Done with eBay USA Rant - sorry in advance

[convoy357]

Here is eBay's quote with regards to using the Global Shipping Program.

"This amount includes seller specified US shipping charges as well as applicable international shipping, handling, and other fees. This amount is subject to change until you make payment. For additional information, see the Global Shipping ..."

So according to eBay YOU the seller SPECIFIED shipping charges by being a part of the program. Granted they may have been underhanded in signing you up without big flashing warning lights but none the less you entered into the contract by using eBay's tools. So I don't think us Canadians are "jack@$$es" for bidding on items that you posted. Nor are we idiots for asking you if there are some alternative shipping methods.

Now I'm not the one that bid on your items but if I did I too would consider posting negative feedback on huge shipping charges cause ultimately YOU chose to sell with these parameters. Granted, I CHOSE to buy given these parameters as well. It's not like eBay is hiding the shipping and import charges from me and springing it as a surprise. But that is what feedback is for. If I didn't have a 100% satisfying meal at a restaurant is it really my fault for going there with the expectation of being satisfied?

Again, I was desperate enough to want this item and pay the huge fees so that's on me. But you folks are using the program so you have to take your part of the responsibility as well. And eBay needs a share of the blame for the crap way they rolled this out and the stupid fees that are far beyond what USPS would charge.

The ultimate solution for me is as I mentioned, more Mego Museum Mall and PMs on the Marketplace Forum and less US eBay shopping. Better shipping for me and no eBays fees for you. Sounds like win win.

Cheers,

Marty

Whoa....hold on there. Do not mistake my post as being anti-Canadian or something. Not at all. The idiot jack-*** I dealt with was 1 person and could've been anywhere. I have had many dealings with Canadians and most have been positive experiences. Until recently my listings were open to international bidders and I was shipping stuff to Canada several times per month. I buy plenty from Canada too and I have collector friends in Canada. I regret not being able to ship there directly but I cannot afford to deal with brazil anymore and in blocking that 1 place, eBay blocked all my international sales and covertly entered me into the global shipping program.

Now as far as the global shipping program itself, I completely disagree with your viewpoint. I've been selling on eBay for 14 years and they suddenly changed something without my knowledge and entered me into this program without my consent and you think that I am responsible for this? Yes I, the seller, specified shipping charges....US DOMESTIC shipping charges! I had NOTHING to do with the amount that ebay is charging for international shipping. And I did not CHOOSE to sell with these parameters!.....ebay chose this for me. What about the bidder? Don't they have the responsibility for their own actions? I must assume when they bid that they're aware of what they're going to pay. So your thinking is that if you don't agree with the shipping charges but want the item, you should just go ahead and buy it and then trash the sellers feedback? That just bull****! I also take exception to your comparison to a meal at a restaurant. I am not a waiter, cook, or an errant store clerk at the mall. I am a collector selling to other collectors and I should be afforded that same type of respect. Nothing infuriates me more than buyers with arrogant attitudes. If someone buys an item from me and they receive the item in good order, as described, and promptly and carefully shipped, and I have no control over the shipping charges, I think I should receive positive feedback. I have done all that I can do for the buyer. If the international bidder thinks the shipping is too high, then they should take up their issue with the correct responsible party.....eBay customer service.

[ubermanx]

Do not mistake my post as being anti-Canadian or something

Fair enough kind Sir. I apologize if I read something in the tone of your post that wasn't there. Unfortunately it is easy to do with written communications rather than face to face conversations.

However, I still stand behind my original concept that in every eBay transaction I am 50% responsible and the seller is 50% responsible as those are ultimately the parties involved.

I just posted some comics for sale on eBay and I noticed eBay Canada has also changed the options so I read it all, clicked on the little question marks on all the new sections, figured out how to make a custom return policy and custom shipping policy. That's my job as the seller. Make sure I know the details of the contract I am entering with the buyer. Even if eBay makes some underhanded changes there still has to be some fine print somewhere that you are agreeing to when you hit the post this item button.

Now to be fair, the buyer is accepting the contract based on these same fine print items. So they need to take responsibility for that (which I fully do in my specific case).

