Ebay has this super legit feature called the global shipping program. On the seller side, you just tick this box saying you enroll in it, and basically you ship the package to this US sorting center where the buyer pays their fees to get the item sent off to wherever they are. Pretty neat and no funny business.
A few weeks ago I sold a handful of old one piece cues on ebay, and my buyer was international. I had checked the global shipping program option because it's no hassle on my side and opens up more buyers for my item. I ship them out to erlanger kentucky or wherever it designated me to and basically this is another easy transaction from ebay. Today I get a message from the buyer that the item is declared restricted and it has a message that it won't be shipping out from the sorting center. A few hours later, I get an email from ebay that the global shipping program has classified the item as restricted and it won't be shipping out international. It also says the buyer is being refunded and that I can keep the proceeds of the transaction.
I called ebay because this doesn't make sense. THe lady on the phone said since the item was declared restricted/not shippable that Ebay themselves refunds the buyer and I get to keep the money from the sale. The item now belongs to the people in the global shipping program and they can liquidate or destroy it at their pleasure. She also couldn't tell me why the item was declared classified or what the threshold might be to make a package restricted.
So all in all, not a horror story since me and the buyer are not out any money, in fact I still technically made the sale. But 6 great quality one piece cues with that old good wood in them are sitting in some massive warehouse now where they will live out a pathetic life before getting tossed in a dumpster. Word of warning to anyone who was considering using this program for their ebay account.
A few weeks ago I sold a handful of old one piece cues on ebay, and my buyer was international. I had checked the global shipping program option because it's no hassle on my side and opens up more buyers for my item. I ship them out to erlanger kentucky or wherever it designated me to and basically this is another easy transaction from ebay. Today I get a message from the buyer that the item is declared restricted and it has a message that it won't be shipping out from the sorting center. A few hours later, I get an email from ebay that the global shipping program has classified the item as restricted and it won't be shipping out international. It also says the buyer is being refunded and that I can keep the proceeds of the transaction.
I called ebay because this doesn't make sense. THe lady on the phone said since the item was declared restricted/not shippable that Ebay themselves refunds the buyer and I get to keep the money from the sale. The item now belongs to the people in the global shipping program and they can liquidate or destroy it at their pleasure. She also couldn't tell me why the item was declared classified or what the threshold might be to make a package restricted.
So all in all, not a horror story since me and the buyer are not out any money, in fact I still technically made the sale. But 6 great quality one piece cues with that old good wood in them are sitting in some massive warehouse now where they will live out a pathetic life before getting tossed in a dumpster. Word of warning to anyone who was considering using this program for their ebay account.
