# Alert! Internation EBay Scam



## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

I'm sure all of us modellers buy a lot of things via EBay, whether they are
just good deals or they are things that we simply can't find locally. Well,
there is a new EBay scam out there, and it's coming from EBay itself.
I just bought a $50 used item with an additional $5 postage. I did Buy It Now,
which alerts you that you're committing to buy this item legally and
contractually. Did my PayPal. The PayPal invoice had an additional $27 shipping
payable to PITNEYBOWES at the bottom. I immediately contacted the seller who
responded:

The Global Shipping Program is something I just joined, and it is an Ebay run
program. It allows those of us selling in the US to ship any items we sell to
Ebay-ers outside of the US to Ebay US headquarters, where Ebay then makes sure
to properly fill out customs/international shipping forms. I cannot see what
Ebay charges extra for it, but apparently you would have to pay that after the
item crosses the border anyways due to customs charges (or so feedback from
Canadian buyers with/without the program has shown.) Anyways since I dont know
what customs charges include I cannot list any extra predicted fees on my
listing itself. And I am a part of the program because it protects me: I could
get arrested for shipping certain things over the border improperly! However the
program has only been on Ebay for about a week so I am happy to give you a
refund. Just know when you are looking at items coming from the US that a lot of
sellers are going to be using this program.

I have bought literally hundreds of items from the US to Canada via EBay before
and I have only once been charged customs on any of them. EBay is taking it upon
itself to make the decisions and do the job that another county's post office
does. And the Canadian PO would never, ever come close to this large a fee.
Maybe $4 on this item. This is an international customs broker fee.
And there is no way of telling until you have to make the final payment if there
will be this extra charge or not. You're committing to buy without having the
slightest idea how much the item will cost you.
International EBay shoppers, beware.


----------



## Frankie Boy (Feb 28, 2002)

I, too, have bought lots of stuff on eBay (from the US to Canada) and I have never, and never will, use PayPal.

I ask first, and if the seller is agreeable, then I pay via a money order, and I've been doing that for the last 10 years. 

If the buyer is not agreeable to a money order, regardless of how badly I want the item, then the deal's off. I do not bid, I do not hit "Buy it Now". Period.


----------



## kenlee (Feb 11, 2010)

I have looked around on e-bay's site and can find no information about this new "fee".


----------



## zike (Jan 3, 2009)

Clearly a good idea gone terribly wrong.

Over the years, fewer and fewer American sellers have been willing to ship internationally. When I started using Ebay in the late 1990's, just about everybody shipped just about everywhere. Now, as a Canadian, I see that most things on Ebay aren't available to us anymore. Most listings (at least in the Lost in Space Collectibles where I look) are "Ships to U.S. only". That's VERY frustrating. Imagine being a collector, seeing an item you desperately want, and seeing that the seller won't sell it to you!

The Global Shipping Program can solve this problem by, in essence, making all of those shipments "domestic" for the seller because the seller himself only has to ship the item to eBay who will trans-ship it internationally. So the seller doesn't have to do any paperwork or figure out international shipping rates. He just mails it to eBay and eBay does the work. That SHOULD allow for sellers to make their products available to everyone everywhere. That's good.

Unfortunately, it looks like eBay has screwed up the system with ridiculous import fee estimates.

Good idea gone bad.

Amazon.com started a similar system a few years ago for Canadians buying items from the U.S.. They have an "Import Fee Deposit" on sales to Canada. However, in the case of amazon, if they over-estimate the charge, they will REFUND the difference! For example, I ordered a couple of Lost in Space Robot Bobbleheads from amazon about two months ago and I was charged a small deposit for import fees. Yesterday, I got an email saying I was being refunded $1.68 because they over-estimated the charge. Virtually EVERY amazon purchase will eventually produce a refund on the import fee deposit.

The eBay Global Shipping Program CONCEPT is great. The execution sounds seriously messed up. If they would offer refunds on over-estimates, like amazon does, it would work.


----------



## Marko (Jul 11, 2002)

thanks for the info and heads up. I used to sell internationally till too many "lost" items occured and then get a negative feedback if I did not refund the money. After being out my item and the refund I had to give, I stopped. The US Post Office is great, the rest of the worlds not so much. Once it goes overseas, you are at the mercy of wherever it is going to. Tracking not always available or too expensive. So, I limited my selling to US and Canada. The Canadien Postal system is very good also, but a little slower. Now, I will stop selling to Canada as well. Both the seller and buyers lose. But too much red tape and duties and surcharges and ebay interference cause this.


----------



## zike (Jan 3, 2009)

Marko said:


> Now, I will stop selling to Canada as well. Both the seller and buyers lose.


