I saw a product I wanted on eBay from a seller from the US available for 28.95 USD BIN with Best Offer enabled. Since it was stating the shipping fees were 18.27 USD towards me (I live in The Netherlands - Europe), I choose the Best Offer option with an offer of 21 USD, explaining I had to pay an additional ~18 USD shipping on top of the card.
The seller was kind enough to accept my offer, and I completed the payment.
I then received the following message:
You said shipping was going to cost you a lot I thought? It cost you basically the same as anyone and I dropped my price for you for that reason 😞
I was confused for a moment, because 18 USD is certainly not something people within the US would have to pay.. After some messages back and forth, which you can see here within spoilers:
Hi there, The shipping is 18.75 USD for a 21-28 USD card.. You might be correct it's the same for other people in Europe ordering this card, but it's definitely higher than anyone who'd buy it from within the US.. If the shipping fees were just < 3 USD I would have paid that 28 USD you listed it at in a heartbeat, but currently with your accepted offer I still paid 43.95 USD in total. That 18+ shipping fee is the reason I placed that best offer (and I greatly appreciate it that you've accepted it). But if you're having second thoughts selling it to me, you can cancel and refund it.. In that case I'll ask my friend who lives in the US to buy it for me instead. Shipping from you to him, and from him to me combined is probably still cheaper than the shipping fee eBay has listed from the US towards me.. He's a bit busy lately though, which is why I figured the additional 10 USD I'd pay myself so it could be shipped directly from you to me. Have a nice remainder of the weekend. And let me know what your preferred way of action is here. Greetings, Kevin
Did it really charge you that bc it only shows me $3 for the shipping! Wow that’s crazy eBay making huge money then off the shipping!
I think it depends on the international shipping option. Here is a screenshot of my payment: i.postimg.cc/g0F9gwLw/e-Bay-international-shipping-Copy.png (slightly modified to respect the privacy of the seller/myself). I indeed see the 3.70 USD shipping/handling in the transaction towards you. And then an additional 18.75 USD in a separate transaction to ship it internationally. I'm not entirely sure how it works, because I've never sold anything on eBay (I'm primarily a buyer), but I think the 3.70 USD shipping is to ship it to this company, whom then forwards it to me. Kinda stupid if you'd ask me, and this company is indeed making huge money like that!.. I have a few friends in the US who ship packages to me somethings. PWE is usually just 1.50-2 USD towards me, and with tracking 11-18 USD depending on the weight (so 11 for a single card like yours). It's also ridiculous that you don't see anything about this on your end.. I can understand why you've send me that message after seeing just 3.70 USD shipping in the PayPal transaction. :S Have you've shipped internationally towards Europe before? I almost want to suggest to cancel and refund the payment and sell it to me off eBay, then I could even pay you the same 43 USD and whatever is left after shipping is yours to keep (although I've heard somewhere they can read these private messages, and it's not allowed unfortunately to sell auctions off eBay.. >.>) I think the weirdest part is that you don't see anything about that additional 18.75 USD I paid for shipping on your end. :S Greetings, Kevin
Yes I apologize! eBay should know better there to at least show me that you have to pay that! That is just insane! I would like to do the refund way but eBay does read these so probably not worth it but wow that’s crazy what they are charging you! It’s just Europe not some place in the middle of nowhere! We will just continue her transaction and I will ship it tomorrow 🙂 . Sorry about the misunderstanding! eBay really should fix that!
No need to apologize, I can completely understand now why you've asked me! I had no idea the full prize I had to pay wasn't visible on your end like that. I'll see if I can find anything about it on the eBay forums, and if not, perhaps file a complaint. This is confusing for both sellers and buyers. Do you remember what shipping option you had turned on in your auction which caused the confusion we have right now? And yeah, I think it's probably safest continue instead of going off eBay. It's not really worth the risk, although I'd almost want to risk it out of principle.. It';s ridiculous I have to pay 43.95 USD on my end, and you only receive 25.20 USD on your end.. At least, without showing it to you. Anyway, I'm looking forward receiving the card for my collection. Thanks for all the messages, because this was also all new to me! Enjoy the remainder of the weekend. Greetings, Kevin
(The paying off eBay parts were just our frustration, the transaction is still completed through eBay, so don't worry.. >.>)
We came to realize that on his end only 3.70 USD shipping was visible without any clue about the full prize I've paid, while on my end I had to pay 22.45 USD shipping; the 3.70 USD in the transaction towards him, and an additional 18.75 USD for the international shipping/import fees in a transaction towards a separated company..
