Due to the fact that the dickhead at Ebays Global Shipping centre here in the UK have lost my 16mm print of Madigan, and they have refunded the buyer without consultation with me, i have decided to take Fantasia 2000 part 1 off the site until i change my parameters to remove GS as an option at least for now.
You wont believe what my seller sent me, he was a very kind and understanding customer with great mail exchanges, this shows the much nicer side of the majority of decent users, unfortunately, we always hear about the clowns and rip off merchant's.

This is what my buyer sent me after we both worked together and followed eBay's instructions,
I spoke with Ebay and explained them that you sent the item and that it arrived at Ebay GSP the 26th of July. Since then, neither you or me have had news about the shipping status.

Ebay told me that it is probably that the item arrived at ebay in bad conditions because the shipping process in ebay is frozen (due to the wrapping, or maybe because they lost it..) so they will proceed to return me the money.
I guess they will contact you to explain you the reasons why the item is frozen in Ebay and will ask you again for more information.
I cannot believe ebay took almost 3 weeks without saying anything to me or you. They work really bad.

POOR PACKAGING, cheeky F*** wits, suffice to say they refunded they guy today and told me i wont get a refund as i cannot prove it was delivered to their Global shitting centre. No mention of the so called poor packaging, in fact my feedback often states the opposite.
Just a moment ago, I explained on live chat in no uncertain terms that here is a screenshot of proof they had recieved it and that ALL my items sold are of top quality packaging. Ask Bill Parsons how he use to received my projectors, it took him a day to unpack them. I also reminded ebay i was a seller of 14 years with over 90 sales and only one minor problem in those years.
I was then transferred to a so called specialist advisor to see what they were prepared to do. In this case they ARE refunding me, but what a load of utter crap to go through, and to lie to my customer was the last straw. And THIS is what there excuse was,
Quote,
"I have checked the details and can see that there was error in system and we are not able to confirm the tracking by the Global shipping service. In such situation, we will grant your appeal".

Therefore, even though Fantasia 2000 had nearly 400 views and over 40 watchers as well as bids, i have decided to take it off for now, i will re list it at a much later date in the year, or next year and will never again use the GS programme, so if people abroad want to bidq, it'll be via Royal mail tracked and signed, or dont bid.


I'm 100% positive that if i was a new or recent seller, i would not have got my refund. I'm sure GS is fine for buyers due to a lot of the tax hassle being taken away, but as a seller, i couldn't trust it again, at the end i asked the ebay guy, what can he say to get me to use it again, this was his answer,

"Tom, the only thing that I can share is in last couple of years I have seen first GSP transaction where tracking for GSP is not uploaded. I trust that you will understand, how rare this is".
So why lie to my customer and say the packaging was at fault, that makes it look as though i was at fault.

I'm very sorry that you had this trouble; I don't know why Ebay say they can't prove it was received at the GSC if tracking shows different. I'm sure your packing is first class. I can't believe something this big and heavy can get lost. To be safe I always cover the brown wrapping paper with brown packing tape, so it can't tear, and cover the address label with sellotape. I'm glad you are getting a refund, will this be for the amount it would have sold for?
I'm not surprised that people no longer sell on Ebay, but just buy. For you and anyone else, if you have trouble with Ebay or some other business, you can try a free service called Resolver; if the problem isn't sorted after a given time you can escalate your case and a third party will get involved.

This post had become three posts, probably due to a software hick-up while saving. I have deleted the two that didn't have comments on Tom's request, and added the two last paragraphs (found in one of the other posts) that was missing here where the comment was.

Thank you Eivind.

Cheers Robert, some useful information there. Like you, i always cover the label in sellotape, this also protects it against any rain that may make the label ink run, and the parcel is boxed, and then boxed again with a lot of brown parcel tape. And i never buy the cheap trash from the pound shop or B&M, i always use a decent branded one that actually does stick and stay on.
For me its the fact they told my buyer it was damaged, and when i got on they told me it was there own system, are they that dumb that they assumed my customer and i wernt talking? There the ones who encourage buyers and sellers to talk to resolve. In this case, they got caught out, when the money hits my account, then i will happy, until then its in the air, i do have the ebay conversation transcript that states they are refunding.

One thing i have noticed, since ebay parted company with paypal, around half of the sellers who i followed have not listed anything since.
My only gripe is the fact i was more or less automatically signed into the GS programme, so i will now change that. As the parcel companies sort the import taxes, i dont understand why ebay seems to feel they must charge it at the point of sale. It's a typical corporate company who are just too big and customer service is secondary.

This is a really sad state of affairs,seems to me eBay has become a law unto itself,and you either play along with them or else.A case now of a company becoming so big they could not care less about the individual,all about money.
Hope something good comes out of this maybe even the actual film turning up.

That would be the best outcome, however, as they have already refunded the buyer i reckon if they find it they will bin it.
I have it in email that they are refunding me as well, i'll believe it when it lands in my account.I would only use GS as a buyer but never again as a seller. My workmates warned me about it and they were right.

Very sad this that they have lost a film.

I'm curious to know Tom, have Ebay fined you for taking off the Fantasia 2000 reel?

I ask this as recently I had a film on Ebay (I'm new to Ebay selling btw as previously I only bought from Ebay). Anyway my listing accidently allowed posting to abroad, something I didn't want to get involved in and already had a bid from Spain, so I thought I could easily stop the sale, re-edit the listing and then put it back again as UK sale ONLY. Well Ebay didn't like this and fined me their share of the original profits had that gone ahead. The amount was something like £20 which they took out of my bank account a few days after sending me a message about it. I was quite cheesed off but since then have learnt my lesson that you can't just cancel an item when a bid has been placed. I did relist it and sold it for a good amount but the fine meant the profit wasn't as high, but I will make sure in future that box isn't ticked.

