Not a particularly important one but thought this had interesting potential. How long until security officials are sat with Manships Guide? This notice was a new one on me.

How did Ebay know it was going to be checked when they sent it ?

did this come from an american parcel bound for the uk?

Edited February 28, 201411 yr by JNixon

It's a package that went through the Ebay Global shipping programme - that's why it has an Ebay label in it

 

Not sure why they would need to open it though as all customs charges are already paid upfront

How did Ebay know it was going to be checked when they sent it ?

 

That was my immediate thought, well kind of.

Where/who was the item bought from ?

If it was bought through an auction how did E-bay get their hands on it ?, even

if it was bought through an E-bay store why would it be anywhere near E-bay.

Is this some kind of scam where somebody is opening parcels to see if its worth nicking

them sticking that letter in to cover their tracks.

Also Wtf have Pitney bowes got to do with it ?

Smells a bit fishy to me.

Edited February 28, 201411 yr by Kegsy

It's a package that went through the Ebay Global shipping programme - that's why it has an Ebay label in it

 

Not sure why they would need to open it though as all customs charges are already paid upfront

 

So E-bay have their own parcel delivery facilities, like UPS etc., that's a new one on me.

That was my immediate thought, well kind of.

Where/who was the item bought from ?

If it was bought through an auction how did E-bay get their hands on it ?, even

if it was bought through an E-bay store why would it be anywhere near E-bay.

Is this some kind of scam where somebody is opening parcels to see if its worth nicking

them sticking that letter in to cover their tracks.

Smells a bit fishy to me.

 

 

ebay handle physical shipping and customs payments now

presumably they got a bollocking from the customs payments department in the US along the lines of we are losing money because of the way you work and ebay are losing money on chargebacks?

ebay handle physical shipping and customs payments now

 

 

Well you live & learn !!!!!!

Has said above seller uses Global Shipping Program. Some deal between Ebay and Pitney Bowes.

 

https://pages.ebay.co.uk/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html

Edited February 28, 201411 yr by Dave Turner

ebay handle physical shipping and customs payments now

thats interesting, well royal mail charge £8, something like £4 profit for them, rest goes to the government of course, so its a good business for Ebay to get into, they have a min charge rate which the Royal mail have proven, the skies the limit... even if they pay onto a carrier £2 say, thats £2 to them (Ebay) for every package..

 

Malcolm

Edited February 28, 201411 yr by Mal C

Got charged £11:47 for customs on an Lp bought of ebay that arrived yesterday, to be fair the seller did have it detailed on his shipping payments (not responsible for customs charges)

looking forward there will most likely come a point where sellers have to be in the country of the site they are using with ebay due to this issue. so no more usa site sales for us brits

Only parcel I've had opened by Customs was from Simon Soussan posted from New York around 1972

you are very lucky then Julian this is a regular occurrence for me now, resealed packs with ebay sticky tape on them…..

Be honest I dont buy from over seas sellers any more unless I really want it, Aussie stuff seems to come straight through no problem so I always pick stuff up via eBay and other.. It seems to be the USA packets that get all the attention.  Mix that with exchange rate charges, and any other associated it simply isn't worth dealing with allot of folks over seas..

 

which is a damn shame.

As if we needed it, one more reason this Global Postage thing is a nightmare for all.
If they were to make it mandatory I'd stop selling internationally on Ebay. Not that I'd need to, it's so expensive, no one would buy.

FWIW I haven't had anything stopped in customs when sent privately for a few years   don't know about the EBay stuff.

I think it was from a Nick Allen, Hard Way to Go, that I thought was a bargain but (my fault) missed the detail regarding post and customs. Customs charges were paid in advance. Purchased from North Carolina, International Priority shipping 16 dollars. Not having a go at seller just first time come across a note like this inside a package!

Got an LP from the States lst week, charged 13p customs charge on the item, + £8 handling - taking the piss

How's that privatization thing going over there?
Better, worse, same?

I mentioned this issue in an older thread -

 

My concern at the time being that some heavy handed so and so could potentially could damage my record whilst trying to open the package and then reseal the it as if nothing had happened.  I don't see that eBay has any right to open my mail, that is a job for customs officials.

I mentioned this issue in an older thread -

 

My concern at the time being that some heavy handed so and so could potentially could damage my record whilst trying to open the package and then reseal the it as if nothing had happened.  I don't see that eBay has any right to open my mail, that is a job for customs officials.

 

A "damaged" post

 

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Pitney-Bowes-opened-my-parcel-and-ripped-rare-item-apart/td-p/164897

Not sure if it's just coincidence, but the last 18 months my record import shipments have been heavily taxed by HM customs, the last time was back in the 90s when we had a recession in-between these dates the records just sail through with no customs etc, save one from Jamaica, for obvious reasons.

 

I put it down to the government being skint (despite their sound bites) as it is easy money to tax anything and everything coming in. When times were good and prosperous why bother with small fry packages, far to much hassle as the weight of imports on other high value stuff brings in more revenue.

 

Got to go someone kicking in the door

 

Dave