Ebay purchase sent by different shipping method than stated in listing

[MikeysGrrrl]

I recently purchased a non pony item via ebay this past weekend. I went to check the tracking today and noticed that the seller has chosen to send it using DHL Courier as opposed to USPS First Class as stated in their listing.

I'm concerned that I'll be stuck paying hefty import charges for an item coming through that service, I know that had the purchase been sent out as stated in the listing it would've just gone through without any issues.

I understand as a buyer I am responsible for any import/additional charges, however if I had known they weren't going to send it via USPS I never would've purchased from them. The item is $22 CAD, literally $2 over what is allowed to come into Canada without additional fees. I have never paid import charges for anything below $60 CAD except items sent using a courier.

The seller is a top seller with 99.8% positive feedback, well over 30,000 transactions to date. I did go back through their feedback and I can see tons of positive, neutral and negative all complaining about sending via courier as well as selling knockoff products or used products when the item is listed as new (Odd that the feedback wouldn't be worse). To be honest, when a seller has darn near perfect feedback, I don't tend to read through them, which would be my own fault.

Is there anything at all I can do about this? How would you handle it if you were in my situation?

[ponylady]

I am going to assume since you said your seller has over 30,000 feedback they are a high volume seller.  DHL offers discounts to high-volume mailers in conjunction with USPS, they are also a lot quicker. So that maybe why it was shipped that way??

If it were me I would simply email them and ask why? As far as what you can do..well I don't really think anything. Ebay only cares if there is a tracking number and it shows that it has been delivered. They are very strict about negative feedback being left for customs fees, if that is what you were planning on doing.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

You can always refuse it and insist that the seller re-mail it to you under First Class, but they may be taking advantage of say, their employer's corporate shipping account to guarantee that shipping quote.  They may insist that you re-pay shipping but I am not sure if you can immediately open a case without looking like the knee-jerk buyer.    They may not want to continue the transaction either and just refund you. 


Canada Post is also well... not so good about flagging items for taxes as far as my experience has been.  I've never had to pay .  While picking something up at the depot, I did bring a whole stack of printouts from the Arena once to prove that I was participating in a swap, but they didn't ask me for it, it was my own precaution.  Best of luck on this one getting through customs-free!

[Ringlets]

That's a toughie. It doesn't seem that there is much you can actually do other than contact the seller about it and  wait it out and see if you do get charged ( perhaps then contact your seller rather than contacting them first . Also it wouldn't hurt at that point to call ebay and tell them that the seller sent via a different shipping method to the one stated which meant you had to pay fees you wouldn't have had to pay if they'd sent it the way the listing stated. They prolly wont do anything but its worth a shot )
As PL said you cant leave a neg/neutral feedback  stating anything about customs charges. There may be a way around that though if it comes to it.... such as "item shipped by different courier to listing meant I had to pay more than expected" or ..you know something similar. I'd have to have a think about what's allowed now.

Personally I think just wait it out and see if you your item arrives with/without the charges first

[MikeysGrrrl]

I appreciate everyone's responses.

I had no idea that DHL and USPS partnered together to offer discounted rates to high volume mailers, so that's good to know. It helps me to understand it a little better.

I would never leave a negative or neutral feedback because of import charges, I know that I'm responsible for them and that it's not the sellers fault. I have thought of contacting the seller to ask why they shipped using a different method, but there communication is also lackluster according to their feedback, so I don't see much point.

At this point I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it makes through customs without getting the fees tacked on. It's just a frustrating situation, once you factor in shipping costs, currency conversion and (assuming) import charges, it would've just been cheaper for me to purchase the item in Canada instead.