Graham S

Graham, thank you for that information, as of yet they havnt but i am sure they may well do that. If they do i will then open up another live chat to tell them why i did it, their Global shipping as a seller, cannot be trusted. I know other people swear by it but i go by my first experience and what my workmates have told me about their losses.
I guess what i am about to say may for some people be a bit controversial. On the other channel someone described ebay for them as a necessary evil. I can relate to that, i am not a big fan of using big corporate companies, however, yes i could sell privately, and i have done many times, and will continue to do so when it suits me, unfortunately as you all know, the place where our films sell for the bigger bucks is ebay because of its nature as an auction site, this has allowed me to sell in order to buy and afford many titles i wanted on both 8 and 16mm as well as fund projector repairs and servicing, it has created a good film fund.
Unfortunatly, this latest gaff by ebay, (telling my customer one thing and me another) has knocked me back a bit. Should i get fined for removing Fantasia 2000 then so be it, i will relist again at a later date due to the amount of views and watchers it had, i know that doesn't guarantee anything but it was a title i am happy to sell as i continue to slowly reduce the numbers of films we have. I cannot let these clowns loose my films like this, i know the postal services do as well but at least you can track ALL the way and claim back off them. With the GB you can only track it to the shipping centre, after that its pot luck. In my case they lost it as soon as they got it, box weighing five kilo's and measuring two foot square.

I will let you know by PM if i hear from Ebay Graham.

Wenn Sie hier auf Links zu eBay klicken und einen Kauf tätigen, kann dies dazu führen, dass diese Website eine Provision erhält.

You would wonder how they could lose a parcel of that weight and size. When Royal Mail loses bulky parcels, I think it's case of being stolen, as they lost a 16mm Bolex camera with three turret lenses that was sent to me years ago. In Graham's case I think they fined him for removing the item after a bid had been placed. When no bid has been placed you can remove the listing and Ebay give you a number of reasons to choose from, one I think is it was wrongly priced, or there was a mistake in the listing. I didn't know Ebay could fine you. The problem is that although there are many alternatives, such as Gumtree, Preloved, Ebid, and Etsy, none have the pulling power of Ebay. I once read of someone who sold a film, then the buyer said he was returning it. What the seller got back was the same title, but a different print. The buyer had kept the good print and returned his damaged, worn copy. With lots of these horror stories I am very reluctant to sell anything on Ebay.

Thanks Tom and Robert,

Yes I imagine the only reason Ebay fined me was because I cancelled my film while I had a bid on it. I can understand it as I myself would feel very frustrated if I placed a bid on an item and the seller cancelled it so Ebay maybe was only doing what is fair. Im not bothered about it now and have taken it as a learning experience. Before I cancelled it I did read up on Ebay help on "cancelling a bid" and they just said you have to contact the bidder and ask them to retract their bid. I thought it was a lot of palava and would take time so just went ahead and cancelled it, but now I know what happens I wont do that again.

Yes I also read that Ebay was a necessary evil. I'm not sure the other selling sites will ever get big enough to use them as an alternative so we are stuck with Ebay for now.

Graham S

I have not listed on Ebay in a long time and refuse to do so anymore. I preferred using Paypal, so when sellers were required to add their bank information to sell, I drew the line. "This will allow for quicker refunds for sellers and buyers" means they will pull money without acknowledgement. Unfair.

Here is an update, it gets better,
First of all, ebay asked me to ask my buyer to open a case of not recieved item, otherwise, they say they cant look into it.
He opens a case upon my request and then ebay, a few days later refund him. As Don say's, without any consultation with me.
I open a complaint to ebay who agree i should have a refund as it was there crappy global shipping centre that ballsed up.
Now, a few weeks later the film has turned up safe and well. However, it appears that ebay, who told the guy to open a case so they could check it all, has now barred him from ebay allegedly for too many claims and partial refunds.
What an absolute farce.
So as much as global shipping is easy, the idea of not being able to track once the centre gets it is not a good idea at all. for the seller, therefore i will now only use the original methods of Royal Mail for international, eBay's GS is not to be trusted as far as i'm concerned. Overseas bidders will have to make a decision to bid or not and bare in mind the possible rip off taxes of their countries.
This film went from apparently being recieved at the GS centre with poor damaged packaging, to a fault within there own system, to eventually turning up in Spain in perfect condition with the excellent packaging i always do. I'm thinking some of the live chat people must be making it up as they go along.
For those of you who use GS as a seller, (its fine for buyers i guess), just be forewarned. I know this has happened to many others. At least with RM you can track all the way.
I did try the company that Maurice and Robert gave me the links to but these didn't work on this occassion.

Hi Tom, have Ebay refunded you yet. What happens now the parcel has turned up?. The buyer may have made claims before and had partial refunds, but on this occasion the fault lay with Ebay's Global Shipping, and not with the buyer. I've never had a problem like this, but I can understand you changing your method of delivery, once is enough.

They have now Robert, The problem is that the customer has had a refund and now received my film, so i have left it with them to sort that out, i have my money now but what an absolute farce it was to get it sorted. I do get that GS is useful as buyers pay a lot less in taxes and postage etc, which is great, but as this is my first experience using it as a seller, it isn't something i can be bothered with again. Someone would have to really convince me its a good sound system.

If I were to ever sell again on Ebay (highly likely that I would not), I would send by the service that is best for the seller and buyer. When I had to ship globally, I would use a tracked service and NOT Ebay's service. It may cost more for the buyer, but it protects both in the end.