Ebay ... Things that make you go Hmmm ...


EBay is making the process for getting refunds on stuff that doesn’t arrive more challenging…particularly those with long ship times…

I had an item from China last tracked on Apr 23…back end of delivery window was June 26…
For some reason the item started out with one companies tracking number…then it was given another companies tracking number ( they have 2 different webpages )…

the second tracking number is invalid…when I click the link, I get invalid…copy and paste…invalid…wrote it out and typed it in…invalid

Attempted contact seller 2x..… no response…

10 minutes on the eBay page to find the “I didn’t receive it” link… eBay hides it well

Been on eBay as a seller/buyer since 1999…
it was a bit of a Wild West in the beginning…when PayPal came on board it settled down a bit…and now it’s indecipherable corporate nonsense

and as for “Calculate Duty” on the Global Shipping Program…99.9% of the stuff I get has no duty…
So charging duty that isn’t collected normally anyway is a rip-off…
 
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D&J RailRoad said:
Just gotta have the item from another country. There's quite a price for the exquisit.
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I just find it weird the way postage is calculated, especially for small items
You may have seen in the RPO thread, the motor and half dozen bits and pieces I ordered from the States, came in a small box approx 5x4x4".
Cost of shipping was under 7 USD.
When I looked at a second hand motor for the SD45, item was 31 US, shipping 38 US.
I have seen shipping charges in excess of 58 US, for small items such as flywheels, motors etc.

Oh! And I didn't have to pay import tax on the new items, but I would have to on the second hand motor ????
 
Smudge617 said:
I just find it weird the way postage is calculated, especially for small items
You may have seen in the RPO thread, the motor and half dozen bits and pieces I ordered from the States, came in a small box approx 5x4x4".
Cost of shipping was under 7 USD.
When I looked at a second hand motor for the SD45, item was 31 US, shipping 38 US.
I have seen shipping charges in excess of 58 US, for small items such as flywheels, motors etc.

Oh! And I didn't have to pay import tax on the new items, but I would have to on the second hand motor ????
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Shipping all over the place from on line hobby shops, too. I needed 1 PC of Flex track, two outfits wanted over $15 and over a week time. At hobbylink it was $8 and shipped the next day.

Of course, I added a couple other small items to make it worthwhile, still $8.
 
logandsawman said:
Shipping all over the place from on line hobby shops, too. I needed 1 PC of Flex track, two outfits wanted over $15 and over a week time. At hobbylink it was $8 and shipped the next day.

Of course, I added a couple other small items to make it worthwhile, still $8.
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I had to do the same, added bearings, brush springs, and female drive couplings, non I actually need, (not at the moment, that is) but just to make it worthwhile
 
Country to country e-commerce can be ouch … if you do enough of it…eventually you will get aggravated/burnt sooner or later

Lost and missing.. destroyed in the mail…delicate stuff shipped with no protection…sellers with excessive shipping charges..buyers that don’t want to pay legitimate shipping costs

I have sent/received stuff across the 🌎 …

getting optics with no packing material (3x this happened)…stuff vanishing without a trace ( though I sent it with tracking) last tracked to a DHL facility in Belgium…having an 🇺🇸 seller value the package over $1000 when it was $100 and me being stuck with the resulting duty which was 2+ times more than the package was worth…pay duty then appeal and months later getting the money back..

I have to give kudos to 🇨🇦 Post though… the part of the journey where stuff turns up at my end is pretty good…

2 places I recommend for excellent service are Midwest Model Railroad 🇺🇸 and Otter Valley Railroad 🇨🇦…
 
Smudge617 said:
$220 for a EMD 70, that's a fair price for a DCC ready loco and with shipping to the UK at $40, that's really good, but I still have to pay import tax at 20% so that makes $390 for me in total. :(
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Yes, 😞 for sure for sure…but a 🇺🇸-based seller has no responsibility for 🇬🇧 tax…
It’s the same here with 🇨🇦 duty… used to be on virtually everything coming in over $10..
Now it’s few and far between and seemingly without any consistency in its application…
 
AirbrushNo5 said:
Yes, 😞 for sure for sure…but a 🇺🇸-based seller has no responsibility for 🇬🇧 tax…
It’s the same here with 🇨🇦 duty… used to be on virtually everything coming in over $10..
Now it’s few and far between and seemingly without any consistency in its application…
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Anything described as "merchandise" or over the value of £134 is taxable.(anything under that could be described as a "gift", but it would be illegal to do so). I get nearly all my Athearn spares from a company called Amain Hobbies, none of the total items I have bought so far were over the limit or described as Merchandise, in fact, they (so far) haven't included a customs declaration with anything.

