REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KGO) — Shopping online is often fast and convenient, but in this case with eBay — if you click too quickly — you could be stuck in a $10,000 shipping mess.
Redwood City resident Paul Michel got a call from his brother asking for help finding a kitchen appliance part that broke.
Michel searched on eBay and found an item for $20.99. He added it to his cart — and could not believe his eyes.
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The total?
$10,020.99
“Ahhhh!!!!!” Michel gasped. “I did not order it!”
Michel was about to click ‘buy now’ but decided to add it to his cart first. Thank God he did.
Otherwise his careful eye may not have spotted a $10,000 shipping fee in small print at the bottom of the page.
“I was really freaking out — thinking there are people who will click very fast.”
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He says after adding it to his cart, a notice appears saying ‘Due to custom policies, the buyer of this item will need to pay import fees to the shipping carrier prior to delivery.‘
“A lot of people would be in trouble, I don’t know why the U.S. website cannot do as the Canadian one — and just say ‘we don’t ship here.'”
According to the seller, PG Service, tariffs are partly to blame.
“Due to… force of new tariffs on imports into the United States and the lack of support from your country’s customs authorities, we are unable to ship to your address. The shipping cost indicated is purely symbolic, as eBay does not allow us to remove the United States from the list of countries available for the sale of our items. As soon as the customs authority provides us with the appropriate information and support, and as soon as we have time to update our prices in line with the new economic charges, we will reinstate the regular shipping cost. Any updates will be automatically visible on this page,” PG Service told 7 On Your Side in a statement.
eBay’s U.S. vs. Canada site
Out of curiosity, Michel checked Canada’s version of eBay and found unlike the U.S. site, it identifies in red print the product does not ship to the United States.
So, he tries adding it to his cart.
“It tells me there’s a problem with one of your items,” Michel explained, adding the site alerts the consumer to check or update shipping address.
So Michel checks his shipping address which is set to his California home address. He receives a notice that says: “This seller won’t ship this item to California.”
“It’s very obvious!” Michel explains.
Frustrated that the U.S. eBay site appears to lack the same protections as the Canadian site, Michel tried reporting the issue to the e-commerce giant’s automated assistant.
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He says he didn’t get anywhere and eventually wrote the AI bot “I need to speak to a human.” When he got a representative on the phone, Michel says he was told “we can’t do anything during the weekend” but was promised the department would look into it the following week.
Michel says it’s been two months since then — still no change.
The following week Michel says he spoke to an eBay representative.
“What prevents someone in another country, like this guy in North Korea from selling me something?” Michel asked. “I wonder if I would get my money back.”
That’s when he reached out to 7 On Your Side. Our team reached out to eBay for further comment and received the following statement: “We looked into the matter and determined the seller is based in Italy while listing the product on the U.S. marketplace, allowing them to exclude Canada as a shipping region. We encourage sellers to provide clarity and transparency in their pricing.”
“I don’t believe eBay is taking care enough to protect the people,” Michel said. “It’s like, we’ll take care, if something had happened… it’s not proactive enough.”
How to report an issue with a product or seller on eBay?
According to eBay’s customer service page, consumers can click this link to report an issue with a seller. It will ask you a question whether your item hasn’t arrived or if you want to return an item.
The e-commerce giant also provides another link for consumers who want to report items that shouldn’t be listed.
Take a look at more stories and videos by 7 On Your Side.
7OYS’s consumer hotline is a free consumer mediation service for those in the San Francisco Bay Area. We assist individuals with consumer-related issues; we cannot assist on cases between businesses, or cases involving family law, criminal matters, landlord/tenant disputes, labor issues, or medical issues. Please review our FAQ here. As a part of our process in assisting you, it is necessary that we contact the company / agency you are writing about. If you do not wish us to contact them, please let us know right away, as it will affect our ability to work on your case. Due to the high volume of emails we receive, please allow 3-5 business days for a response.
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