Hey, the Global Shipping Program is voluntary. Don't stop shipping to Canada. It's already bad enough for us. Just keep selling as normal.

BTW, we're Canadian...not Canadien.


----------



## Frankie Boy (Feb 28, 2002)

Marko said:


> The Canadien Postal system is very good also, but a little slower.


These days they're working at warp speed. You should have seen how Canada Post operated a decade or two ago! 

But yes, they can be slow ... but reliable.


----------



## Frankie Boy (Feb 28, 2002)

zike said:


> BTW, we're Canadian...not Canadien.


Unless you're in Quebec, I think.


----------



## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

Sometimes I pass on an item (on eBay) coming from Canada because the shipping is sooo high. I know it's not the sellers fault and will not hesitate to buy from our Northern neighbors if I except the S&H.

But, look forward to the USPS to go sky high in the near future I'm afraid.

HAL9001-


----------



## Marko (Jul 11, 2002)

Zike and Frankie Boy, thanks for the input. Being I live in a border city, I visit Canada several times a year and have friends there also. Would it be a good idea to take the package myself and post it from Fort Erie ? Or would Customs give me a hassle? Also, yes, Canadian!!


----------



## Frankie Boy (Feb 28, 2002)

Marko said:


> Zike and Frankie Boy, thanks for the input. Being I live in a border city, I visit Canada several times a year and have friends there also. Would it be a good idea to take the package myself and post it from Fort Erie ? Or would Customs give me a hassle? Also, yes, Canadian!!


Hmm? Are you saying you have a model — that's _yours_ — that you'd want to take across the border and then mail to a Canadian buyer from within Canada? 

If that's what you're saying, I don't see how you'd encounter any hassle doing that. However, if you're sort of running a business, where you'd perhaps be, say, making multiple trips a month, with a truck load of items, then you might raise suspicions in that situation. But for a one-off, or an occasional multiple mailing within Canada, I don't think anybody's going to say boo.


----------



## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

Looks like it's a legit thing.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/shipping-globally.html

But man do the cost rack up fast.
The shipping costs include any US domestic shipping fees charged by the seller, as well as program fees, international shipping charges, fuel surcharges, and processing and handling fees. The import charges include applicable customs duties, taxes, and third-party brokerage.

Ebay is using a 3rd party for this, who also has to make money on the deal.
This could end up killing international shipping whenever ebay ends up making this mandatory (and you know they will eventually)


----------



## SJF (Dec 3, 1999)

Oh, I really hope eBay doesn't make this "bright idea" of theirs madatory. I really have no problems with mailing stuff to people outside of the US. 

Sean


----------



## xsavoie (Jun 29, 1999)

If it's under 4 pounds and of a certain size,shipping to Canada from the U.S. by USPS First Class mail,then it is reasonnable.But anything over this criteria goes by U S Priority mail and this is when the shipping costs are incredible.I guess this is because everything goes by airmail nowadays,and there is no surface mail anymore.It seems that shipping prices for merchandise going by mail between canadian provinces are sometimes not any better or even worse.This is especially ridiculous when it's between two provinces next to each other.We are not as lucky as U.S. customers who enjoy much lower shipping price than we do.


----------



## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

I've said it before and I'll say it again....








CANADA POST SUCKS!!!
Mcdee


----------



## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

I stopped int'l shipping years ago for one reason: I got tired of hearing complaints from (mostly) Europeans who b*tched to me that THEIR postal services delayed, lost or broke their item. Italy is the worst offender - it's a black hole for shipped items - but I've had these complaints from several countries. I even had one Canadian do it to me. 

In all cases, tracking proved the item left the U.S. in a timely manner. Whatever happened then is not my fault so I don't need to hear of it, so I quit shipping to them.

Japan? Australia? Not one complaint of this nature (or any nature, for that matter).


----------



## Marko (Jul 11, 2002)

Hey Frankie Boy, I would be shipping an item that I sold on ebay most likely. I am not sure if thats considered running a business, if it was a once or twice a year thing. Just enjoying a hobby!


----------



## Frankie Boy (Feb 28, 2002)

Marko said:


> Hey Frankie Boy, I would be shipping an item that I sold on ebay most likely. I am not sure if thats considered running a business, if it was a once or twice a year thing. Just enjoying a hobby!


I don't see how mailing _an_ item _once or twice a year_ from across the border constitutes a _business_. 
I really don't think anybody would say anything about that at all.


----------



## Bobman (Jan 21, 2001)

TAY666 said:


> Looks like it's a legit thing.
> http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/shipping-globally.html
> 
> But man do the cost rack up fast.
> ...


Maybe they _won't _make this another mandatory rule. They didn't keep that _stupid _layout from last month. Really surprised the hell out of me.
Bob


----------

