Has anyone noticed eBay's latest postal tie-up: the "Global Postage Programme". It appears that as well as your normal postage (say $17 for some book from the US) you also need to pay (at checkout) another fee, termed "Import charges".

I just recently won a book (from a US seller) for $12.95. The postage was quoted in the listing as $13.95 (--pretty good I thought.) But when I went to checkout I had to pay another $4.37 --bringing the total to pretty much what USPS would have charged anyway. I'm also pretty sure this wasn't visible during bidding.

More incredible is the fact that this charge is winning bid (value) dependent. With the book I purchased this was pretty small. But take an auction for about $50 that I'm currently watching (eBay item 190817953450). The "postage" is $17.30; but the "import charges" are already running at $18.45!!

Any sellers have any experience of this? And, does everyone agree this is a titantic con? I can't see me bidding on any items where the seller is using this facility.

BH