Their is however a trick to this, don't buy from a registered seller, even online, if for example you sold me something it has to be classed as second hand, but you still have to complete a declaration form, but if your not a registered business, you can't claim the tax you paid originally for it back from the government, so I don't have to pay import tax.
So (and this would be illegal to actually do), if I "gift" you some cash, and you buy, say, a new engine, and then "sell it" to me I don't pay import tax, but if the value is over £134 I do have to pay VAT or Value Added Tax.
 
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I buy and sell on e-bay.
When posting something for sale you can toggle the "best offer" option either on or off. Some folks miss this option and leave the best offer option turned on, however they really are not interested in best offers. They just leave their post "as is" and go on and never pay attention to best offers.

While shipping is set by e-bay, again you can turn that option off and insert your own price for shipping. In either case, you need to stick with one or the other.
Usually e-bay gets a discount on shipping and their prices are, over all, a bit cheaper than what I can ship for. However, I still like the "I sit the shipping rate" option. For me, I have to drive 36 miles round trip to my post office, so I add a little to cover gas. Or you can ask a higher price for your item and offer a cheap shipping price.

On shipping track, a friend that owns a hobby shop said a while back that USPS rates for shipping a box of track had went through the roof. He now has an alternate shipping method but I don't know what it is. As an example, I ordered a 25 pack of 36" flex track from one supplier. Shipping was $24.00. I went back to order 4 bundles of mixed codes, 36" length track and shipping was listed at $29.00. I finally ordered the track I needed from another supplier (4 bundles of mixed codes, 36" length) and the shipping was $10.99. The $10.99 price was NOT USPS. Go figure....shipping is nuts these days.

I saw an add on e-bay a while back that said "Athearn, 2-8-2 Genesis" loco for sale. It was a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 in the photo. I contacted the seller to let them know of their mistake. As it happened, a lady was selling her fathers trains and that Bachmann loco was in an Athearn box. The lady knew nothing of model trains and thanked me for the correction.

Maybe this info helps, just my experience on ebay. I have been a buyer and seller over 20 years and I have a 100% approval rate. Honesty is the best policy.

John
 
Rico said:
The global shipping program is poison.
An item shipped from two hours away in North Dakota has to pass thru Chicago on its way to the hub in Kentucky so that it can pass thru Denver to get back to North Dakota to get up to Manitoba.
Yes I tracked it, so much for going green.
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Would that be Erlanger Ky…?😵‍💫
 
I've been tracking my Loco from the US, via USPS, it does seem to go a long way round, but I'm not sure of US geography.

FARMINGDALE, NY 11735
METRO NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER
SOUTH JERSEY NJ DISTRIBUTION CENTER
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19176
FOLCROFT, PA
UK End
HEATHROW
SLOUGH
NOTTINGHAM
DERBY
 
Smudge617 said:
I've been tracking my Loco from the US, via USPS, it does seem to go a long way round, but I'm not sure of US geography.

FARMINGDALE, NY 11735
METRO NY DISTRIBUTION CENTER
SOUTH JERSEY NJ DISTRIBUTION CENTER
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19176
FOLCROFT, PA
UK End
HEATHROW
SLOUGH
NOTTINGHAM
DERBY
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That's actually pretty direct. All international mail from New York state like from Farmingdale, goes through the Metro NY distribution center. It's consolidated and loaded on a truck to New Jersey, where it is not unloaded, and then to Philadelphia. Distance from the NY distribution to Philadelphia is just 90 miles. Folcroft is a suburb of Philadelphia where the mail is sorted by country and then sent to the airport. Truck is probably not opened except to add to it between NY and Folcroft. What happens after Heathrow is a mystery to me.
Scanning is done off the bill of lading at each location instead of being unloaded.
 
I had a purchase that was 65 miles away. Left seller then on to Albany. From Albany to Boston. Boston to New Jersey. New Jersey to Buffalo. Buffalo to Syracuse. Syracuse to Binghamton then Sidney. Should have driven up and picked it up instead of waiting 9 days for delivery.
 
I had a package recently go:
Independence Missouri - Kansas City Missouri - Chicago Illinois - Cedar Rapids Iowa - Kansas City Missouri - Chicago Illinois - Toronto Ontario 🇨🇦

there are many other round about tracking experiences I have witnessed..
The strangest was Pensacola Florida 🇺🇸 - Toronto 🇨🇦
on it’s journey to me the package made it to Iqaluit in the Arctic…

115CFD05-4B6B-4DC3-9846-73CF29E7064C.jpeg
 
AirbrushNo5 said:
I had a package recently go:
Independence Missouri - Kansas City Missouri - Chicago Illinois - Cedar Rapids Iowa - Kansas City Missouri - Chicago Illinois - Toronto Ontario 🇨🇦

there are many other round about tracking experiences I have witnessed..
The strangest was Pensacola Florida 🇺🇸 - Toronto 🇨🇦
on it’s journey to me the package made it to Iqaluit in the Arctic…

View attachment 148174
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Ah! Took the scenic route then. :D
 
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