Warning to those buying from eBay and the Global Shipping Program

This I do NOT agree with at all. To me, this is theft and they should be taken to court. Yes, you did keep the original payment and the buyer got a refund, but they should not be keeping the item and they should NOT be the ones to decide whether or not the item gets shipped, that is the actual courier who gets to decide that. If they are NOT going to ship the item to the buyer, then it should 100% of the time, be returned to the seller. This needs to stop, and people need to start calling them out on it and maybe try taking them to court.

 

Agree, but I think morals and ethics come last with a company run by shareholders.

 

It is probably written in the agreement that you approved when you joined.

 

@Hoarder

I am positively surprised by this lenient policy - if you ship with GSP. It reads like Ebay can be held accountable at their own expense, a novelty for me. But no reason to ship with Ebay, as I prefer more control, and with auctions, want bidders to pay me instead of spending more money on shipping. Mind, I am nearly done selling, becoming a pampered (occasional) buyer with all the guarantees working for me instead of against.

 

Actually I've just bought 2 stoves from the US site.

I assumed the sellers were shipping directly to me which should be fine but only found out it was via international shipping when I looked at the tracking.

I'm guessing it will be blocked once it arrives at their hub. Not too fussed as it was standard Optimus 8R but at a cheap price.

 

The only good thing about GSP is that you are protected from the cost of refunds/claims if the item is lost or seller says doesn't work/ not as described which can be high if you want to re-import the item back to you.

I usually look at the buyers feedback to work out possible risk. If it's high I just cancel the sale.

 

As the item disapears it could be considered theft but remember a price was agreed and the seller received that price and the buyer is not out of pocket. It would be difficult to prove a loss in court

 

If it's theft, it's from the buyer, the seller having reliquished the stove upon payment by the buyer.

A stove owner can't be forced to sell what he owns, even if he's to be paid back. Because the buyer wanted the thing, not the money, which is why he parted with the money in the first place.

On the other hand, as Ken points out, it's probably covered in the agreement.

 

Dragging up an older thread.

I recently attempted to buy a stove from England via eBay's global shipping program. Almost an impulse buy, and I didn't even think of these difficulties. The stove was indeed confiscated, my funds returned to me, and I'm glad to read that it seems like the seller kept their funds as well.

 

Still going on, avoid the GSP, Royal Mail and if possible DHL (DHL now has scaremongering interpretation/wording).
Use USPS, FedEx, DPD or PostNord, they are my top choices

I'm going through an eBay fiasco at the moment. A chap bought a parts/incomplete stove (listed/detailed/declared as such), then sent a photo of lots of flames claiming it doesn't work correctly..... He's demanding a refund because its defective/not working.

Well I'm not refunding because the listing was worded perfectly, if he wants to try and burn his house down with an incomplete stove, well that's on him....
I'm playing the game to see what ebay does next. Its a very low value item so its just sour grapes on his part, I'll take the hit if it comes to it just to see what happens.
I'm ready for a debate

Alec.

 

Recently had a first experience of DHL, with a package from Sweden, and I have to say they proved impressively fast and without any problems. BUT extremely expensive ...

 

USPS specifically forbids shipping stoves or lanterns, anything that contains or has contained fuel. Would avoid USPS for shipping stoves or lanterns.

We used to import at work using DHL all the time. Fast, smooth importing paperwork process, inexpensive. Last couple years their pricing has gone up, and their last-mile drivers were always awful.

UPS has stepped it up and we've been importing with them the last couple years, very happy thus far.

 

@Marc
Funds kept by both sides seems like the 'insurance' feature worked.
Strange world that we live in now.

 

@snwcmpr

I guess so, but insurance only replaces the funds and it's unfortunate the item still disappears.

Seems like there should be more screening on the listing side of things. Restricted items should never make it to the global shipping partner processing facility, they simply shouldn't be able to be listed and sold for global shipping if they're restricted.

 

I think its ignorant interpretation.
A item [stove] sold becomes an unknown container. Breeding ignorant based fear.
A much too common scenario.