Got a bad feedback from international buyer

Very frustrating. I always list US only but of course the foreigners occasionally bid anyway. This guy won an item and he's in the Netherlands. He emails a request for cheapest shipping.  I invoice him Priority Mail International shipping cost since it includes tracking and he pays. Next he emails me to put $20.00 as total on customs form. Item sold for $80.00. I put $80.00 on the customs form. Actually I didn't put anything, EBAY put $80.00 because it is done automatically and I'm not going to commit fraud by changing it. Anyway, he gave me bad feedback saying I don't read my emails. Ugh, so annoying. I "reported" it to EBAY that the guy gave me bad feedback because I wouldn't break the law for him. Doubt they will remove the feedback but you never know.

actually ebay has recently redone things and allowed feedback to be removed if buyer asks for things outside of what listing states or asks you to break policies. if you have communication through ebay system between you to this is a pretty clear case where you should get feedback removed.

So, apparently Ebay suggests that you contact a buyer about bad feedback to try to resolve it and get him to reverse it so we did. Mostly he said we didn't respond when he said he had paid and to change the amount on the customs form. He's right that we didn't respond to it but it didn't really ask for a response. Then we pointed out that it is illegal to lie on the customs forms. His response was: Your federal government doenst even work at the moment haha! Almost forgot: From my two adopted graves of two fallen US soldiers in WW2, They asked me to thank you and your goverment for closing down the cemetery...

That was just one of several messages back and forth but I found it amusing. We asked him about wanting to cheat his government by shorting them on customs fees and he said it was just faster if it's listed as under $20.00 and nothing to do with the money. Yeah, sure. I've read his feedback left for others and he's left bad feedback over customs fees before. That's actually one of the things I check when a foreigner asks to bid.  He made it very clear that he won't change the feedback. Didn't really expect him too.

He emails a request for cheapest shipping.  I invoice him Priority Mail International shipping cost since it includes tracking and he pays.

Priority mail tracking by itself does not cover international shipments, the tracking stops when the package leaves the USA. If the item is less than 4 lbs. then go with USPS First Class, it is the least expensive and now has tracking when shipped using eBay shipping labels.

So, apparently Ebay suggests that you contact a buyer about bad feedback to try to resolve it and get him to reverse it so we did. Mostly he said we didn't respond when he said he had paid and to change the amount on the customs form. He's right that we didn't respond to it but it didn't really ask for a response. Then we pointed out that it is illegal to lie on the customs forms. His response was: Your federal government doenst even work at the moment haha! Almost forgot: From my two adopted graves of two fallen US soldiers in WW2, They asked me to thank you and your goverment for closing down the cemetery...

That was just one of several messages back and forth but I found it amusing. We asked him about wanting to cheat his government by shorting them on customs fees and he said it was just faster if it's listed as under $20.00 and nothing to do with the money. Yeah, sure. I've read his feedback left for others and he's left bad feedback over customs fees before. That's actually one of the things I check when a foreigner asks to bid.  He made it very clear that he won't change the feedback. Didn't really expect him too.

lesson learned form this sitaution, always respond whether you feel it deserves a response or not. had you said hey im not going to lie on customers, plus ebay automatically prints the amount. he either says okay, or he says he wants to cancel transaction. at the very least you create a papertrail and ebay will later remove feedback for you if they see the reaosn he was dissatisfied is because you would't lie on customs forms.

Priority mail tracking by itself does not cover international shipments, the tracking stops when the package leaves the USA. If the item is less than 4 lbs. then go with USPS First Class, it is the least expensive and now has tracking when shipped using eBay shipping labels.

Actually there are several countries that you can get delivery confirmation of now through printing labels through ebay lables for International Priority Mail. I have now done it twice to the UK and once to Canada, the tracking is not very detailed but it tells you when it clears customs and when it is delivered. I feel more comfortable shipping international now that this feature has been added.

"New for January 2013, free electronic USPS Delivery Confirmation International offers scan events for customers using select software or online tools. E-USPS DELCON INTL is optionally provided for certain Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelopes and Small Flat Rate Boxes to select destinations. It will be available first only to Canada."
http://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2012/pb22352/html/kit.htm

Husband called EBAY and did get them to agree to remove the feedback after reviewing the messages. Unfortunately I wasn't there at the time and it was my account so they told him to have me call to make sure it was ok. I haven't gotten around to it yet but it's on my to do list, haha. Kinda funny that they want me to verify it though, who wouldn't want bad feedback removed?

if you want that removed you better get around to it soon as they may not do it if you wait around