eBay GSP disposes of CRT for no reason

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Oscilloclock

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May 15, 2017, 7:22:52 PM5/15/17
to neonixie-l
I can't help but share this experience with the Global Shipping Program. I bought a beautiful Brimar CRT and it was duly shipped to the GSP centre, after which ... they promptly disposed of it without the seller's consent! (And for no valid reason.)

And the "Sent from my iPhone" ...

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Dear XXXXX (the seller)

My name is Nick. Thank you for contacting eBay’s Global Shipping Programme department. I understand you require more information for item #272653050020.

Your sale of item #272653050020 through the Global Shipping Programme couldn't be delivered because the shipment contained items that were found to be restricted from transport.

If an item arrives to our shipping hub and the item is restricted from international carriage, our hub will not proceed with the shipment and will safely dispose of the item. This is process is subject to dangerous goods only. In this instance the item contains amp tube(s) possibly manufactured pre-70s. In that era most lamps & tubes had mercury reflectors. In the absence of clear data ruling out the risk, your item has been rated UN3506, Mercury contained in manufactured article. Class 8, Corrosive & Toxic. Restricted to all countries on our system

By choosing to ship your item with the Global Shipping Programme, you agree to certain terms and conditions of the programme, one of which is that when an oversized item is received at the shipping hub, it is liquidated and the buyer is refunded by eBay. No money will be or has been taken from your account.

I am sorry we have not been able to forward your item. We thank you for all of your eBay business and hope that this information has been helpful.Kind Regards,
eBay Global Shipping Team

[THREAD ID: 1-1GP2FBSY]

Sent from my iPhone
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Brimar cathode ray tube
----

Nicholas Stock

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May 15, 2017, 7:28:07 PM5/15/17
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Aaron, that sucks big time. I'm a big fan of Brimar tubes and the fact that they trashed it without prior notification is not only painful to hear but would make my blood boil. Just imagine if they did that to nixie tubes or other vacuum tubes that actually contain Hg....

Ass-hats.

Thanks for the heads up...I've had quite a few CRT's shipped internationally, but none of this nonsense (thank your deity of choice).

Nick (ashamed that the correspondent shares the same moniker...)


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Dan Hollis

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May 15, 2017, 8:29:30 PM5/15/17
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Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever let ebay handle anything you can
handle yourself!

They will always make a disaster of it!

-Dan
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Instrument Resources of America

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May 15, 2017, 8:56:46 PM5/15/17
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What a bunch of B.S.  Thanks so much for posting this. I'll NEVER use GSP after reading this.  Ira.

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Instrument Resources of America

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May 15, 2017, 8:57:03 PM5/15/17
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From the way that reads God help us all, if they find out that Nixies DO contain Mercury, albeit a minuscule amount.  HOWEVER, ANY amount of mercury is forbidden on commercial airliners as far as I know.   Ira


On 5/15/2017 4:28 PM, Nicholas Stock wrote:
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threeneurons

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May 15, 2017, 9:43:41 PM5/15/17
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I thought eBay's Global Shipping Program (GSP) was a bad idea, from the get-go ! Just another reason not to use it.

When they introduced it, they automatically enabled it, in your settings. You had to go into your account settings, and turn it off. In general, its a rip-off ! Just another eBay "profit center". Its bad enough that shipping things to outside the US, starts at ~$13.50, for a minimal weight parcel (and upto 8 oz), but if I remember, the fees the GSP charges, are way above that !

Before 2012, you could ship things international, for ~$5. Before 2005, the postal service still had "surface mail", which meant they waited until a shipping container was filled up, before sending your parcel off, on a slow boat to oblivion. Cost was cheap, though it may take up to 3 months to get to your destination. Chinese still do the same thing, though it probably takes well less than a week to fill up one of their containers. 