This is just plain ridiculous if you'd ask me.. For starters, it causes the confusion like above if the seller doesn't know the full amount I've paid, especially after accepting a Best Offer for the reason I stated. In addition, before I completed the payment it was stating the shipping fees were 18.27 USD, but this was raised to (22.45 USD) 18.75 + 3.70 USD after actually finalizing the payment of the auction. Now I know that's not a lot of money, but it's just stupid and a scam on eBay's part to leave things hidden like that imho!
Has anyone else experiences something similar before, either at the end of buyers/seller? What international shipping options do some of you guys/girls from the US use for selling auctions internationally?
There is an area where the seller can see what you paid in total however I'm not sure where that is as I don't use global shipping. Or he could also see the amount by going into the listing and changing the shipping location to the Netherlands.
If the shipping that you saw was $18.27, that was what you should have been charged. When you paid, the seller would have received the $3.70 for the domestic portion and Pitney Bowes would have received $14.57 for the international shipping portion. I obviously can't see what you really did pay, but that's how it has always worked.
If there were any import fees/VAT/duty that portion would also be paid to PB.
If it doesn't seem to add up properly and you paid in a currency other than $US, Paypal does add on a currency exchange fee which is usually around 3%. That is really the only part that isn't shown on eBay that the buyer ends up paying for probably because that amount isn't a constant number.
There is an area where the seller can see what you paid in total however I'm not sure where that is as I don't use global shipping. Or he could also see the amount by going into the listing and changing the shipping location to the Netherlands.
If the shipping that you saw was $18.27, that was what you should have been charged. When you paid, the seller would have received the $3.70 for the domestic portion and Pitney Bowes would have received $14.57 for the international shipping portion. I obviously can't see what you really did pay, but that's how it has always worked.
If there were any import fees/VAT/duty that portion would also be paid to PB.
If it doesn't seem to add up properly and you paid in a currency other than $US, Paypal does add on a currency exchange fee which is usually around 3%. That is really the only part that isn't shown on eBay that the buyer ends up paying for probably because that amount isn't a constant number.
Keep in mind that if you DO use a forwarding service in the US you will be charged a sales/use tax if the forwarding service is located in a US state that has enacted a Marketplace Facilitator tax, regardless of your country of residence. eBay is required by law(s) to collect and remit this tax and it may show up as a separate PayPal transaction.
The currency conversion probably explains the 18.27 to 18.75, didn't thought about that.
And you're indeed right. I indeed see, based on the screenshot provided by daw365 in the previous post, that it's Pitney Bowes the additional transaction went through. I still think it's odd that the seller doesn't see this somehow. I've never sold anything on eBay (I'm primarily a buyer), but I would assume you'd get an email as a seller if you've sold an auction, including what the buyer paid to you, and what they paid in total for additional services like these. But apparently the latter isn't the case, so a seller from the US/UK wouldn't know what an international buyer paid in total if they do use the default eBay international shipping options, which is apparently this Pitney Bowes company.
"I obviously can't see what you really did pay, but that's how it has always worked." In one of my messages towards the seller there is a screenshot attached of what I did pay (43.95 USD in total): - 21.50 for the product + 3.70 shipping towards the seller - 18.75 towards a separate global shipping company (which is indeed Pitney Bowes if I check the transaction on my PayPal)
Ah well. I don't mind paying the additional shipping, because I'm used to it. It just strikes me as odd and counter-intuitive that the seller doesn't see anything back from this. As you can see in my messages, it can cause all kind of confusion when a seller accepts a Best Offer for the reason I gave..
