This is a warning for fellow Canucks buying handcuffs on eBay.
Do not use eBays new global shipping program. The entity doing that program is clueless and assumes all handcuffs going anywhere in the world including Canada requires an export permit. The item reaches the global shipper and is rejected as restricted goods. eBay then issues a "full refund"... Not!
I am now fighting eBay/PayPal to get the global shipping charges back.
Graham
Dear fellow collectors,
a few words on ebay's "Global shipping program". Please do not use it.
Here's why: You buy a an item in the US for $10. They will charge you a total of $38 (!). The seller will receive $17 for the item and shipping within the US (he doesn't even see the rest). If he prints the label from the site, the barcode will automatically redirect the shipment to a warehouse in Kentucky, where they ship over a big crate once or twice a week - cheap.
The remaining $21 are sucked up by "a global shipping company". As a buyer, you don't have a choice to opt out of that. You can only pay for $38, or not pay at all. But afterwards, you get two receipts.
I think the process is there to bleed the buyers for extra money (of course it's cheaper to mail 100 items at once). Ebay's logic is: the buyer clicks "global shipping program" without knowing what it means, he gets his money, everything is fine. The buyer has to pay for it, even if he never wanted it.
I just wanted my item shipped to me regular, old-fashioned way. But obviously Ebay doesn't want us to do that.
To me, that practise seems unethical as well as illegal. But since they're only ripping of foreign customers, who's going to sue?
Of course, you can't write to Ebay either. No mail, postal or fax address. You have to go over the phone. Guess the result.
