Returns and GSP

[muscoviteman]

If an item is  returned due to being faulty  does the GSP refund the customs and shipping charged to the buyer?

[recped]

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@muscovitemanwrote:

If an item is  returned due to being faulty  does the GSP refund the customs and shipping charged to the buyer?

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They do not!

The only time they will refund these charges is for items damaged in transit or not delivered.

It doesn't make buyers very happy........

[momcqueen]

Outside a Global Shipping Program purchase, you would appeal to Canada Customs and Revenue to show the merchandise was returned at which point you can ask to be reimbursed for your import fees. 

As to a Return within the GSP for Not As Described, I would assume the same principle applies. If you don't keep the item, the government does not keep your taxes paid on it. The question is then, not if but HOW does one get their import fees refunded? I would ask that question of ebay staff. 

tyler@ebay or @happy_pigeon, please assist us in answering this question. 

[recped]

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@momcqueenwrote:

Outside a Global Shipping Program purchase, you would appeal to Canada Customs and Revenue to show the merchandise was returned at which point you can ask to be reimbursed for your import fees. 

As to a Return within the GSP for Not As Described, I would assume the same principle applies. If you don't keep the item, the government does not keep your taxes paid on it. The question is then, not if but HOW does one get their import fees refunded? I would ask that question of ebay staff. 

tyler@ebay or @happy_pigeon, please assist us in answering this question. 

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You can't, Pitney-Bowes are the importer of record and only they can apply for a refund. Even if they were willing you would need an certified E15 (Certificate of Destruction/Exportation).

[momcqueen]

Then P-B can and will do that. In the meantime, the buyer doesn't need to wait around, they'd be refunded by P-B, the agency which collected that money on their behalf for submission to CCRA. It's only logical to me that this is the way it would work.

Regardless, come Monday morning,  ebay staff will be here to answer to it. 

[momcqueen]

I found this: 

1. International Returns. The returns policy specified by your Seller in his/her listing description of a GSP Item will apply to your purchase of the GSP Item. For GSP Items located in the United States that you purchase under GSP and that you return to your Seller, you will not be eligible for, and you will not receive, a refund of any Program Fees that you paid to Pitney Bowes and Pitney Bowes will not be responsible for shipping the GSP Item back to your Seller. Your rights under local law will not be affected.

http://pages.ebay.com/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html

It says 'program' fees. By that I assume they mean the handling fee. 

[momcqueen]

If I were the buyer, and I had to return an item bought through the Global Shipping Program not due to remorse but because it was defective or not as described by the seller, I would not accept anything less than a full refund, period. 

To refuse to fully refund a buyer their entire purchasing price when it was the seller who made the mistake wipes clean any possibility that buyer would ever use the program again. It begets huge ill will. Sellers aren't allowed to charge restocking fees on items returned Significantly Not as Described, so how would Pitney Bowes be allowed to do that? 

And while it's also not Pitney Bowes' fault the seller screwed up (or manufacturer in the case of a factory defect) they are a huge multi-national conglomeration and their per transaction handling fee would, no doubt, cover this eventuality. 

[muscoviteman]

The item was a set of 10x30 Canon IS binoculars purchased on a different account. The image stabilizer works fine for perhaps 10 times in a row but then once in a while it buzzes continuously and the image shakes violently. There is something wrong for sure and they are very expensive to repair. I have a 8x25 set purchased here that are great. I think the seller is a hock shop and they may not have known about the problem but there is a problem.

I contacted the seller with a return request as a faulty item but am awaiting a response. Is this like filing an item not as described claim? Does the money back guarantee apply to the GSP charges? Do I have to ship back on my dime or is a shipping label supplied?

Lots of questions as I have sold a lot and purchased a fair bit but never did a return and the GSP makes it more complex.

[recped]

In a SNAD claim GPS is completely out of the picture. Whatever refund you get comes totally from the Seller and PB will not under any circumstances refund any portion of their fees.

It's one of the pitfalls for sellers who use GSP, they refund the money THEY received and often get a neg from the buyer who is still out a significant portion of their payment.

As far as who pays for return shipping, eBay policy is that in a SNAD the seller pays, GSP does not affect that in any way (but convincing the seller of this isn't easy).

[femmefan1946]

SNAD - Significantly Not As Described.

Actually, I think PB/GSP will cover this.  They don't cover Buyer Remorse.

And when they do, they don't want the (damaged/inoperable) thingy back.

Worth opening the Dispute, stating this is a GSP shipped item, and seeing what happens.

If you won't get your customs (and more importantly Sales Taxes) back, then decide if the refund you will get is worth the hassle.

The pawn shop should have done more testing. Shoulda woulda coulda. Stuff happens.

