Yet Another Ebay/Paypal Rant

I've channeled over $400k through them in the past 2 years as both a buyer and a seller. 'Power Seller', 'Top-Rated Seller', 'Preferred Client', .... None of it means a thing when push comes to shove.

The power now lies with the purchaser because there were too many sellers that would rip people off and say they sent it when they didn't. This has now gone the other way allowing the buyers to rip off the seller but you will never get a completely happy balance. The feedback I can see, if I pay right away and you cant seem to send the package or the right package, ect. the feedback should not be even, I fulfilled my obligations whereas the seller has not meaning that I should get positive and depending on the scenario, the seller should not. I usually try to seek resolution before I leave negative feedback though.

I am on the purchasing end and have had international items I have not received and had no tracking which ended up saving me from losing my money so I think its great, but from the recommendation above the responsibility should stop at the post office? what about the person who dropped the money? how would they be protected out of that? just a thought..

Need an opinion on the whole ebay shipping thing . Kinda fits in with this thread . I just recently won an auction on ebay for an item . In the sellers description it states that he ships by USPS . Well he has now shipped my item and he did it by UPS . Since it is coming from florida to Canada I'm going to get hit with all kind of crazy UPS fees ( brokerage fees etc . ). If he had sent it by USPS I would not have to pay these fees . I'm unsure what to do in this situation as it has never happened to me before . It states clearly in his auction that he ships USPS . I have contacted the seller and he has not responded .Thought on how to handle this .

I have been hit with fees from the USPS as well. It really depends only I think on the customs declaration.

As dcadon said, UPS always charges duty on top of their brokerage fee. If the auctionstated that it would be shipped via USPS, then I would contact the seller and let them knowthat this is unacceptable. At the very least,they should refund the brokerage fees. Preferably they should refund any "at the door" fees. If you don't hear from them before the item arrives you have a couple of options. Two of which would be.....
1.Refuse the item and get a refund from PayPal.
2.Take a chance and pay for the fees. Send the seller the payment amount, and ask for a refund. If they refuse, then take it up with paypal. It should work in your favour since the selling description states USPS.

Either way, best of luck and I hope it all works out for you.

Here is an update on the UPS deal . I accepted the package and paid the brokerage fees and taxes . I then explained to the seller this is what happens when things get shipped by UPS to canada . They requested a copy of the ups bill and after they received it they refunded my fees - including the taxes . Great to find such a seller , didn't really expect a refund , just wanted them to be aware of the issues with ups . All ended well !

I'm glad to hear the seller made right on that deal! That was very nice/understanding of him to pay the fee and taxes, definitely a stand up guy/gal! Honestly it could have been a learning experience for him/her, personally I didn't know that.. So there's the chance they didn't either.. But either way very cool of them to make right on it!