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16 Dec 2000, Thailand

Sir,

Should I receive an online order say from the USA or continental Europe and on dispatching the products, if I declare the item as a gift or issue a devalued invoice, would there be any duties payable by my clients and what would the legal implications be for us as well as for our clients should it be found that the product was not a gift but actually a purchase made online?

The second question sir, is that at our website, if we use images from say a magazine or catalogue that we might consider as "public property" do we still need to ask for permission from the printers/publishers of said catalogue. I refer in this case for example to catalogues published by mail order houses depicting clothing styles etc which we would like to use for displaying at our website. I found a related question but unfortunately it did not allude specifically to such situations. Hence please enlighten.

I do thank you in advance.

RI

Dear RI:

Question 1

What duty a customer would have to pay depends on the country in which your customer receives the product.

I believe you would not suffer any immediate consequences should you modify the truth on customs declaration forms. The immediate consequences would come if Thai customs were to take a look at your parcels before they leave the country and determine that your declaration is not true. You would probably be subject to a fine initially and close scrutiny of all your parcels for sometime thereafter.

That said, Thai customs will probably not be particularly interested in small parcels leaving the county. It is customs in the receiving country which are likely to be interested. They will not have jurisdiction over you, however, they will be able to levy correct duty for the value of the parcel and make your customer pay this. Potentially, the customer might also be questioned as to why a commercial shipment was sent as a gift and/or undervalued on the declaration form. This may upset your customer and prevent future orders. Alternatively, your customer might refuse the order altogether, in which case you will not be paid for it. (Even if the customer has paid already via credit card, he would be able to do a charge-back via his credit card company). Moreover, Customs in the customer's country might well inform Thai customs about your dishonesty - and this could also lead to trouble for you.

In addition, if the order is damaged or lost during shipment, then the only compensation you will receive is the declared value of the product rather than the full value.

Finally, I think it behoves all businesspeople, particularly those operating on the Internet, to be totally honest. Many people are not buying on-line because they do not have trust and confidence in e-commerce. Demonstrating total honesty is one means of promoting trust and confidence. And if you are not honest about one issue (even if it is in an effort to benefit your customers), it may cause people to question your honesty in other matters. I am sure this is something you do not want.

Question 2

How would you like it if competitors considered content on your web site to be in public domain - and used it without asking your permission? Images in catalogues are not in the public domain and unless the catalogue explicitly gives permission to use its images, you are not legally entitled to use them. So, ask permission first. In my experience, most catalogue publishers will allow you to use their images if you give them credit.

Alternatively, if your promotional budget is tight, I recommend you contact one of the local universities which offer a photography course and see if any students would be interested in doing a series of photographs for you as a final year project. You would get good images and she would get some professional work in her portfolio.

Good luck,

Dr. Ecommerce