Did not recieve a full refund for item not recieved by GSP.

[katalias]

I never received an item that I purchased through the global shipping program and won my case. I was told I would be awarded a full refund, but I didn't. When I tried to call about it I was told the amount that was sent to Pitney Bowes was deducted from the total amount that I was refunded. I don't understand why this would have been deducted because I paid it separately in the first place.

"When you pay for the item through PayPal, you are authorizing 2 payment transactions. The first payment goes to the seller and consists of the item cost and the domestic shipping costs. The second payment goes to the global shipping provider and consists of the international shipping costs and any import charges." (http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/shipping-globally.html)

I was charged $18.04USD by the sender and $13.34USD by Pitney Bowes for a total of $31.38 that I paid for this item.

I was refunded $4.70USD by the sender and $13.34USD by Pitney Bowes for a total of $18.04 that I was refunded.

I don't understand why this was deducted when I paid it separately in the first place.

[pierrelebel]

You received a full reversal of fees from Pitney Bowes

It also shows clearly that you received only a partial refund from the seller.

You should ask the seller for the full refund of what was paid to him.  A partial refund is not acceptable.

What was the price of the item?  What was the (domestic) shipping charge from the seller to eBay's distribution centre?

[katalias]

Yeah I know I received my refund from Pitney Bowes. I can't contact the seller, this ended up going through the resolution center. I contacted Ebay but they are unwilling to see my bank statements or paypal screenshot saying they can see everything and are trying to tell me I have received a full refund from them. The item was $15.00USD and then there were some shipping charges bringing it up to $18.04USD.

[pierrelebel]

" I can't contact the seller,"

Why not?

You have his email address in your PayPal payment.  Write directly using email, not through the eBay messaging service.

[katalias]

Oh thank you I didn't realize. Still, chances are they'll say too bad hence why I went to the resolution center in the first place.

I know it isn't a lot of money but living paycheck to paycheck working non profit it does make a difference. Plus it's incredibly frustrating to be looking at my accounts, and seeing that I don't have the full refund and being told I'm wrong. This was an emotionally valuable item that I made a stretch to purchase, was heartbroken to never receive and I just don't think it's right to get some of it back and being greeted with an attitude of "close enough" just because it's not a large amount. (not the attitude you're giving me, the attitude from ebay when I tried to call them about it).

Thank you for the suggestion, I'll try to find that email address and give it a try.

[reallynicestamps]

Could the difference be accounted for by foreign exchange? and by fees on foreign exchange?

Not only do exchange rates change minute to minute, but there are different rates for buying and selling currencies.

[katalias]

I don't think so. That's why everything's in USD. It should account for the full amounts before conversion. Even so, the difference is almost half of what I paid in the first place so if it was conversion it shouldn't be that dramatic of a difference.

[reallynicestamps]

Check it out anyway. Xe.com will give you market rates on various dates for comparison. I believe PP charges 2.5% for their exchange service.

And of course, you have up to 60 days from purchase to leave feedback. The most effective feedback is calm and factual. "Not received, seller made only partial refund." for example.

And at the same time you will be asked to leave the much much more important Detailed Seller Ratings. The normal Rating for an average transaction is the full Five Stars. This is because the seller's ability to list and sell would be greatly restricted if his DSRs drop below 4.3. The lowest Rating is ONE Star. No stars is a free pass.

Don't mention this is your communication with the seller though. That will make eBay remove both your FB and DSRs.

[pierrelebel]

If you check the link supplied in the original post, you will notice this specific problem has nothing to do with currency conversion.  ALL amounts (charged and refunded) are in US dollars.

[pjcdn2005]

When a gsp item is not received but tracking shows that it did reach Kentucky, was forwarded from there but the buyer never received it, then PB should be responsible for the full refund since they are the ones that lost the package.

In your case,,,did tracking show that the item arrived in Kentucky and then left there and started on its way to you?  Since the seller gave you some sort of refund....I'm wondering if your situation was different and the seller was found at fault in some way.

I'm just trying to figure out who owes you the money...PB or the seller and that depends on why you didn't receive the item.

[katalias]

It was the seller's first time with the GSP (as was mine) so seller ended up sending it directly to me, and not Kentucky, so there was no tracking at all. As far as I can tell it never made it through customs. I did receive the shipping charges back from PB.

