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Terrible experience with customs


Mijael

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I sent two days ago a sealed Zelda Wind Waker Players Choice to the US using DHL and today i got a message from the seller telling me that it arrived without seal. This is the first time something like this happens to me . I feel really dissapointed , i just ended all the sealed game listings i had at Ebay. I will have to use Wata now and i am not even sure if its a good idea to send them my games because they can be opened at customs. I am even thinking to travel directly to Denver with some games. 

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Yup.  It's a risk with factory sealed items that customs will occasionally open them.  Usually happens when you get something from Central or South America due to the drug trade, but it can happen any time.  Any time something like that happens, they put a notice in that they inspected it.

Unrelated, but my dad has a couple old Heavy Metal comics that had customs actually remove pages due to them deciding that they might offend him...but if he were to buy them off the newsstand there'd be no missing pages.  He cancelled the subscription after two issues for that reason.

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I feel your pain and I am sorry this happened to you. About 10 years ago, I bought a nice sealed copy of Nes Snake's Revenge from a seller (DOV) in America. He sent it via FedEx. For some reason, it started off in the states, was sent to Canada and then back into the states and ultimately to me in Taiwan. When I opened the package up, it had been opened by customs in the the states (when it came back from Canada) and it did indeed have that dreaded little note saying it was opened by US customs for inspection. 

I remember being pretty bummed out and made a topic on NintendoAge about it, so I know exactly how you feel. Really sorry to hear this happened to you and I hope you and buyer can work it out.

Edited by Dumars2001
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8 minutes ago, Dumars2001 said:

I remember being pretty bummed out and made a topic on NintendoAge about it, so I know exactly how you feel. Really sorry to hear this happened to you and I hope you and buyer can work it out.

On the plus side, that could have been contributed to the contents thread, since customs doesn't typically remove anything unless it's noted in the notice.  Doesn't fix the seal, but at least it'd serve a purpose.

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1 minute ago, the_wizard_666 said:

On the plus side, that could have been contributed to the contents thread, since customs doesn't typically remove anything unless it's noted in the notice.  Doesn't fix the seal, but at least it'd serve a purpose.

 

5 minutes ago, kell said:

If I remember correctly, DOV was in Canada.

Yes, you are right, so my game originated from Canada and was sent to the states (opened when it entered the states) and then over to me in Taiwan. Wow, you are old school and remember good ole Dov!

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2 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

On the plus side, that could have been contributed to the contents thread, since customs doesn't typically remove anything unless it's noted in the notice.  Doesn't fix the seal, but at least it'd serve a purpose.

That is true, and I should have, because everything was 100% intact, but I ended up selling it on Ebay, as a gem mint CIB copy and worked with DOV for another sealed copy (his best available remaining copy) off Ebay.

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2 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Unrelated, but my dad has a couple old Heavy Metal comics that had customs actually remove pages due to them deciding that they might offend him...but if he were to buy them off the newsstand there'd be no missing pages.  He cancelled the subscription after two issues for that reason.

I don't know a lot about international trade, but shouldn't customs be like looking for illegal items and tax fraud in a billion items going across the border. Why do they have time to do this crap.

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22 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

I don't know a lot about international trade, but shouldn't customs be like looking for illegal items and tax fraud in a billion items going across the border. Why do they have time to do this crap.

Based on the dates of the mags, it was when Trudeau Sr. was in charge here.  Now his "son," Fidel Jr...er, Justin, is looking to do the same with the internet, only worse.

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Something doesn't sound right. 🤨

For the record, I use DHL every time I have a chance. So this is new to me. And have to go with what @Dr. Morbis has said. Because the buyer did not say that customs tampered with it, nor do we have any photos to compare what he sold from what the buyer allegedly got.

And for the record, I had products shipped by EMS show signs of being tampered with. Just never with DHL or FedEx.

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11 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Do you mean you received a message from the buyer?  Because you wrote "seller" in your post.  And if so, did you ask for pics to authenticate that they were the exact same games you sent him?  He could be pulling a fast one on you and upgrading his mint CIB's to sealed...

Yes i asked for pics and of couse i suspect he is a scammer. I sent many sealed stuff to US via DHL and never got an issue. Problem is that Ebay supports scammers 

Edited by Mijael
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6 hours ago, FenrirZero said:

Something doesn't sound right. 🤨

For the record, I use DHL every time I have a chance. So this is new to me. And have to go with what @Dr. Morbis has said. Because the buyer did not say that customs tampered with it, nor do we have any photos to compare what he sold from what the buyer allegedly got.

And for the record, I had products shipped by EMS show signs of being tampered with. Just never with DHL or FedEx.

I also think something is fishy ... but i cant fight because its ebay they side with the buyers . 

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I had a sealed Arkanoid (NES) shipped to me from South America that customs decided needed to be opened and inspected. They also made sure to tear up the cardboard flaps too. Putting my tax dollars to good use destroying my legally purchased stuff. America!

I don't buy sealed items from international sellers anymore. I've heard similar horror stories from other collectors so it seems to be a relatively common occurrence.

Edited by DoctorEncore
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8 hours ago, Mijael said:

I also think something is fishy ... but i cant fight because its ebay they side with the buyers . 

In this case you can if you can prove the product was sealed prior to shipping. Otherwise, you let the possible scammer win because 'hearsay' without evidence ends with the buyer winning.

EDIT: Click on this link and scroll down to collectors_box_outlet's response. The seller gave eBay enough information that they won the dispute. You need to do the same, showing that the dispute is not valid because the item in question was sealed when shipped.

Plus if it turned out that DHL allowed the item to be tampered with, you need to collaborate with the buyer when it comes to filing a complaint. If this did happen and DHL agrees to pay damages, that amount could be used as a partial refund to said buyer.

That is all I can say because the "buyers win" bit is based more on the seller not doing everything they can do to prove they did nothing wrong.

Edited by FenrirZero
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On 4/30/2021 at 7:31 AM, DoctorEncore said:

I had a sealed Arkanoid (NES) shipped to me from South America that customs decided needed to be opened and inspected. They also made sure to tear up the cardboard flaps too. Putting my tax dollars to good use destroying my legally purchased stuff. America!

I don't buy sealed items from international sellers anymore. I've heard similar horror stories from other collectors so it seems to be a relatively common occurrence.

On my last batch of items I sold on ebay, I didn't even enable international bids because I just don't feel like dealing with that sort of headache.  Sure, I'm missing out on potentially making more money, but the risk goes up significantly for something to go wrong.

-ud

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