What does Pitney Bowes do with the money following a cancellation?

[ajf160959]

I recently had a seller refund the money I sent to the seller for the purchase price of items plus the seller's shipping cost. The purchase involved the Global Shipping Program and an additional amount of money was sent to Pitney Bowes. The money sent to Pitney Bowes was not refunded. The seller did not send the items. Pitney Bowes provided no services.

I would probably record the money I sent to Pitney Bowes as a donation. This raises the the question of how Pitney Bowes treats the money it keeps for services it did not provide. Would they record it as income from services, even though they did not provide the services, or would the money go into some capital slush fund for a rainy day?

I presume from the additional amount that Pitney Bowes charges that the company would be in a position to employ someone to record it's transactions in an orderly fashion.

Does anyone know if donations to Pitney Bowes are tax deductible?

[dylan11235813]

aren't all donations tax deductible? Do ebay own shares in them or something? Not hard to find out but I couldn't be bothered.

They should give it back by the sounds of it.

[digital*ghost]

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@ajf160959 wrote:

Does anyone know if donations to Pitney Bowes are tax deductible?

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Only if they're a registered charity, I would think (which I'm pretty sure they're not), or the money paid can be considered a business expense or somesuch...

I vaguely remember reading here a couple of months ago that a purchase has to be disputed in order to receive a refund of the money paid to PB - someone should come along soon to help with advice on how to go about getting a refund, if still possible.

[amber-eyed-girl]

Payment Reversals. . If eBay, Pitney Bowes, or Pitney Bowes's service providers determine, after you have purchased a GSP Item, that the GSP Item is ineligible for GSP or cannot be shipped to you (for whatever reason), eBay and its affiliates shall have the right to cancel your purchase in lieu of proceeding with the processing and/or shipment of the GSP Item and, upon exercising this right, may reverse the PayPal payment that you made to your Seller and to Pitney Bowes for the GSP Item and will process the GSP Item as an undeliverable item.

That is what it says under the GSP terms. The word "may" is used. That would seem to be an out for them, but they do issue refunds. If they refuse to continue with shipping. If the seller did not send at all, you will need to raise it with PB. If they are uncooperative try a dispute.

[lyndal1838]

My experience a while ago was that the money paid to Pitney Bowes was not refunded when there was no dispute opened.

A week after I paid I contacted the seller to ask for the tracking number of my item.   The seller was most apologetic and refunded immediately when the item could not be found....but no refund of the PB amount.

Another member who has made a study of the GSP told me that the only way to get the money from PB was to open a dispute for the item.  It was way too late for me to do that as the seller had refunded within hours of my first message so there was no need for a dispute.

Just bear in mind that this was in the early days of the GSP and things may well be different now.

[ajf160959]

lyndal1838,

I would be interested to know how Pitney Bowes accounted for your money. It may still be in their books along with thousands of other payments that should have been refunded. However, my guess would be that your money was wrongly written up as income, and since there was no associated expenses by Pitney Bowes, your money went to the company's profits. Free money! Another possibility is that the money has gone into some other fund, say, an executive retirement plan, in which case, your involuntary donation should be tax deductible, although, I suspect the fund would need to be a registered charity for a legitimate tax deduction.

Pitney Bowe's charges may reflect the calibre of their accountancy team. In my case, the item was the size and weight of a matchbox, and cost about the same as two bricks sent by regular post. In my view, this discrepancy can only be accounted for by administrative costs in keeping track of payments received and matching services provided, or, in our case, payments received and NO matching services provided.

The situation seems to be that ebay, affiliates, etc *may* arrange the refund of payments made to Pitney Bowes, but only when *it* exercises it's right to cancel a transaction. There does not seem to be any provision for ebay to arrange a refund when a transaction is cancelled by a seller and/or buyer.

[lyndal1838]

Why waste your time speculating what Pitney Bowes has done with your money....they are an American company, in America, working under American law.   Who know how/why they do anything.

[ajf160959]

lyndal1838

I don't feel I'm wasting my time, just asking a question and making some suggestions given that no-one seems able to provide a definite answer. You seem to have been happy enough to make an involuntary donation to Pitney Bowes. Others may not be so pleased and wondering, like me, what happened to their money.

American law and accounting standards are not dissimilar to those in my country and other places around the world. I would not expect that being an American company would grant a right to do whatever one pleases with other people's money. However, I have not done a company search, so am uncertain whether Pitney Bowes' practices are governed by American law. Perhaps they are an off-shore company, in which case your assertion may be valid... "Who know how/why they do anything."