[pjcdn2005]

In the situations I’ve read about PB did refund the international shipping portion and import fees for an return due to a ‘seller caused’ snad. They don’t do that for remorse returns but they should if the return is a snad, regardless of the reason.

[sylviebee]

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@muscovitemanwrote:

If an item is  returned due to being faulty  does the GSP refund the customs and shipping charged to the buyer?

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Yes they do.   At least it's been my experience that they do.

I don't understand why other posters are telling you otherwise.  (?)  

If you file a claim it goes to the seller (not Pitney-Bowes).

When the seller refunds his or her portion of the payment that automatically makes the GSP portion kick in.

It's been my experience that the GSP portion of the refund appears very shortly after the seller's part of the refund.

[momcqueen]

“Yes they do. At least it's been my experience that they do. I don't understand why other posters are telling you otherwise. ”

Other posters are telling the user the GSP will be refunded, only one says otherwise. Recped may or may not be proven correct by eBay staff on Monday morning but he is the single user stating otherwise, the rest of us agree GSP will be refunded. That is you, me, and Pj. Plus femme. Maybe you misread something.

At any rate, we can share of experiences and speculation but eBay proper are the ones with the answer, and I’m sure we’ll get that promptly when the work week starts again.

[recped]

International Returns. The returns policy specified by your Seller in his/her listing description of a GSP Item will apply to your purchase of the GSP Item. For GSP Items located in the United States that you purchase under GSP and that you return to your Seller, you will not be eligible for, and you will not receive, a refund of any Program Fees that you paid to Pitney Bowes and Pitney Bowes will not be responsible for shipping the GSP Item back to your Seller. Your rights under local law will not be affected.

http://pages.ebay.ca/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html

[momcqueen]

That’s message six in the thread. Program fees may not equal taxes paid. We need eBay staff to answer this for us.

[pjcdn2005]

That specifically refers to items returned under the sellers return policy, not items being returned under the mbg as those are eligible for a full refund including any fees paid to PB.  

As I mentioned in another post, many buyers who have posted are receiving full refunds when the return is deemed to be the sellers mistake. The seller pays return shipping and refunds the portion they were paid, PB refunds the rest. I’m sure there have been cases when the those amounts weren’t recovered but I suspect that is because the buyer didn’t actually put in a claim. Many sellers have no clue that the buyer needs to open a request for gsp mbg claims and don’t tell their buyers that’s what they should do.  

[pjcdn2005]

In this case program fees refer to any fees collected by PB which include import fees and the international shipping portion but the section that refers to that is only for buyers remorse returns, not mbg claims.

[momcqueen]

As I said from the onset, it’s illogical to expect that a buyer won’t get a full refund from eBay if an item is returned as Significantly Not As Described, regardless of whether the item shipped via direct seller dispatch or through the Global Shipping Program. If Pitney Bowes kept import fees on items being returned to their country of origin, not only do I suspect that would be illegal (or at the very least sketchy bookkeeping) but also no buyer would ever use the program a second time, and for good reason. eBay would not develop, facilitate and promote a program that leaves its buyers in the lurch.

Plenty of buyers dislike the GSP because it forces them to pay import fees they don’t think they deserve, or delays delivery by a few days because of the additional handling, or makes tracking confusing, or allows rough-handed plant workers to repack delicate items, but that’s different. It’s not about the money or the MoneyBack Guarantee. The foundation of shopping on eBay is built on the MoneyBack Guarantee. That money from the buyer has to be refunded in full if the item must be returned due to seller error or factory defect. If the seller cannot claim a restocking fee on mBg claims, neither should Pitney Bowes keep its fees.

Ultimately, happy_pidgeon or Tyler will clarify this for once and all on Monday when the work week begins again; the Original Poster will have their answer, and we can all stop arguing about it.

Interestingly, I found the detailed version of Canada’s eBay MoneyBack Guarantee policy as a result of this discussion— something I saw three or four times in the past but then couldn’t find again when I needed it- and noticed there are sections which appear to me to have new procedural details or more elaboration so maybe I’ll post about that later in the week.

[sylviebee]

@momcqueenwrote:
eBay would not develop, facilitate and promote a program that leaves its buyers in the lurch  ....................................................

And yet they've don't exactly that with the GSP.

eBay has pushed the GSP on buyers even though it's clear that buyers do not like the program and that it leaves them in the lurch forcing buyers to pay for a "service" they do not want to buy.

The fact that eBay makes it easy to get hooked by the GSP and difficult to get rid of it after the purchase attests to the fact that they do not have buyers' best interests at heart.    

All other shipping methods can be easily revised after there is a commitment to purchase an item, but not the GSP.   It seems like the reason for that is because once a buyer has been hooked eBay wants to hang onto it's catch.