eBay

redqube · ‎11-27-2016

I'm not new to ebay but I'm not sure what to do. I bought a used item from the USA through the Global Shipping program. I received it today and one of the parts is broken rendering the item semi useless unless I repair the item myself (might be possible but not easy) or replace the item. Should I just return it for a refund or can I suggest to the seller a compromise/partial refund so I can replace the broken part with said refund ? The part itself is worth about half the total purchase price. So far I have only contacted the seller to mention the issue and sent a photo. I'd rather not deal with the hassle of repacking and returning the whole thing but perhaps it's the only option.

On a side note, I'm not surprised that one of the parts broke. The packing was not what I would consider adequate for an electronic device.

Item number is : 15231257326

Thank you.

redqube · ‎11-28-2016

In the resolution centre, the choices were rather limited so I chose item not as described and then item damaged. I then mentioned that the item was damaged in transit and posted a photo. Now it says that it will contact the buyer for a return and if he doesn't respond in a few days, to contact ebay and they will step in to help. Whatever that means.

momcqueen · ‎11-28-2016

It means you've done all that you can for now and it's time to wait for a reply.

redqube · ‎11-28-2016

Perhaps the seller can't specifically ask for a return but ebay can ? No ?

momcqueen · ‎11-28-2016

No, the seller can but he'd have to pay Return shipping with tracking to get his broken item back.

00nevermind00 · ‎11-28-2016

@sylviebee wrote:
So, you're saying that P.B. takes responsibility when GSP items get damaged during transit and refunds the buyer and that seller is protected from such claims?

Is that right?

I didn't know that.

Are you sure about that, and if so why?

I've returned damaged GSP items where sellers claimed they were not a fault, so how exactly does that work?

PB takes responsibility if the item is damaged in transit, or if what the buyer receives is not what he/she ordered, or if the buyer receives nothing at all. The only case that doesn't fit in with this policy is where the seller misdescribed the item or was somehow at fault. That's when it gets tricky because the policy about what to do is remarkably poorly designed and very confusing.

In any event, the GSP does not support returns. A seller who asks for an item back when PB was at fault is either confused or trying to take advantage. A buyer who has a problem with a GSP item should not contact the seller for a resolution. The seller is out of the loop once the item has left his/her hands and that includes anything to do with returns. The way to solve a problem with a GSP item is by opening a case.

redqube · ‎11-29-2016

And return shipping by itself including custom fees amounts to almost a quarter of the total value of the item.

So basically he'd have to refund the whole shipping cost plus pay for the cost of me shipping it back to him with tracking ?

momcqueen · ‎11-29-2016

The seller never saw your customs fees. He can't refund that. Only eBay through Pitney Bowes can. Pitney Bowes is outsourced to complete this task.

momcqueen · ‎11-29-2016

There is a very specific manner in which a Returns case needs to be handled when the GSP has been responsible for damaging the item in shipping. One that doesn't penalize the seller who had nothing to do with the mistake. But it relies on the seller knowing this too.

femmefan1946 · ‎11-30-2016

if necessary, repacked

But this is very very rare. I asked afantiques, who has actually visited the GSP plant (in the UK) and he tells me that most of the packages go out exactly as they come in. The problem of opening them comes from sellers who do not clearly describe what they are shipping.

We all know how long it takes to pack stuff. Imagine doing that on a production line. Thousands of packages a day.

There would be no unemployment in Kentucky ,

I've returned damaged GSP items where sellers claimed they were not a fault, so how exactly does that work?

It works badly.

Because the seller is absolved of responsibility when the package reaches the GSP plant.

The complaint is not to be made to the seller.

Once the GSP has it, the seller has done her duty.

The complaint goes to the GSP, who don't want the darn thing back. They'd rather be out the money than try to figure out a way to dispose of thousands of non-working, damaged and "perfectly ok but the wrong shade of red" items. They have insurance to cover the expense of returns.

marnotom! · ‎11-30-2016

@femmefan1946 wrote:

if necessary, repacked

But this is very very rare. I asked afantiques, who has actually visited the GSP plant (in the UK) and he tells me that most of the packages go out exactly as they come in. The problem of opening them comes from sellers who do not clearly describe what they are shipping.
We all know how long it takes to pack stuff. Imagine doing that on a production line. Thousands of packages a day.
There would be no unemployment in Kentucky/

I can verify that from a purchase my wife made of eight CDs. The seller had gone way overboard in packaging them, with big bubble wrap around the stack of CDs held in place with thick packing tape. The CDs were then placed in a box about four times the size of the stack of CDs and foam peanuts filled what space there was in the box.

