Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post
They shouldn't be charging import fees. ???
If it is applicable, it would be Customs charging you... and that's only if it were over a certain value.

Sounds a bit scammish to me. The only thing a seller should be entitled to charge for is the shipping, and only within a reasonable amount of the actual postage cost. (so check what it ends up costing when you receive it, compared to what you were charged)

Expensive trackable shipping is required to cover the seller from scam-buyers (who claim refunds for items they receive, but the seller can't prove that it was delivered), but the seller has to use that expensive shipping method if they charge for it.
From what I gathered, it's eBay that charges the fee and not the seller. Basically how it works is that if a seller in the US uses this program, they don't have to worry about handling the item at all after the auction ends; it's all done at eBay's GSP center where they package and ship the item off to the buyer (using a private courier, not UPS) without the seller having to do anything at all (except for sending the item to the center in the first place). Then, if there's a problem, PayPal will only cover the actual cost of the item, and not the shipping.