If I buy a Mego Superman from eBay seller A this week and they accurately made the auction, modified custom shipping policies and sold me Supes for $20 shipping and I buy a similar Supes from eBay seller B that used the Global Shipping Program and charges me $56 in shipping I'm sorry but seller B hosed me on shipping, intentionally or not IMHO.

Either way it is no longer an issue for me cause I'll be doing my part as a buyer and combing the auctions for items that have shipping policies that I feel are fair and I wont be buying much from folks using the Global Shipping Program if I can find the item elsewhere.

The point of my original post was to vent frustration from the point of the buyer AND seller about this program. What I took away from your post, and again I apologize if I read it wrong, was that you sellers are 100% innocent and it's all eBay and the buyers fault. I think contract law (I am no lawyer so I am prepared to be corrected on this) will disagree with that idea and place responsibility on the buyer and seller equally. Seller for agreeing to eBay's policies (hidden, miscommunicated or other) by clicking that "post this item" button and buyers for clicking that "bid now" button.

Feedback has five specific questions and one is "Reasonable shipping cost?" If the shipping cost was not reasonable as in my hypothetical above then seller B can and should expect less than 5 stars for "reasonable shipping cost" IMHO.

Marty

[convoy357]

Fair enough kind Sir. I apologize if I read something in the tone of your post that wasn't there. Unfortunately it is easy to do with written communications rather than face to face conversations.

However, I still stand behind my original concept that in every eBay transaction I am 50% responsible and the seller is 50% responsible as those are ultimately the parties involved.

I just posted some comics for sale on eBay and I noticed eBay Canada has also changed the options so I read it all, clicked on the little question marks on all the new sections, figured out how to make a custom return policy and custom shipping policy. That's my job as the seller. Make sure I know the details of the contract I am entering with the buyer. Even if eBay makes some underhanded changes there still has to be some fine print somewhere that you are agreeing to when you hit the post this item button.

Now to be fair, the buyer is accepting the contract based on these same fine print items. So they need to take responsibility for that (which I fully do in my specific case).

If I buy a Mego Superman from eBay seller A this week and they accurately made the auction, modified custom shipping policies and sold me Supes for $20 shipping and I buy a similar Supes from eBay seller B that used the Global Shipping Program and charges me $56 in shipping I'm sorry but seller B hosed me on shipping, intentionally or not IMHO.

Either way it is no longer an issue for me cause I'll be doing my part as a buyer and combing the auctions for items that have shipping policies that I feel are fair and I wont be buying much from folks using the Global Shipping Program if I can find the item elsewhere.

The point of my original post was to vent frustration from the point of the buyer AND seller about this program. What I took away from your post, and again I apologize if I read it wrong, was that you sellers are 100% innocent and it's all eBay and the buyers fault. I think contract law (I am no lawyer so I am prepared to be corrected on this) will disagree with that idea and place responsibility on the buyer and seller equally. Seller for agreeing to eBay's policies (hidden, miscommunicated or other) by clicking that "post this item" button and buyers for clicking that "bid now" button.

Feedback has five specific questions and one is "Reasonable shipping cost?" If the shipping cost was not reasonable as in my hypothetical above then seller B can and should expect less than 5 stars for "reasonable shipping cost" IMHO.

Marty

I agree its easy to misread the intent of these posts sometimes. No harm no foul. I still disagree with your example with the Mego Superman. In the case you describe, seller B did not hose you on shipping, eBay Global shipping hosed you. You have to keep in mind that the Global Shipping program was forced onto the sellers who did not offer international shipping. If it were not for eBay Global shipping, you would not have been able to place a bid on that item. So why punish the seller for something they were never willingly involoved with in the 1st place?

I will point out something else you may not be aware of. If you go into eBay feedback policy and read the section about feedback violations, it will state that feedback may be removed by eBay if
"A buyer made a request that was clearly different from what was stated in the listing, and the seller didn't accommodate the request. For example, a buyer left negative Feedback because they requested a different delivery method than what was offered in the listing, and the seller refused."
This rule should allow me to have all of this jerks negs removed from my feedback, as soon as I have time to call eBay customer service. I can't find it now, but there used to be a rule that international buyers could not leave neg feedback for shipping charges and delivery delays. Of couse that may have been changed now too. eBay makes up the rules as they go and they change stuff every month.

