Email a copy of 'eBay Global Shipping Program Keeps Pitney Bowes on Board' to a friend
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Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.
The Global shipping program is being sold as a great way for sellers to sell their items globally, with little to no risk. However, It’s too bad that Paypal and Ebay are not honoring their contracted agreement they have with sellers in regards to liability of damaged goods/packages. Even though their user agreement with sellers states that sellers liability stops as soon as package is delivered properly to the global shipping facility, unfortunately they are not honoring this.
After speaking with both Paypal and Ebay I have been told that all agreement is vacated as soon as the buyer files a credit card dispute, because both Ebay and Paypal are not obligated to do anything once this happens. In other words, a buyer can buy hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise (maybe thousands), and for whatever reason, they can just file a dispute with the card carrier, which bypasses both Ebay and Paypal) and then the item is free! Unfortunately, the seller is out the value of the item, the amount buyer paid, and the shipping paid.
There is 4 pages on an Ebay thread that is currently discussing this with an Ebay rep:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Global-Shipping-Damaged-item-Shipping-Problem/td-p/28432038
@Mullen – Thank you for posting that link, it’s been a very interesting read. While I would never use the GSP (I don’t trust anyone to properly repackage my items), this should be a wake-up call to every seller who does use it that eBay will not absolve you of responsibility in the event of damage (as their own user agreement states). I’m sure there are other liar buyers who are now planning to file for a charge back knowing that neither eBay nor PayPal will step up to assist the seller.
Is ANYONE here surprised to read any of this? The buyer purchased THROUGH PAYPAL, using a credit card. Paypal is the Merchant of Record that took that payment. Weasel words in action. No one but ebay could slip off this hook. NO seller should EVER trust anything ebay says will make your life easier or into a better seller. NEVER trust anything run by ebay.