You should have refunded the money and stood you're ground. If you don't want people from other countries bidding on your stuff, you can make that a stipulation while making the listing, its an automatic bid block. As far as him making a case....I'd tell him to go ahead and complain to paypal. He doesn't have a leg to stand on. Its not a gift, its a purchase. He's responsible for customs duties not you. Keep all email correspodance and use it in the case (if there is one) against him. Honestly, I'm so done with selling on ebay it isn't funny. As far as buying on ebay, once I'm done with my Leedy kit, I'm done with ebay all together.

First, what he's asking you to do is unethical and against the law. Let him threaten all he wishes.

Second, report HIM to Customs and let them sort it out. Period. Give Customs all of the communications and his address with contact info and they will handle it just fine.

If he files against you on ebay, inform ebay of the pending Customs case number issued and let them know it would be wise to step aside and let the authorities handle it. Either way, he will be handled in the appropriate manner.

This is an easy one to fix.

Hi Guys,Thanks for the feedback too Ludwig-dude and Mcjnic..Some time ago i did block bids from italy and a few other places. If i do here from him again i will go the customs case way if i have too..But i will wait to see what hes going to do..thanks nikey

I live in Italy and I also am a lawyer licensed to practice in 3 countries. This sort of thing is near and dear to me.

I haven't seen your original ebay listing but this would normally be where you set the terms just to make things clear, such as "no gift box checked on the customs form". I'll talk more about that below.

That said, you still don't have to mark the box, obviously, because it's not a gift!

Also, the gift thing doesn't carry a lot of weight in Italy, as it does in, for instance the UK where my recollection is that anything under $50 in value and marked gift always clears customs.

I have my theories as to how Italian customs works and I have applied my conclusions to practice when my own family sends me things here and things have generally worked out. But that is a different discussion.

OK on to your specific case: First this isn't a matter of ethics/violation of the law. Nor will you be needing to contact Italian customs (which is a waste of time anyway as most there can barely read or write in Italian let alone English).

Customs got their money from him (along with a premium to have the postal system collect the customs fee). The law was applied. Nothing illegal here.

No, this is all between you and the buyer. He is simply expecting you to act as a guarantor for his customs fees. This is of course total BS. But like I said, next time be clear about it in your listing to doubly ensure there is no basis for argument.

So: (1) Tell him he has no basis to demand customs fees from you. (2) Expect negative feedback. Keep an eye on this one in case he's one of those P00der2 types who puts in the negative feedback at the last hour so you don't have a chance to respond--since your response will be "Buyer was in Italy and expected me to pay his customs charges".

I personally would not block international bidders as they will pay more...the USD is a piece of crap and euros go really far in USA which is good for you if you are a US-based seller.

But you need to set up your listing carefully (like the shipping charges set in advance) and there are (legal) ways to deal with customs to help reduce the problems they pose.

Great info, but I wasn't speaking of the Italian Customs. This gentleman is a US citizen. He will be filing with the U.S. Customs Service. They will handle it just fine. They will be the ones who deal with the Italian Customs agents, not this seller. And, yes, this request is illegal and definitely unethical. Bottom line, the U.S. has the government agencies in place to handle the affairs of its citizens in foreign dealings. This is one of those cases if the seller decides to travel that road.

I agree with everything said here on the matter, but I STILL wouldn't have shipped it to Italy. From what I understood, importing musical instruments was against the law in Italy for some reason.....at least that's what is stated on the US Customs forms when you look up what is permitted and what is prohibited. Anyway, I find that shipping to just about any foreign country from the US is expensive and always a hassle of somekind, so I don't bother anymore. Canada, I might make an exception, but otherwise when I list something I make it an auction that ships in the USA ONLY and blosk bids to anyone who is from someplace where I DO NOT SHIP. I am also one of the ones that believes that if it was made in the USA that it should stay in the USA. If we keep shipping all of our collectible drums overseas just to get the highest amount for it, we won't have anything left here for ourselves to collect, except maybe old crappy Pearl. Yamaha, and Tama stuff! Now, why would we want to do that? Put a premium on Pearl Exports from the 80's??? I think not!

You should have held your ground and told the winning bidder that he was not the winning bidder because he was not in the area you ship to and thaks for scewing up your auction. I would have sent a second chance offer to the next highest bidder or relisted it rather than ship to Italy and have to deal with what you are dealing with now. Just my :2Cents:

Yes he should have done that, but he didn't and was asking for advice on the ensuing fall out.

When all the US museums and art collectors send all of their antiques back to France, Italy, China, Egypt etc, then all the Gretsch's and Ludwigs can come home to the good ol'. Who gets to the be the one who has to break the news to Ringo that his Ludwigs are being sent back to USA?

OK so it won't be especially painful sending all of those UFIPs back to Italy, but how about all those K zildjians back to Turkey. Turks should have something to collect as well and their cymbals are the best.

Italian Customs is horrible, Italy is number 1 on my do not ship list, well #2 to *****ia of course. As long as the seller protection requirements were met with paypal, I don't think you will have any problems, other than the hassel of dealing with the guys emails. The guy is an idiot if he thinks you are responsible for the customs fees, buyer pays shipping which includes all fees. Hope it all works out for you, I've been in your shoes a few times and its always stressfull :(.

True. agreed on...

WHAT?! Ok, i've read this kind of thing on an Ebay US auction before, but that was for an Hammond organ, so i didn't care. But ... why?! imo, that's one of the most stupid things to say, and as knavel pointed out correctly: who's gonna tell Ringo, and the Louvre, and ...

yeah let the other people in the world NOT have fun or enjoy all our musical and cultural heritage.... DOH

and... btw.: weren't the Ludwig brothers native Germans? i'll send you my postal adress and you can send all your vintage Ludwig Stuff to me then... Yes Sir