[Mego Magyar]

I only found out about the Global Shipping recently when one of my auction was won by a foreign bidder - I've had no international shipping for my auction ever since it got real expensive to ship out of the country and most of what I sell is way less then the shipping costs. After he won and I saw that it would ship through Global Shipping was when I found that I had been enrolled in it automatically and if I didn't want it I had to opt out, which I did. I only got the US shipping charge that was part of the auction and I have NO idea what the Global system charged the buyer. The only way a buyer would be over charged by the Global system is if a non Global seller were willing to ship with a lower value on the customs form and mark it as "gift" or if a seller put down an incorrect high weight in the auction. A seller IS responsible of what he puts in his listing but not for ebay changing policies and automatically changing your selling parameters.

[ubermanx]

Sounds like we do agree on one thing ...

Global Shipping Program = evil

[piecemaker]

Until recently my listings were open to international bidders and I was shipping stuff to Canada several times per month. I buy plenty from Canada too and I have collector friends in Canada. I regret not being able to ship there directly but I cannot afford to deal with brazil anymore and in blocking that 1 place, eBay blocked all my international sales and covertly entered me into the global shipping program.

I'm not sure how you blocking Brazil,blocked all your International sales.

Like i said,i haven't sold anything on Ebay in awhile and some things have obviously changed.

I dont want to have any of the issues you had when i decide to sell something on Ebay again,so i'm trying to learn something here to avoid that.

I redid my "Shipping Preferences" which Ebay has changed now.You can block entire "regions" (which is an entire continent) or specific countries within that continent.The screen looks like this.

[img]http://piecemaker.smugmug.com/photos/i-KpgMV6f/1/M/i-KpgMV6f-M.jpg[/img]

Also noticed in the fine print below this you have to change your setting in "Buyers Requirements" section of selling preferences for this to work on future listings.

[img]http://piecemaker.smugmug.com/photos/i-BT4XmJN/1/M/i-BT4XmJN-M.jpg[/img]

There seems to be no more US Shipping Only or no International Sales,if there is i haven't found it.

This seems real screwy to me,i cant block all selections under North America without blocking the whole continent,so if i block NA i block everyone including the US,So i'm only except bids from Alaska and Hawaii then,lol.
I WANT to block all International sales and dont seem to be able to do it.

[convoy357]

I'm not sure how you blocking Brazil,blocked all your International sales.

Like i said,i haven't sold anything on Ebay in awhile and some things have obviously changed.

I dont want to have any of the issues you had when i decide to sell something on Ebay again,so i'm trying to learn something here to avoid that.

I redid my "Shipping Preferences" which Ebay has changed now.You can block entire "regions" (which is an entire continent) or specific countries within that continent.The screen looks like this.

[img]http://piecemaker.smugmug.com/photos/i-KpgMV6f/1/M/i-KpgMV6f-M.jpg[/img]

Also noticed in the fine print below this you have to change your setting in "Buyers Requirements" section of selling preferences for this to work on future listings.

[img]http://piecemaker.smugmug.com/photos/i-BT4XmJN/1/M/i-BT4XmJN-M.jpg[/img]

There seems to be no more US Shipping Only or no International Sales,if there is i haven't found it.

This seems real screwy to me,i cant block all selections under North America without blocking the whole continent,so if i block NA i block everyone including the US,So i'm only except bids from Alaska and Hawaii then,lol.
I WANT to block all International sales and dont seem to be able to do it.

Don't bother with all that. Just go to the section that says "International Shipping". Then UNCHECK the box that says Global Shipping. Then go to the drop down thing and select "No Alternative Shipping". This should eliminate all your international bidders.

[piecemaker]

Don't bother with all that. Just go to the section that says "International Shipping". Then UNCHECK the box that says Global Shipping. Then go to the drop down thing and select "No Alternative Shipping". This should eliminate all your international bidders.

