There are 4 ways to get money. 1. Earn it 2. Steal it 3. Extort it 4. Print it
The last 3 are government monopolies.
Legally, if you are in the US there is no export duty so, you would not be violating any laws. The buyer may be breaking his laws by asking you do do that. (There is no reason you can't insure a gift. If I was sending someone a valuable gift, I certainly would have it insured for intristic and sentimental value.)
Morally (Christian viewpoint), you did the correct thing (render on to ceasar).
Ethically, it depends on your personal viewpoint (it could be argued that you and he were merely exchanging gifts, or not).
It sounds like you acted within the terms of your offer, so don't worry about it.
graywolf http://www.graywolfphoto.com "Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof" -----------------------------------
David Oswald wrote:
I recently sold a lens on eBay to a Taiwanese bidder. I live in the USA. The bidder, prior to bidding asked how much shipping would be. I gave him a quote, and specified, "That will include shipping insurance. For the purposes of shipping insurance as well as for customs purposes, I will declare the lens's value as being the winning bid value."
After the auction closed, the high bidder asked me to declare it as a gift when I shipped it. I thought about it for a moment and decided not to do so for the following reasons: First, I never had agreed to do that prior to auction close. Second, I felt my statement was pretty clear; I would declare the item's value based on auction value, *for customs purposes*. Third, I saw no reason to do something illegal.
So I shipped the lens as specified previously, declared at its winning bid value, declared as goods, not as a gift.
I am sure that the TW bidder was trying to avoid an import tax. I'm pretty sure I would be participating in something illegal if I obliged. But what are others' opinions here? I know this is off topic, but if anyone has experience it would be someone here in PDML.
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