eBay: Global Shipping Program ridiculousness

johnno07 on 02/02/2013 - 17:25

Hey all. Wondering if anyone has had troubles with eBay's Global Shipping Program as a buyer before?

I am currently in the middle of buying an item from the USA. I bid on the item after checking and being satisfied with the total cost including shipping if I won. The listing said "Import charges: To be provided at checkout". I ignored this as I knew there would not be any import charges on a cheap computer part (i.e. the law is that we don't GST on imports under $1000). I won the auction at minimum bid bringing it to $15 + $30 postage. However, when I went to pay at checkout, eBay added on a $4.88 import duty charge through this Global Shipping Program. As this was a ridiculous 33% of the cost of the item itself, I contacted the seller before payment.

The seller got back to me telling me that he couldn't do anything about it because the Global Shipping Program anticipated a customs charge. Now suddenly the postage charge itself has gone up from $30 to $40! After had already won the auction! I checked to make sure it's the same shipping service and it is. So now instead of being the $15+$30 item I bid on, it's $15+40+$5. Ridiculous.

I message the seller after seeing the postage hike and asked him to cancel the transaction. He said he couldn't because it was out of his hands and that I would have to contact eBay. I told him that I could not be bothered to contact eBay and that it had all become too much of a hassle and I would just like to cancel the order. After several very quick messages back and forth while he dodged the question, I asked him outright: "Why will you not cancel this transaction?" To which he as neglected to reply.

Has anyone here had a similar experience? I have been using eBay very regularly (buying and selling) for a long while now and haven't had anything like this happen to me before.

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Comments

  • Amaris on 02/02/2013 - 18:07

    I've seen that too with the so called Global Shipping Program who do not seem to be informed about the Australian GST threshold.

  • 2ndeffort on 02/02/2013 - 19:25

    I am a former eBay powerseller and the seller can easily cancel the transaction. I would never suggest that you threaten him with negative feedback….but!!!!! I wouldnt expect too much from FeeBay's email or help service, your best bet is for the seller to cancel the transaction. The seller will be wanting to complete the sale, eBay will be wanting the sale to go ahead so they get their commission. I would go boots and all at the seller and tell them that you arent prepared to pay for the import duties as Australian Law doesnt have any under $1K. Either he cancels the transaction amicably or else you will raise a dispute with eBay and leave him a negative feedback.

  • Aceboy884 on 02/02/2013 - 21:32
    +2

    he can't leave a negative feedback until the items paid

    its easy to cancel the transaction and it doesnt cost the seller anything to get his fee's refunded

    what a shame, most ebay policy favors buyer, but this one clearly in the wrong.

  • billybrown on 03/02/2013 - 20:07

    If the seller is refusing to cancel the transaction why sweat? Just don't pay and forget about it. You won't get charged anything. Infact its the seller who is losing out, by not cancelling the transaction he still has to pay the ebay fees associated with the item.

    • Aceboy884 on 03/02/2013 - 23:24

      not true, the buyer will receive an unfair strike

      if you do, just contact ebay - nowadays, the online reps are humans - if your lucky they will listen

  • johnno07 on 04/02/2013 - 08:11

    The seller is refusing to cancel the transaction. I don't care I'm not paying the guy. If I get an unpaid item strike so be it. He's being a complete bastard and I don't understand why.

  • zambuck on 04/02/2013 - 08:53

    I once had an issue with importing an item via DHL. I ended up with an invoice for a "Quarantine Processing Fee" from DHL of nearly $50.00. Some research revealed that these courier companies have to pay for AQIS to do random inspections on the items they import. Rather than considering this a cost of their business, they then try to pass this on to the randomly selected parcel recipient. Perhaps your $5 fee is ebay's version of this.

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