Thanks,i'll do that as soon as i find it,lol.Is that under "site preferences"? I've searched all over and have no clue where this "International Shipping" section is.

I did a search for blocking International bidders and acording to that,i've already did what they said to do which is what i posted before.

As far as i can tell,i have all countries blocked except for Bermuda which is included in the North American section.I can live with that,nobody will bid from Bermuda anyway,right?,lol.
Also it will be stated in the Auction Listing,ships to United States only which will hopefully deter anyone from Bermuda from bidding.

[toys2cool]

I feel bad for you guys..I know it sucks..I recently sold a playmobil tiny set that weighs maybe 12 oz. to Canada using the global program..I offered free shipping in the USA..They had to pay $17.26 plus an additional payment cause supposedly ebay charges them to send payments thru paypal

[convoy357]

Thanks,i'll do that as soon as i find it,lol.Is that under "site preferences"? I've searched all over and have no clue where this "International Shipping" section is.

I did a search for blocking International bidders and acording to that,i've already did what they said to do which is what i posted before.

As far as i can tell,i have all countries blocked except for Bermuda which is included in the North American section.I can live with that,nobody will bid from Bermuda anyway,right?,lol.
Also it will be stated in the Auction Listing,ships to United States only which will hopefully deter anyone from Bermuda from bidding.

No you do this on each listing as you list it. You can't just set your "My eBay" seller page to turn off Global Shipping. eBay is pushing the Global Shipping deal hard. It will be activated automatically on every listing you put up. You just uncheck that box on every listing as you go.

[Mego Magyar]

Go to your Account, then Site Preferences then Shipping Preferences, click edit on Global Shipping and you have to choose "opt out" and that turns off the Global Shipping from being in your auctions automatically.

[convoy357]

Go to your Account, then Site Preferences then Shipping Preferences, click edit on Global Shipping and you have to choose "opt out" and that turns off the Global Shipping from being in your auctions automatically.

Oh ok cool. I'll try that. I've been doing it the hard way I guess. Figures.

[Splitty]

You know what annoys the butt out of me?

Last month (or earlier this month?) I specifically unchecked (opted out) of Global Shipping in all my ebay prefrences online, then unchecked it in Turbo Lister on both style auctions, then applied it to all my live auctions.

I don't post very often, so just now I installed the latest program to Turbo Lister (it was a small one) and added some things and..... HOLD ON. ebay has RE-CHECKED ALL MY PREFRENCES, RE-ENLISTING ME in Global Shipping, both on the ebay website AND Turbo Lister, when I specifically already unchecked them.

THEY RE-ENLISTED ME without telling me. I am so irritated and annoyed at them, as that's downright devious and unscrupulous. I'm really unhappy about that. If I opt out of something, not just one check online mind you, but also in two places in Turbo Lister, they should not re-enroll me behind my back. Just not right. So ya'll will need to recheck your prefrences everytime you list something now, it appears.

I'm going to say eCrater again as an alternative to International sellers, but it's just really really hard to search an maneuver that site. I think ebay's shooting itself in the foot and opening more doors to competitors with this shipping program....

[Fitski]

What I don't understand is why Pitney Bowes is charging so much for a duty fee, should be 15% if manufactured in North America and 19% for items made outside. I'm seeing fees in excess of 40% which doesn't included shipping. Best way I've found to get around it is to just get a mail box in a border town and have it shipped there. Surprising more American sellers don't opt out of this since they alienating themselves from international bidders and losing sales.

[ubermanx]

What I don't understand is why Pitney Bowes is charging so much for a duty fee, should be 15% if manufactured in North America and 19% for items made outside. I'm seeing fees in excess of 40% which doesn't included shipping. Best way I've found to get around it is to just get a mail box in a border town and have it shipped there. Surprising more American sellers don't opt out of this since they alienating themselves from international bidders and losing sales.

This might be the answer Fitski. I got alot of dumb cousins in Hamilton. Maybe I need to convince one to move to Niagara Falls

Marty

P.S. You gonna be setup at the toy show in Toronto this Sunday? If so we can stop and chat for a bit.