ChessBaron Bait-and-Switch WARNING

I hope to save enough to buy a nice chess set!

Well, you didn't pay your VAT + Duties to the retailer, so of course, the retailer is not going to reimburse them. You pay VAT + Duties to your national Tax Authorities, and this is where you can reclaim the VAT + Duties (though you have to do some paper work to prove that you exports the goods).

For example, see this page of the Dutch Tax Authorities (it's in English).

yeah I've been there and done that. No use to reclaim anything at the Dutch Tax Authorities, they simply reject your claim after months of letting you wait. This was for when a seller didn't declare the shipping fee on the custom form, so the customs charged me for the max shipping fee.

Oh, that blows. I guess I was lucky then--I prepaid duties and VAT upfront during shipping selection when purchasing at Chess House, and they worked with FedEx to reimburse me. Even so, I was still wrong in my comment--you don't directly pay to the Tax Authorities, but you are typically invoiced by the transport company. As such, you should probably work with them to get a refund on the invoice. (Probably easier if they also handle the return shipping, but that is just a guess.)

Very strange that your seller didn't have the paper work in order to be honest. Shady, even.

I found the best way is buy via ebay or esty that way your covered + paypal , As it seems alot can go south theses days / Good luck dealing with Fed Ex has to be the worst - The rudeness - Demands to pay  taxs with short notice + wrong delivery times

@mr Aernout yes I tried that first with FedEx but they said all they can do for me is providing me the paperwork for that shipment and with that I need to claim at the authorities myself. I even got the shipping cost on paper from the seller, with all that they still reject my claim. For a set that cost 200 USD something they charged me 92 euro for it. 

That's Dutch government entities for you...they don't give a sh*t about anything lol

Chessbazar has sent me an email reply re my replacements. They  apologised for any  inconvenience  caused by the delay in solving my problem.   As other  customers have said, it can take time  and patience   before your problem( s)  are resolved.   Thank you, Mr. Gupta

Hi: is Chessbaron still in business? I went to login to their website site got an error message. Site not found??

And good riddance to those scammers!

working for me.