The box was not repackaged by the Global Shipping Center to save space. I could tell it was the seller's original box because his addressing to the Global Shipping Center was under the item's shipping label.

momcqueen · ‎11-30-2016

Well, I can't account for the experiences of others. I can only speak to mine own. The box was repacked and stickered as repacked. Thus, my order arrived damaged.

marnotom! · ‎11-30-2016

My wife and I haven't received many GSP items, but those that have been stickered have stated that the package has been resealed (and presumably opened for that to occur). I haven't seen one stickered as "repacked" yet.

femmefan1946 · ‎11-30-2016

Oh, I'm not denying that it happens. Or that the repacking isn't done badly.

The one and only GSP item I ever ordered (a large softbound book about 30 x20x1cm) was repacked into a box 30x24xabout 10cm and paper added to fill the void. There was a notice from eBay/GSP that it had been opened.

So probably not packed by the publisher like that. Definitely repacked. No damage. And certainly no space saving.

momcqueen · ‎12-01-2016

@marnotom! wrote:
My wife and I haven't received many GSP items, but those that have been stickered have stated that the package has been resealed (and presumably opened for that to occur). I haven't seen one stickered as "repacked" yet.

It sounds to me as if you are skeptical about what I am saying happened to me with my SNAD through GSP as I outlined earlier in the thread.

I cannot account for yours or your wife's experiences with the GSP, only my own, as I said. How many of your 'stickered' parcels have been big, heavy parcels from Great Britain? Maybe that is wherein the difference lays.

You may be reassured to learn I confirmed with the seller prior to opening my Resolution Centre case the exact nature of the manner in which he had packed my item(s) because it was obvious the box had been shortened and therefore the structural integrity of the cardboard compromised. This is, in part, what led to the damage of the items inside.

I surmise it is likely the box exceeded a dimensional limit on a less-expensive international tracked service and was altered to meet it for the second leg of its journey.

As a regular contributor to ebay Community, you must see by now that I don't make random, wild claims on the Discussion Board in order to enflame the discussion on threads. You can be assured that what I assert here is actual and true. But, like I've said before, I cannot account for your prior GSP experiences. Only mine.

sylviebee · ‎12-01-2016

I've received quite a number of GSP items, and every one of them appeared to be repacked. Some came with a notice that the item had been repacked and some did not. In some cases I verified it with the seller.

I'm still curious about why the general consensus seems to be that GSP items don't have to be returned when they arrive damaged because I had to return mine.

The seller paid for return shipping.

00nevermind00 · ‎12-01-2016

There's no denying that shoddy repackaging can and does happen at the Kentucky hub, and also at the UK hub (wherever that one is.) Just like anywhere else, some of the employees are probably not as "invested" in their work as they should be. And it is possible that the employees have to process X number of packages per hour, which doesn't favor careful, time-consuming repackaging.

That said, it is very hard to believe that damages are the norm rather than the exception. Because if packages were routinely damaged, the program would have been scrapped as not viable because the combined amount of all the refunds would have killed it.

The "repackaged to save space" story is one of those eBay myths that endure but make no sense if anyone cares to look at the situation objectively. The cost of the staff employed to do the repacking would more than wipe out any savings that could be derived from the amount of space being saved. Not to mention, again, the cost of refunding all the buyers whose items arrive damaged due to the repackaging. This one should be filed with the equally mythical customs hangers and all those poor sellers who had to pay stiff fines and/or suffer jail terms for undervaluing customs forms by a few dollars.

marnotom! · ‎12-01-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:

It sounds to me as if you are skeptical about what I am saying happened to me with my SNAD through GSP as I outlined earlier in the thread.

I cannot account for yours or your wife's experiences with the GSP, only my own, as I said. How many of your 'stickered' parcels have been big, heavy parcels from Great Britain? Maybe that is wherein the difference lies.

You may be reassured to learn I confirmed with the seller prior to opening my Resolution Centre case the exact nature of the manner in which he had packed my item(s) because it was obvious the box had been shortened and therefore the structural integrity of the cardboard compromised. This is, in part, what led to the damage of the items inside.

