If you offer proof of the weight of the books combined and that matches their weight registered then there is no way they can side with the buyer in this instance.

Crazy situation that they clearly can show is theft by the buyer if they were not so lazy.

I understood the system to work as Berelach states. As a seller you are not the party that actually ships the items internationally. I mean, you're not even paying someone else to do it; Pitney Bowes (is that their name?) are taking the money directly from the buyer for the international part of the shipping.

I think we brought all this up before when eBay first introduced GSP. It was always going to happen. The "deal" is between buyer & seller; yet a third party is involved in part of the transaction. What's more the buyer is paying the third party direct when they checkout with PayPal. So liablilty for loss is... who's responsibilty?

I think the GSP is liable for loss, damage, etc., pretty much anything that happens after they receive it. This really provides too much wiggle room for theft, for buyers and sellers. You don't need to be a mastermind to see how this can be exploited.

ebay GSP policies

ShipCover insurance isn't available for items sent to the shipping center. If you purchase USPS insurance, it only protects you against any loss or damage to the package until it reaches the US shipping center. However, the Global Shipping Program covers international shipment of the item

edit: the above url doesn't seem to post properly because of the way this site loads ebay links; it's the page that spells out the GSP policies and is worth a look Tapuvae.

Trotter edit: fixed the ebay link

Sorry to hear this. Please continue to fight with eBay. Whilst the buyer will likely get away with their apparently fraudulent activity, hopefully you can at least get eBay to wear the loss (as they claim they do).

FWIW, This is why I simply don't bother selling books, and if I did, I would not use eBay. As a seller, a fraudulent buyer is pretty much always going to get away with it, and they can do it again and again because eBay pushes the loss back onto the seller and does not allow the seller to leave negative feedback. It just isn't a safe place for expensive items any more, especially internationally. I do wonder if BIN is riskier, as you don't have the opportunity to vet the buyer so well. GSP just compounds this as you never even have their details.

Hope you get something out of eBay. Don't let them pretend to not understand your questions and pretend to be poor with English. It is - IMHO - a scam to make you give up. They do it when it suits them.

And at least the people on here have been warned about your experience with hay2035, so perhaps you have saved someone else from a similar expensive experience. I find it highly improbable that someone would intercept the parcel and know which two items were the valuable ones. The only plausible scenarios in this case really do seem to be you (Tapuvae) didn't send the books or the buyer stole the books.

I wonder if we should have an eBay fraud thread and move this under? I feel that this might get lost in Wonders of?

Moved to a separate Global Shipping discussion thread, good idea.

Thanks for moving this. And I will check out the GSP link and call them tomorrow. My reason for posting was to warn others. What an odd thing to steal though? And how very un-Tolkien like.

Ebay is treating this as if the item was somehow not as described because that is what the buyer clicked on his return. But in fact, that isn't the case. If the books arrived and one was destroyed by a nasty postal service handling of the package then fine. GSP would pay for this. But they are pushing it into this gray area. The eBay rep today told me to get the items returned and then I could file a counterclaim that the item was not returned in the same condition. What sort of nonsense is that?

And yes it was pretty obvious that the two expensive books happened to be lifted.

And to proceed further with ebay I have to go through with the return. And the best part, I need this buyer to send me a quote to return the books AND PAY HIM with paypal. So ebay's solution is for me to send someone I suspect is a thief another 90 AUD to return the two books to me. I suspect a 5kg brick will arrive.

Question for the group. What is the value of a 3/4 impression of the Hobbit and LOTR from this Harper Collins series? I suspect the possible value isn't worth the extra expense of possibly getting them sent back (currently 99 AUD). The buyer initially quoted me a 5kg shipping price. When I told him it couldn't be 5kg because that's what it weighed when I shipped it and two books were now missing he returned with a 3.5kg estimate miraculously actually increased the price 10 AUD.

Don't do any of those things. Scam aside, GSP are still legally responsible for the international shipping of these items; not you.

I agree with Khamûl. Once you get into the posting it back, you are playing into eBay's narrative for not refunding you, as they will just say that the parcel was returned, job done. The issue here is that the buyer is already saying he is not returning the bulk of the transaction. I would keep on at eBay, who will repeatedly stonewall you in the hopes you give up.

With regards to the value of the books that hay2035 doesn't appear to have already stolen, there is no guarantee he/she won't just keep them and your additional $100. They could just chuck a couple of old titles in there to make up the weight. eBay then say -- "You got a parcel back, we can't know what was in it, so no longer our problem".