Global Shipping Program

[jumunjipeter]

 Buyers beware of sellers in the USA who are on the Global Shipping Program. I recently bought 4 watches from the same seller in the USA, and when I went to pay, there were 4 shipping costs - $17.70, $17.40, $17.80 and $17.89. (Try and work out why they were all different???). When I asked the seller to combine the posting, he replied that he cannot as the Global Shipping Program does not allow him to combine.

 When I messaged eBay about this I received a message back that said in part "The seller doesn't know the import cost since it is the global shipping provider that would determine depending on your location. Thus, the US sellers are not allowed to combine postage." That is a load of crock. THERE IS NO IMPORT COST FOR WATCHES INTO AUSTRALIA. I have imported for the last 2 years.

 Talk about getting ripped-off.

 Pitney Bowes are the Global Shippers, and their site reads "AFTER you've completed checkout, you can review these charges on the Order Details page. The Order Details page shows the total charges and the payment amounts to the seller and the payment amount that went to the global shipping provider".

 The seller posts your item to Pitney Bowes and they forward post it to you.

 I read up on this Global Shipping Program and it says that they are not affiliated with eBay, yet eBay obviously gets a kick-back from them. This is what their site reads under "Description of Fees"::

 1. U.S. Shipping Fee

 2. International Shipping Fee

 3. Fuel Surcharge

 4. Transportation Fee

 5. Parcel Processing Service Fee

 6. Distribution Center Management Fee

 7. Loss Management Fee

 8. Transportation Risk Premium Fee

 9. Referral Fee - a variable fee paid by Pitney Bowes to eBay Inc. for referring you to the program.

 I wonder, if ever, when eBay will stop it's quest for greed at the expense of the buyers and sellers. There are millions of items sold and bought on eBay every day. When is "enough" enough??

[baja578]

Its also possible that PBI removed the optical plate from under the laser. A big heavy piece of aluminium or steel that the laser sits on. You can see it in this photo. The laser would still work without it. No big problem, but still its annoying.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

please do come back and let us know how this transaction goes.  You have us curious about how a parcel that weighs 36lbs could weigh less than 20 when shipped by PB.

[lyndal1838]

I was also wondering how Pitney Bowes could ship a fully packed parcel weighing less than the item weighs.  This is going to be interesting.

[imastawka]

And if they have removed the steel plate, there's an immediate INAD case.

Can't see that they'd remove something from the item though

[lyndal1838]

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@baja578 wrote:

Its also possible that PBI removed the optical plate from under the laser. A big heavy piece of aluminium or steel that the laser sits on. You can see it in this photo. The laser would still work without it. No big problem, but still its annoying.

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I may be completely wrong here but I am tipping that they have sent the steel plate and not the box that sits on it.....it has the word Laser on it and Laser Pointers are a restricted item according to the Customs website.

Going by PB's previous form anything containing the word Laser will not be sent.

If you receive only part of the item make sure you start a NOT AS DESCRIBED dispute, not a not received....they can prove that they sent you something so you will lose a not received dispute.

[padi*0409]

Could be yet another expensive item for PB to list on their US eBay site lyndal......................win win for them and lose lose for the OP and seller.

[baja578]

It is not a laser pointer - it is a monstrous gas laser that requires 1.8kw from the wall socket to run LOL

The laser arrived, but was damaged in transit due to the repacking. I have only just opened the INAD as I had to source a power supply for it, retap it to 240V and replace the key switch (key was missing). I fired it up, cathode heat delay timed out and no ignite pulses. Aka laser was dead - probably due to rough handling. Prior to this I tried my mini tesla coil and thought it wasn't powerful enough to ionise the argon in the tube. So now I have a power supply, and no laser to use it with. There are plenty more of these lasers on ebay, so the refund will purchase a replacement from a seller who does not use GSP.

Lasers which are not hand held battery operated pointers with an accessable emission of over 1mW are not restricted in australia. This thing is hardly a pointer 🙂

The seller has been fully co-operative and was shocked to see how pitney repacked the parcel. 

[padi*0409]

After you posted the link to it and even in the opening post when you gave the weight of it, myself and the other responders were fully aware that it was not a laser pointer.

Sounds like the seller is doing the right thing for you, so things should work out ok.

Did you open the INAD case with eBay's MBG or with Paypal?

[imastawka]

I wanna know about the weight differences.

How was that managed?

[padi*0409]

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@imastawka wrote:

I wanna know about the weight differences.

How was that managed?

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Mirrors and helium balloons of course Stawks...................