[katalias]

So I received a response back from the seller which said I'm not entitled to a refund of the shipping charges. But the amount that was deducted exactly matches the amount for PB. Since the item was $15 then the shipping charges they're claiming should be the $3.04 so I'm still being shorted even if that is true. I thought if it was an item not as described I would eat the loss on shipping but item never received I should have been refunded the full amount including shipping? I could be wrong about that.

Point is, seller won't help, eBay doesn't think there's a problem.

Edit: I should also mention seller was *not* willing to give me a refund at all. eBay basically forced the $4.70 refund for lack of a better way to explain it.

[pierrelebel · Accepted solution]

OK - the seller ignored instructions to ship to the distribution centre.

The reality is that you have not received the goods and the seller is liable for the transaction, whether he used tracking or not (tracking protects sellers and has nothing to do with buyers).

He should arrange a full refund.  There is no excuse for him not to do so.

[pjcdn2005]

Since you won the case, I don't understand why ebay did not take the full amount that the seller charged you and refund you that portion. But as Pierre said, the seller does owe you the rest of the money. As you suspected, if an item isn't received, the seller has to refund the buyer for the item and shipping charges. 

The seller hasn't even refunded you the full amount of the item so they sound as if they are very confused.  Since they won't cooperate, all I can suggest is that you contact ebay again. They shouldn't need to look at your paypal or bank statement but if they add up the numbers that they can see, they should be able to see that you weren't refunded in full. Yes..they have refunded their portion owed but the seller hasn't and they should force the rest of the refund.

Another suggestion...you could give the url of this thread to the seller and suggest that they read it. If they are just confused, they might realize what they've done wrong when they see other posters agree with you.

[pjcdn2005]

Every time I read this thread I keep thinking about ebay's insistence that if a buyer contacts a sellers for certain things that automatically means that the buyer is not having a good buying experience. I'm pretty sure that ebay opting the seller into the gsp without them knowing or understanding it has made ebay the cause of this buyer's bad buying experience. Unfortunately, it's not the first time the gsp has ended up being a bad experience.

[katalias]

I'm pretty sure the seller is just as frustrated as I am. I'm far more frustrated with the GSP than I am with the seller and I think they're unwilling to help now because they want to be done with the situation more than they want to screw me. It was an honest mistake on their part. I definitely didn't do enough research going into the purchase about GSP, I just liked the idea of not having to pay a mystery fee when it got to me because paycheck to paycheck I'm never sure if I have enough in my account to cover it (hence why I don't buy online all that often). Being square upfront was super appealing so I didn't research. Had I thought through there shouldn't be customs charges on a $15 item, I would have cried a little to myself and moved on without spending money. Had I done enough research to see what a problem this program is I would have closed the page with a sigh of relief that I didn't go for it. Alas, I bought in to the scam and might end up paying for it. My mistake.

I finally got through to eBay again and was told a decision still hadn't been reached in two weeks and might have fallen through the cracks. Was told I'll for sure get an update within three days. We'll see I guess. The person I talked to today seemed to actually understand that there's a problem unlike the first person I talked to two weeks ago, so hopefully it works out. I will update when I know.

[pierrelebel]

" the seller is just as frustrated as I am"

His frustration has nothing to do with it.

The seller made a mistake.  He did not follow shipping instructions.  The parcel got lost.  Seller is responsible.  End of story.

There is no excuse for him not to refund you immediately with the understanding you will arrange payment again should the parcel ever show up.

[katalias]

Alright so I've finally received the rest of the money. It came as a transfer from Paypal, not from the sender so whether they got the rest of the money from the seller or not I don't know. I guess it took until last Friday for them to figure out what the actual problem was and they had to do an unconventional refund. Thinking the resolution center still has some kinks to work out with refunds through the GSP. It doesn't seem to take into account the fact that the buyer pays Pitney Bowes directly even though it knows the refund does. Odd.

If my items ever do show up I'll pay the seller right away. Glad it finally got sorted out.

So yes the seller *should* have refunded, despite that they had no reason to refuse they still refused. So if it gets to that point for anyone else and you have to go to the resolution center to get a refund, make sure that they haven't deducted the pitney bowes charge and if they have, get on them to fix it.