Its best to pack the parcel yourself. Have you ever seen how most parcels arrive from Amazon, Granger, or McMaster ? The item(s) are usually tossed into the box, then those inflatable bags are tossed in on top of it. Padding is most often just the thickness of the cardboard box. That's fine for screws, and books, and even my kits. But not something you want to see when shipping a CRT !

JohnK

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May 16, 2017, 2:49:21 AM5/16/17
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Wonder if any of their lighting is fluorescent tubes  :-)
 
John K

SWISSNIXIE - Jonathan F.

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May 16, 2017, 7:51:14 AM5/16/17
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Am Dienstag, 16. Mai 2017 02:57:03 UTC+2 schrieb I:

From the way that reads God help us all, if they find out that Nixies DO contain Mercury, albeit a minuscule amount.  HOWEVER, ANY amount of mercury is forbidden on commercial airliners as far as I know.   Ira




You can have mercury in airplanes, unless its rated UN-XXXX. Since Ebay GSP cannot know how much mercury is in there, they will take the save side and say "its too high".
The Rules about dangerous goods are crap anyway!

I had a similar issue with UPS when shipping radioactive material. If a package contains more than 1uCi of a selected material, its rated UN2910, and they will not transport it. How ever, they do not care if you make 2 packaged to fall under 1uCi per package. They will land in the same airplane, but its not a problem :) Stupid rules....


I hate GSP, since often they charge much for shipping, then only good about GSP is that they charge import tax, and i don't have to pay the "customer fee" from our postal inport service...

Instrument Resources of America

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May 16, 2017, 10:09:31 AM5/16/17
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Speaking of Chinese, I ordered an attachment for my Dremel tool from China about three weeks ago. It arrived yesterday in the U.S. Mail, as items from China always do. TOTAL cost for the ITEM and the S & H $.99 (ninety nine cents). Can anyone here tell how that is done??  Especially since it involves the U.S. Postal Service???   Thanks   Ira.

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alb.001 alb.001

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May 16, 2017, 11:32:15 AM5/16/17
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Wayyyy back in the late 1800's when worldwide postal service began this was the problem - who pays the receiving country  when I send a letter to a person in another country ( and their postal system).   So most of the countries of the world got together and signed the declaration of the Universal Postal Union.   It said the sending country pays the cost of delivering mail to a foreign country then the receiving country delivers the foreign mail without any cost to the sender. You do it for our country and we do it for yours.  It worked well when postal volumes between countries was small but now the world buys millions of items from China daily with delivery via postal mail but very few Chinese buy anything from the rest of the world. So the receiving countries are spending millions delivering foreign packages and the tax-payer is on the hook.

We now subsidize shipping from China !    Welcome to the world of being taken to the cleaners. 

Instrument Resources of America

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May 16, 2017, 12:13:31 PM5/16/17
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alb.001  thanks much for splainin it. It really had me baffled. Especially with what postal rates are here in the U.S. today.   Ira

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Terry S

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May 16, 2017, 3:49:49 PM5/16/17
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And now, the rest of the story.....

The Chinese government also subsidizes the postage, so that cost for their exporters is low. That's how you can pay .99 for the product AND shipping.
Clearly they also subsidize the cost of the product itself. There is NO economy where they can build, package, market, sell, and ship a tool of any flavor for .99. And make money.

Terry

Instrument Resources of America

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May 16, 2017, 4:35:15 PM5/16/17
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By the way what I bought was a precision three jaw chuck for my Dremel Tool. Probably $10.00 to $20.00 if made here. Very nice, holds a #60 drill bit with no problem.    Ira.

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Instrument Resources of America

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May 16, 2017, 4:39:58 PM5/16/17
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Aren't their wages terribly, artificially low also??   Ira


On 5/16/2017 12:49 PM, 'Terry S' via neonixie-l wrote:
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Instrument Resources of America

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May 16, 2017, 4:40:03 PM5/16/17
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Thank you Paul Harvey from the beyond!!!   LOL   Ira.


On 5/16/2017 12:49 PM, 'Terry S' via neonixie-l wrote:
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