in the sellers favour, so I phoned PayPal, and asked how they can do this as we have not received the item, and by doing that the seller would never refund now even if he did receive the item back. PayPal said when this happens they always find for the seller, as the buyer is responsible for customs charges, even if the seller has offered to send as a "gift". I asked to speak to a manager, who advised me to make a claim through Barclaycard for a chargeback.
My son phoned Barclaycard, they sent out some forms a few days later, filled them in With the parcel force tracking details showing it had been exported from the Uk and never delivered here, one week later Barclaycard have refunded the £675.

Glad things got sorted in the end OP. Nice one Barclaycard! Not good at all Paypal. Do you think the seller has the laptop. What a mess the whole thing was. Really puts you off buying from the States, I got burnt once with the charges from there.

From the screenshot up thread it is obvious the buyer changed the case to "not as described".

Anyway, glad barclaycard sorted it.

(Makes mental note to teach daughter about customs and excise).

buttered why "not good PayPal?"

There's no proof the seller has the laptop back? As they said it is in their T+C's that the buyer is responsible for all taxes and import duties.

Would you be happy if you were the buyer and you lost all that money?

Glad your done got his money back OP!

That's good that your son got his money back. He was a bit of a pillock but I'm sure he has learnt from this.

Even though the buyer cocked up, I don't think they deserve to lose £675. The seller should have made sure they were insured in case the laptop went missing in the post anyhoo. Hopefully the laptop surfaces in the end and not be lost in the ether.

I also don't see that PayPal did anything wrong. I'm really glad your son got his money but I don't think it was anyone else's fault. The seller would only be in the wrong if he receives the laptop back but doesn't say so and even then he will have possibly lost out on postage and inconvenience etc.

To be fair to the seller, my son had cocked up, although once PayPal found for the seller I would be very cynical that he would say if he even got the laptop back - it doesn't seem right that PayPal closed it so fast, as there is no incentive for the seller now to refund when it is returned.

Parcel force had told me the seller needs to chase it up with his original carrier and if lost he could claim on his insurance if he sent it insured - his reluctance to do this may indicate he just sent it the cheapest way with no insurance. I have no idea if PayPal will then try and reclaim from the seller now that Barclaycard have charged back or whether it comes from the PayPal coffers.

Fruit cider - it is PayPal who changed the claim to "not as described".