What a joke

[respiraterry]

Ebay policy is a joke and they have no accountability for anything. They let people get away with anything with no consequences. I buy something through a best offer and then go to pay and they try to charge me more than i agreed to so i argue it and nothing, oh it was a mistake nothing we can do, i finally just give up and agree to pay full price then the seller refunds my payment 3 times and refuses to sell it to me. I phone again oh we cant force them to sell it all we can do is send them an email and you can leave negative feedback. I leave negative feedback and 2 hours later its removed. I call in oh it qualifies for removal sorry we cant tell you any of our policies. What a complete joke.
Basically a seller can screw up a listing get away with it then refuse to send it even when you pay full price and there are absolutely no consequences? What a joke.

[pierrelebel]

This was a GSP transaction that went bad when the buyer made a "Best Offer" and the seller accepted the lower price offer.

Unfortunately, the original asking price was over Cdn$ 20 while the accepted offer was below Cdn$20, triggering a shift by Pitney Bowes for its $4/$5 "handling fee" from being included in "import charges" to an addition to the "shipping charge".

The buyer objected to what appeared to be an increased shipping charge (which had nothing to do with the seller).

At the end of the day, despite getting a lower price and the elimination of the "import charge" (which included Pitney Bowes handling fee), the buyer was unhappy because of the perceived $4/$5 increase in shipping charge.

It went downhill from there.

All that could have been avoided if eBay offered more information in each listing as to what the "shipping charge" includes (both from the seller to the distribution centre and from the distribution centre cross border to the buyer and the Pitney Bowes handling fee for transactions valued at less than $20) and what the "import charge" includes (duty if applicable, consumption taxes (GST/HST/PST) and handling fee for transactions valued over Cdn$ 20). 

If the Pitney Bowes handling fee were to be shown as a separate entry on each listing, it could have prevented the misunderstanding in this case.

Also, while eBay suggests American sellers do not use GSP for low value items (under $50), it does nothing to prevent sellers from using GSP when not appropriate to do so.

We all know eBay and Pitney Bowes really do not care how Canadian buyers - representing a very small percentage of the overall business - feel about the lack of clarity of the program. eBay and Pitney Bowes seem to be more interested in the increased market penetration from Europe and Asia even if it means losing some Canadian business.

And life does go on.

[respiraterry]

If you're going to comment make sure you get the facts right. Like i explained several times it wasn't a $5 increase that APPEARED from a shift in value, i accepted a counter offer that clearly stated shipping and handling was $15 and when i went to pay it was $30.
I also posted screen shots of me ebay where it clearly states FREE SHIPPING. It wasnt just gsp the seller obviously screwed up also.
Besides the point, i gave up and sent FULL payment and the seller refunded it twice with no explanation and now refuses to send it.
EBAY wont do anything about it and removed my feedback and refuses to explain why, siting the policies are private.
Complete BS

[pierrelebel]

Your original comment (a week ago):

"I find an item i like the global shipping has the shipping as $26 from Oregon to BC yet the exact same item is only $18 from Florida which is on the complete opposite coast? Yea that makes sense. But whatever so i put in a best offer and it shows the shipping has now gone up to $30 for the same item? "

$30 - $26 = $4

[respiraterry]

Dude did you read the following explanations? Oh wait you did because you commented on all of them
I did not accept the original counter offer as you well know.

[pierrelebel]

Does it matter?  Really?

The GSP transaction was screwed up when the price went from above Cdn$20 to below Cdn$20.  It is as simple as that.

[art-in-the-making]

The seller must be totally frustrated as well.

Probably if the seller would have accepted the sale at this point they would be subject to a barrage of negatives, low ratings, defects, whatever, all quite justified in the eyes of the buyer. Regardless of whether the seller, eBay or "Pitney Bowes" is to blame. I know how the buyer feels - I have had things show up on My eBay that are completely false also. Anyway, best thing is to avoid GSP.

One thing I find quite misleading in the best offer set up is there is a sentence that appears at certain point(s) in the operation - it says, "offer amount is for the item only and does not include shipping" something like that. But, as we have free shipping on most items this creates a possible disconnect, as some sellers might be tempted in this situation after the fact to say that an agreed offer didn't include free shipping, as "shipping not included" was clearly written into the transaction by eBay...

we have alway honoured the free shipping but you can see where this could cause problems...