Very Strange Ebay Experience

[knifeaholic]

This is odd...

Awhile ago one of my listed knives sold on Ebay, it was a very basic small jack with yellow handles. Here is the original listing:


I nroamlly exclude any buyers outside of the USA from my Ebay sales. Or so I thought. This knife shipped to an address in Erlanger, KY which I have come to believe is Ebay's hub for buyers who buy from USA selllers (but I had no idea it was a Canadian buyer at the time).

So far so good, item paid, shipped, and I forgot about it.

Then awhile later I get this odd message from Ebay:

RESTRICTED ITEM
Dear Steven,

We are writing to inform you that your recent transaction sold through the Global Shipping Program to [drkstar00] cannot be completed.

The item in question has been deemed restricted. This could be due to import/shipping restrictions or eligibility requirements within the Global Shipping Program. The item will not be shipped forward to its final destination and will not be returned to you.

Don’t worry! Your buyer will be notified and refunded automatically by eBay within 72 hours. You will retain the buyer’s original payment. At this time, the transaction is considered complete, and no further action is needed.

Visit our help page to learn more about item eligibility, dimensional requirements, and prohibited items.

Very odd...so for whatever reason it did not reach the buyer, but I kept the payment and the buyer was reimbursed by Ebay.

Why was this normal little knife RESTRICTED ??? I have no idea.

But...it gets stranger...to be continued below.

[knifeaholic]

Then awhile later, I see the exact knife listed for sale on Ebay from a seller in Michigan, using my original text and photos:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Case-Xx-Usa-4- ... 7675.l2557


Still scratching my head over this whole thing!

[bighomer]

Huh, strange goings on, if I was the dude in Canada and really wanted the knife I'd be p'od.

[bladecollectorr]

This is odd...

As a Canadian Schrade collector I buy 99% of my stuff in the US and get it shipped north. I've probably imported 250 knives. That little knife is totally NOT restricted as far as the laws of Canada are concerned. My guess this is yet another example of why ebay's Global Shipping Program completely sucks. It must have been the shipping company that deemed it "restricted" for some stupid reason. Maybe they lost it?

No way would Canada Border Services seize that item and if they did, well, nobody would get a refund. My USPS packages cross the border just fine.

If the two MOP Schrade Cut Co lobsters I bought off of you recently had gotten into this mess I would have cried a river. They crossed the border just fine with 5 other knives using USPS Priority International. Some of the knives were far larger.

[knifeaholic]

This is odd...

As a Canadian Schrade collector I buy 99% of my stuff in the US and get it shipped north. I've probably imported 250 knives. That little knife is totally NOT restricted as far as the laws of Canada are concerned. My guess this is yet another example of why ebay's Global Shipping Program completely sucks. It must have been the shipping company that deemed it "restricted" for some stupid reason. Maybe they lost it?

No way would Canada Border Services seize that item and if they did, well, nobody would get a refund. My USPS packages cross the border just fine.

If the two MOP Schrade Cut Co lobsters I bought off of you recently had gotten into this mess I would have cried a river. They crossed the border just fine with 5 other knives using USPS Priority International. Some of the knives were far larger.

Thanks...yeah that is why I thought it odd. I have shipped quite a few to Canada over the past few years with no issues.

[Railsplitter]

So the knife doesn't get shipped back you and the buyer doesn't get it either. Very strange. I have to wonder if that Ebay seller gets all of his knives that way.

[herbva]

Then awhile later, I see the exact knife listed for sale on Ebay from a seller in Michigan, using my original text and photos:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Case-Xx-Usa-4- ... 7675.l2557


Still scratching my head over this whole thing!

Steve, that is beyond strange. I would call it bizarre. I think you indicated that the auction excluded international shipping, so it should have not even entered into ebay's global shipping program. I hope that you will share the details of this story with ebay. I smell something very wrong here.

[Railsplitter]

The Ebay seller's location of Cass City, Michigan is pretty close to the Canadian border.

This reeks of an inside job within Ebay. I don't know how else the current seller would know where to find the original pictures and description.

[Sharpnshinyknives]

I think a call to Ebay is definitely in order. Get someone that doesn’t just read answers off of a script. Ask for a supervisor and get to the bottom of this. Ebay is losing money and buyers aren’t getting their product and someone is profiting off of your knife and pictures. This is wrong on so many levels.

[RevolverGuy]

Sounds like a scam to me. I'd notify Ebay and tell them you have some suspicions. There are people out there that have figured out certain loopholes and are taking advantage of it. This is a different situation I want to share, just to show you how these scammers work. A few years ago I sold one that ended somewhere in the $200 range. I sent the knife USPS to the buyer with tracking and insurance. They complained to Ebay about the knife being in worse condition than what was listed (it was like new) and were asking me to refund them. I agreed if the buyer sent it back to me. They did and provided a tracking#, I waited a week. It never arrived. After checking the tracking it was sent to an address in another state. The buyer complained again and escalated the situation with Ebay. I decided to call in and explain my side. I told the agent to look at the item I had listed. I took very clear pictures and the description of everything was several paragraphs. They agreed that everything on my end looked fine, so I did not have to refund them. But what gets me angry is that Ebay decided to refund the buyer on their own behalf. A few weeks later I saw that same buyer listing the knife I had sold him.

