Global Shipping Program is a scam, beware. Best way to sue ebay?

[taco_cowboy]

I bought an item via Global Shipping Program, it was quite expensive and during checkout I was charged "import charges" (almost $500).  As it was explained in GSP article, this is too avoid any paperwork so customer will receive the package without having to pay customs fees because they'll be payed automatically by GSP. It sounded suspicious, but I didn't have any other options and really needed that item so I purchased it.

When package crossed the border of my country, customs contacted me and said that I have to pay over $500 fees, it was full 10% import duty + 20% VAT, full standard fees in my country. They refused to even listen about any kind of automatic customs fees payments and just laughed and told me that they don't have any documents verifying any such payments. I contacted the seller telling him about the situation, he convinced me that he had a call with ebay and they know about the issue and that if I pay fees again and send invoice to ebay they'll refund import fees charged during checkout.

I payed fees and customs released the item, I contacted ebay (via email which is the only option in my country) but their customer support is completely useless, they reply with generic templates and don't even bother to investigate anything, each time I get reply from different people, they don't even read previous messages and don't bother to even pretend that they are willing to provide any help. Sometimes they replied telling me to use callback option to contact ebay which is not even available for my country.

I opened a refund request (selected first option, "doesn't fit" because there were no suitable options for this case) and seller immediately closed it and stopped replying to my messages, it's not possible to reopen refund request or create new.

I got scammed by both seller and ebay, how can I sue ebay now? They don't even have any branches in my country. Courts in my country are terrible anyway, it's frustrating to handle even simple cases in courts, not even want to think how frustrating it will be to sue international company which doesn't even have any representatives here. What is the best way to sue ebay in this case?

[rebell45]

From the Ukraine you wouldn't stand a chance.

You could try contacting eBay on social media, someone there may be able to help.

https://twitter.com/askebay
https://www.facebook.com/eBay/

Otherwise, how did you pay for the item? If you used a credit card, you might contact them and see if they offer any kind of fraud protection.  Note; you may have to be creative in what kind of case to open, because, as you found out "does not fit" was the wrong one. 

[taco_cowboy]

Thanks for advice, ironically I received an email saying that they did manual refund request to investigate this just few hours after I wrote my post here, my email finally reached responsible person after I spammed them with emails again and again or maybe they saw this post. Still there is no guarantee that they will make a refund and support said that it can take up to 10 business days.

I payed with credit card, I'll see if my bank can revert this transaction if they don't refund me those "import charges". It's a shame that this option even exists, customs always calculate fees themselves depending on national bank rates, it's not even technically possible to pay these fees automatically cause such payments must always be done by the importer...

[mr_lincoln]

@taco_cowboy   It sounds like the only money you are really disputing is the $ 500 GSP charged you, I suggest you file a charge back with your credit card company for THAT amount.

[taco_cowboy]

yes, only import charges, not the item price itself, I made it clear to ebay support. I've just read that chargeback option is available to all VISA/MasterCard users, I think I have enough evidence to return it via chargeback: conversation with that stupid seller, DHL invoice and tracking history, ebay invoice, conversation with ebay support etc, ebay won't steal my $500 that easily

[monster-deals]

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@taco_cowboy wrote:

I got scammed by both seller 

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No you didn't. Your seller did their part.

[taco_cowboy]

I did, he tricked me into paying fees twice saying that ebay will make a refund but that was a lie, that's called scamming, he did everything to avoid returning that package and fooled me and then stopped replying, I would just tell customs to return the package if I knew that I won't get any refund from GSP. Your defensive comments aren't helping much, just pass by if you can't write anything meaningful here

[glyph01]

Use chargeback as the very last resort. You don’t want to wreck the refund they are trying to process. It looks like eBay are working on a refund and it can take a week, up to 30 days for refunds to be credited to a card in general, depending on your card issuer.

[myangelandmyprincess]

The return for doesn't fit wouldn't have likely helped you anyhow.  The seller was supposedly just passing on a message from eBay.  The seller never saw the 500 for global shipping.  The seller didn't scam you and ebay wouldn't have made them responsible for any case having to do with them.   

[mr_lincoln]

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@taco_cowboy wrote:

yes, only import charges, not the item price itself, I made it clear to ebay support. I've just read that chargeback option is available to all VISA/MasterCard users, I think I have enough evidence to return it via chargeback: conversation with that stupid seller, DHL invoice and tracking history, ebay invoice, conversation with ebay support etc, ebay won't steal my $500 that easily

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@taco_cowboy   I think your good record keeping will help you recover the money and I sincerely hope that you do!!!  You have my vote ...

[pjcdn2005]

If the item was actually sent be the gsp I’m surprised that you had to pay customs in your country.  Did the gsp tracking number start with UPA or ESUS or something else?

[taco_cowboy]

it was UPA, internally they used DHL for delivery from their US center to Ukraine

[monster-deals]

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@taco_cowboy wrote:

I did, he tricked me into paying fees 

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Fees are always the responsibility of the buyer.

Sellers do not have the ability to charge or uncharge them and that money never passes into their hands nor do they even get to see what, why or how much you get charged.

[reallynicestamps]

Your seller never saw those fees.

EBay has a contract with GSP/PB to run the program including shipping overseas and payment of foreign duty and sales taxes.

The import fees were collected by GSP/ Pitney Bowes and used to pay Ukrainian duty and taxes.

So either those were not paid by GSP or the Ukrainian customs officials got a $500US bonus.

Which is most likely?

[taco_cowboy]

The value ebay charged me wasn't even correct, customs invoice had ~60$ more, I double-checked it and their calculations were correct. Customs are the only responsible for fees calculation and importer is the only one who can pay those fees, these "auto-payed fees" even sound stupid. If someone here thinks that fees can be payed before customs even calculated them (that is, during checkout) then good luck with your GSP purchases.

As for me, ebay already sent me an email confirming that refund is in progress and I should receive my money back in 48 hours.

Whenever I see import charges during checkout it's a no-buy for me