I surmise it is likely the box exceeded a dimensional limit on a less-expensive international tracked service and was altered to meet it for the second leg of its journey.

As a regular contributor to ebay Community, you must see by now that I don't make random, wild claims on the Discussion Board in order to enflame the discussion on threads. You can be assured that what I assert here is actual and true. But, like I've said before, I cannot account for your prior GSP experiences. Only mine.

Whoa, Nelly! You're reading way too much into a statement that was intended to be taken at face value. I was just relaying my (or, more specifically, my wife's) experience with the GSP, just as you were.

I'm not doubting the veracity of your story. I'm just stating that I've yet to see a GSP item that's been stickered as "repackaged" rather than as "resealed". I will note that I do wonder if a small number of the posts I've read in the past few years on this issue are from people who are confusing "repackaging" and "resealing", though, as they're not complaints about packaging jobs.

I do think that when repackaging does occur, it's not to save space, otherwise my wife's CDs would likely have been released from their bubble-wrap/packing tape sarcophagus and put into a smaller container. The workers in the Global Shipping Center likely have no stake in the performance of the company/ies that ship GSP items out to Canada, so I doubt they have any incentive to repackage items in a manner that uses space more efficiently.

It was stated by an eBay staffer on these discussion boards once that GSP items are opened in order to ascertain the item's country of origin because the seller didn't provide that information in the listing's "Item Specifics". If the Global Shipping Center worker handling the package has to tear apart the seller's packaging in order to obtain that information, they're not going to be able to replicate the seller's packaging job. Hence, the item gets repacked and if the worker doesn't really give a rat's, well, you can guess the rest.

marnotom! · ‎12-01-2016

@sylviebee wrote:

I'm still curious about why the general consensus seems to be that GSP items don't have to be returned when they arrive damaged because I had to return mine.

The seller paid for return shipping.

The seller is only responsible for the item up to the point it reaches the Global Shipping Center in Kentucky. The seller should be immune from any claims related to loss or damage once Pitney Bowes takes possession of it. That's the aspect of the program that makes it attractive to some US sellers.

Given that the seller paid for the return shipping in your sale, my guess is that either the claim process was not dealt with correctly by eBay customer service, or else the damage to the item was somehow attributed to the seller rather than Pitney Bowes. Any idea if the refund came from the seller, either directly or indirectly?

afantiques · ‎12-01-2016

af, What if the seller wants you to return the item?

Are you sure that if it appears as if an item has been damaged during transit that no return is required for INAD cases when shipped via the GSP?

If so, would you please share your source for that information.

I think this may have been answered to your satisfaction already, but as noted,, the seller has no claim on the item, the GSP insurers pay the claim and if any return were possible it would be to the insurers but the policy of any sensible company would be to not throw good money after bad; who wants a pile of broken stuff,, even if some of it might be salvagable for some small value.

I watch several English language boards for GSP related posts, I have never heard an account of a damaged item being anything but the effective property of the buyer to dispose of as they wish.

The full terms and conditions provide the source for this, in that they define 'ownership' of the item. Although they do not publicise the fact that damage claims are neither checked nor is any return needed, it is pretty clear that it is cheaper to give a no quibble payout than to put all buyers through the wringer. It is usually financially more effective to assume all claims are genuine than to spend time and effort trying to weed out the odd false one.

I have in the past suggested that in the case of any Not as Described claim, with a GSP item, the only sure way to get it refundedb without a mess of hassle is to cllaim damage in transit. This is not entirely honest but given the total failure of the GSP to have a special mechanism to deal with seller fault problems they deserve what they get.

afantiques · ‎12-01-2016

if necessary, repacked to save postage costs.

It is possible this coud happen if someone packed a marble in a cubic foot box, but this would be exceptional.

Dealing with one package at a time, as most sellers and buyers do, is not a good foundatiion for understanding the shipping economics of moving tons of randomly sized and weighted packages. I expect that PB pay their carriers on some form of volumetric weight formula, calculated from a sample of thousands of packages, to properly cover costs and profit.

The quirks of individual packages in such a formula are more or less immaterial. This is why the constant talk of everything being repackaged to save shipping costs is nonsense, it would only be at all possible if the labour and materials involved were free, and in business the one thing that costs the most is often the labour. The gross costs of labour can easily be twice what is actually paid out in wages.