mybass Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 (edited) Beware....EBay recently altered my buyers address to their own UK Global Shipping warehouse, leaving me and buyer unaware. Item appears lost now. Buyer it turned out was actually resident in Belgium but all I saw on PayPal invoice was a UK address. PayPal refunds okay. Not even EBay phone operators knew the address was their own! Global shipping apparently started in Nov 2014 and has ' some minor problems'! I would have thought altering addresses without informing seller/ buyers was bad enough. I've 'strongly advised' EBay to put 'EBay Global Shipping' at the top of their address, not just Unit 1 such n such industrial estate , Derbyshire. I'd honestly thought it was buyers work address. PayPal have blamed Global Shipping but it took a lot of calles and emails to get sorted. Bah foohey. Edited February 28, 2015 by mybass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 I've found quite a few US traders refuse to use the eBay Global shipping programme because of major hassles with it The one time I used it (for a small item) it was ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 (edited) I used the global shipping programme 3 times as a seller and there were problems each time so now I have un-enrolled from it. Also be very careful if you use it to send basses as there is a maximum parcel size that they will accept and a properly packed bass guitar is liable to be over the limit. Also I could send the items directly at a far cheaper price (and still have them fully insured and tracked) than the global shipping programme. A complete waste of time and money for the seller and buyer IMO. Edited March 2, 2015 by BigRedX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 As with all things eBay, PayPal or indeed anything nowadays, it's just a way to make even more money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzneck Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I wanted to buy a small item from the US and the seller was using the Global Shipping Programme. The shipping and duties I would have been charged were in excess of £100 on an item the size of a matchbox, 250gm in weight packed and a price of £10.99. Duty was not liable on this item. Needless to say I did not go ahead. Beware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 The eBay Global Shipping Programme, seems to exist solely for the purposes of those in the USA who for some inexplicable reason have an aversion to sending things to addresses outside of their country. I don't know why. Certainly here in the UK sending stuff abroad is no more difficult than normal. It just costs a bit more. For me the process is the same whether I am sending something 50 miles down the road or half way around the world. I would recommend that everyone selling on eBay makes sure that they have opted out of the programme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mybass Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 Thanks people, all in all it appears (even from EBay themselves) that there are problems within their system and whether it is a USA based idea or not, it ain't working too good for the seller/ buyer. I've even had a completely different 'buyer' or scammer asking about buying it now, but I haven't a clue where the item has ended up and EBay said ignore that person. Whether EBay will trace this late mystery offer is another thing, who cares now, at least my money was made safe ' using EBay Global and Paypal', oh goody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Oh dear, I didn't really pay attention to having been enrolled. I'm selling an item ending on Saturday and the current high bidder turns out to be in Italy. I didn't specify international postage when I listed the item, but I guess eBay does that automatically now. I hope this goes OK, as there's not much I can do once bids have been placed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 [quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1426080538' post='2714127'] Oh dear, I didn't really pay attention to having been enrolled. I'm selling an item ending on Saturday and the current high bidder turns out to be in Italy. I didn't specify international postage when I listed the item, but I guess eBay does that automatically now. I hope this goes OK, as there's not much I can do once bids have been placed. [/quote] You'll be fine so long as your parcel isn't over the maximum shipping size. If it's a bass it might well be. The way it works is that you send the item to their depot in the UK, so as far as you are concerned it's just another UK address. The buyer has paid an additional cost on top of your item price and UK shipping charge, to have the item forwarded to them in their country. The problem is that, I can send stuff directly to my foreign buyers either by Royal Mail or UPS through Interparcel for a lot less money than eBay's global shipping programme charges buyers and it gets there quicker and there doesn't appear to be any parcel size restrictions. All three of my global shipping programme sales had problems. The most bizarre was when I sold 3 items that all ended within a few minutes of each other to the same foreign buyer. Two went through as normal but the last went into the global shipping programme. This mean that having quoted a combined postage cost to my buyer, I couldn't honour that price and in fact it was completely impossible to make an invoice for all three items as only the two not in the GSP appeared on the invoice. It took a whole day of messages between myself the buyer and eBay to sort the mess out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1426083414' post='2714156'] You'll be fine so long as your parcel isn't over the maximum shipping size. If it's a bass it might well be. [/quote] It's quite a bit smaller than a bass, and usefully already described as "for parts or not working", so there should be few grounds for a return provided I pack it competently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonybassplayer Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 This is interesting as my wife's son who lives with us sells new household items on eBay and was telling me yesterday about an item he sold recently to the USA and the lady decided it wasn't fitting correct so wanted to return it ( like most others he says it's ok to return but they pay postage ) the item was £100 and eBay global shipping who had arranged the international part wanted nothing to do with it and the best quote he had was £335 !! Ended up giving her a £50 refund to keep it to keep her sweet ( petrified of a bad feedback score like most business sellers ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spongebob Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Bit of a thread resurrection! Has anyone actually purchased a bass from the USA using the GSP? I've spotted a good deal - a saving of around £250/£300 when imported from America, and that includes the GSP extras. Wondering if it's a good idea, or if you still get stung..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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