Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2021 11:26:14 GMT -5
I just had another pipe swiped by ebay's GSP in the UK and thought I would warn everyone. The bottom line - don't buy pipes from UK ebay sellers who use the GSP. Pipes are considered 'drug paraphernalia' and are thus illegal to be shipped to the United States. Pitney Bowes supposedly sells the pipes at auction in order for ebay to recoup some of their expenses. The ebay seller keeps his money, the ebay buyer gets refunded. I lost $10 on the currency exchange, but I guess that was a cheap lesson.
The first time I had this happen it involved a five-pipe lot of mostly rare, unsmoked Petersons. They were deemed to be 'restricted' items. They showed up on ebay six weeks later, with BIN's almost exactly double what my winning bids were. The seller told me that she had bought them at an auction for 'undeliverable mail'.
I have asked ebay why I can buy brand new pipes directly from retailers in the UK, and haven't heard back. Perhaps soon, in addition to the gruesome photos the UK includes on their tobacco packaging, we will get our pipes engraved with 'not to be used to smoke drugs'.
The first time I had this happen it involved a five-pipe lot of mostly rare, unsmoked Petersons. They were deemed to be 'restricted' items. They showed up on ebay six weeks later, with BIN's almost exactly double what my winning bids were. The seller told me that she had bought them at an auction for 'undeliverable mail'.
I have asked ebay why I can buy brand new pipes directly from retailers in the UK, and haven't heard back. Perhaps soon, in addition to the gruesome photos the UK includes on their tobacco packaging, we will get our pipes engraved with 'not to be used to smoke drugs'.