[kootenay joe]

What is the "Global Shipping Program" ?
I live in Canada and as the border has been closed since mid March i have bought a couple of items on ebay from USA sellers and they have shipped to my home address in Canada. No involvement of 'Global Shipping Program' that i can see.
kj

[ken98k]

Then awhile later, I see the exact knife listed for sale on Ebay from a seller in Michigan, using my original text and photos:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Case-Xx-Usa-4- ... 7675.l2557


Still scratching my head over this whole thing!

Have you asked the new seller what his story is?

[New_Windsor_NY]

What is the "Global Shipping Program" ?
I live in Canada and as the border has been closed since mid March i have bought a couple of items on ebay from USA sellers and they have shipped to my home address in Canada. No involvement of 'Global Shipping Program' that i can see.
kj

MANY sellers don't want to ship outside of the United States. With the Global Shipping Program, a buyer outside of the United States can purchase an item, the seller ships it to a "middle man" (in the U.S.) and he, she or the company sends the item to the buyer. The "middle man" in essence becomes your buyer. If the item never reaches the final destination, you can't be blamed. When you list an item, there is a box the seller can check to participate or not to participate in this program.

[kootenay joe]

Skip, thanks for explaining this. Does the use of Global Shipping Program increase the shipping cost to the buyer ?
kj

[New_Windsor_NY]

Skip, thanks for explaining this. Does the use of Global Shipping Program increase the shipping cost to the buyer ?
kj

If it does, that's between the end buyer and the "middle man." Any shipping that the end buyer pays on the sellers invoice is the shipping to the "middle man." It's a lot less complicated than it sounds. I've done it a few times and have had no problems. All of the end buyers were somewhere in Indonesia.

[Madmarco]

Skip, thanks for explaining this. Does the use of Global Shipping Program increase the shipping cost to the buyer ?
kj

Yes Joe, the shipping charges to the buyer are USUALLY higher with the GSP, and also USUALLY include additional import charges, whereas shipping with simply USPS does not charge those fees, and unless it's a very high-priced item Customs USUALLY doesn't charge the import fees of duty and taxes. It states somewhere at the bottom of the listing that part of these charges are paid to Pitney-Bowes, so using the GSP involves the middle-men, and someone has to pay them, so it's the buyer. At least this has been my experience.

[kootenay joe]

Thank you Marco. GSP seems best for shipping to distant countries. Fortunately some USA sellers will still ship to Canada using just USPS.
kj

[Madmarco]

You're welcome Joe, and yes, it certainly is fortunate some guys will still just us the good ole' USPS! I've had numerous packages come from the US, and for only 1 have I been charged duty and taxes, and that 1 was delivered by DHL! Just proves the old saying, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it"! Mark.

[Bullgoose]

I've been on the other end of the exact scenario outlined by the OP.

I'm in Canada and I bought a Russel daddy Barlow on ebay. The seller has chosen to ship it through the global shipping program, so they shipped it to Erlinger KY. A company called Pitney Bowes runs the global shipping program (GSP) and their warehouse is there. Once it was there I received a message from eBay stating that knives are prohibited items and it was being seized. I would be refunded in full as would the seller. I contacted the seller for help in fighting this be he was uninterested - he had his money and didn't much care where the classic barlow ended up.

What really bothered me was that eBay had allowed the listing to be posted in the "knives" category, with shipping via the GSP with no issues, and only once the knife physically arrived at the Pitney Bowes GSP warehouse did the issues arise. I called eBay and they told me there was nothing they could do. Apparently Pitney Bowes makes their own rules about what they prohibit. I argued that slip joints are not restricted in any way in Canada or the US and there is no need for refusing to ship it to me, but they claimed it was out of their hands and couldn't tell Pitney Bowes what to do. They said knives had been put on the prohibited list between the time that it was listed and when it arrived at the Pitney Bowes warehouse. B.S. They also claimed to have no idea what would happen to the knife. I spoke to a manager and they said the same things.

Sure enough, a few weeks later, a different seller listed it again using the original seller's photos. It appears that Pitney Bowes liquidates seized items somehow, or maybe an employee grabs stuff out of the trash.

In any case I will never, ever buy anything that will be shipped through the GSP again. Very frustrating.

[Madmarco]

Yes, that's some pretty frustrating stuff BG! It's bad enough that CBSA hardly allows any kind of folder through these days, but then to have problems on the US end as well really screws things up. The only thing I can make of it is, that Pitney Bowes has had a lot of assisted models returned to them by CBSA, and it's simply become too much trouble going through all the BS too many times, so they just ban all folders from being shipped. I may be way off base with this, but the problems seem to always trace back to CBSA. I too avoid the GSP at all costs, unless it's a fixie, but who knows, Pitney Bowes may have just done a "blanket-ban" on all knives going to Canada. It would be interesting to know if other non-restricted knife countries are receiving their orders, but unless you know someone in such a country, it'd be kindda tough to know for sure. At least then we'd know if it's the knives or the country Pitney has banned. Best to just stay away from the GSP, not only because of the ban, but the cost as well! Our government in all their infinite wisdom saw fit to legalize drugs, but God forbid we own knives that open with 1 hand! Such is life in Communist Canada!