Dear Ebayers in India,
Be very very careful while you buy items from overseas vendors.No,it is not the sellers you should be wary of but your own customs department.i got a taste of this when I bought a battery operated hand drill for US$0.1(yes,thats right..zero point one dollar!)...i got a stern sounding letter that asked me to produce explanation as to why legal action should not be taken against me for importing an item without valid documents.I had actually asked experienced highly rated ebayers before my purchase regarding importing("buy globally") and all had assured me that for items intended for personal use and below US$100,no documentation would be needed...but how wrong was I! Fortunately the customs officials were very understanding and even without having to personally appear before the commissioner and without any penalties I was excused as a first time offender.
What i learned from this are
1.Ebay does not care two hoots whether you are jailed or penalised ,you cannot even call an Ebay executive....talk of shadow(y) operations!You are on your own when you shop the world from the comforts of your arm-chair.
2.When buying things form abroad,as soon as the deal is finalised get yourself copies of(A).purchase record from the seller stating the completion of the sale,item description,price,address etc...i.e a regular reciept.It would be wise to ask the seller whether he would send you an email reciept describing the sale with his address on the reciept BEFORE BIDDING (B).the payment invoice which in almost all cases would be the paypal reciept you get in your ebay inbox after the payment is made.
submit these two documents at the local customs office after which an import duty of upto 35% maximum will have to be paid depending on the item category.After that when the parcel reaches the regional foriegn-posts office,it will be delivered to you without further hassels.It will be opened before delivery for scrutiny if deemed necessary.
If any customs official is reading this and feels something is not technocally correct,please feel free to enlighten us.
