Auctane LLC bill for $6.98 - what for?

[Sparko6079]

Yesterday I received a debit for $6.98 from Auctane LLC shipping (Shipstation) through Paypal even though I have not shipped anything in about a week.

In the billing I don't see anything to suggest that it was due to any past shipments.  

I tried to find out more by disputing the bill.  Paypal found the debit to be valid but still no explanation about what the $6.98 charge was for.

Has anyone here had the same experience?  If so, was the reason for billing eventually found out?  If so how.  Am I missing something?

[CDLLC]

Yeah, they just did the same to me on July 3 for $5.29...

[Quickzoom]

I got hit with $20.55 today… no idea what it’s from.

[joncroke]

Over the past year I have gotten 3 of these unauthorized charges.  Today just got one for $9.25

The BAD thing is that in the past I have filled out the standard Paypal forms for unauthorized charges and they get DENIED by Paypal because I cannot provide adequate documentation to make my claim.  You cannot prove a negative!  There is no shipping label I can produce because its a bogus charge.  Shame on Paypal for letting these go through. I am completely disgusted.

Sounds like it happens a lot.  It is that AUCTANE company that is stealing big time - and Paypal knowingly allows it to happen by denying refunds.

WE NEED A CLASS ACTION suit here!

[joncroke]

Update:

To research your charges, dont go to Paypal (worthless on helping with this).

Instead email:  paypalsupport at shipstation dot com directly.

I got an answer.  They researched the charge and found that it was a "customs or duties taxes" passed back to Global post (international shipment).

Here is the rub:  I ship international all the time.  Duties are the responsibilty of the customer, not the vendor (me). BUT, in the fine print of GLOBAL post service is the following: by using this service  "You also get to pay taxes and duties on behalf of your customers".  This then gets passed back to you. This is WRONG but because they pre-screen packages before shipment, this is their agreement with these countries. 

So, there are two things to learn from this:

#1 do NOT use GLOBAL post unless you want customer charges to go back to you (the $9.95 charge was for a $70 sale!) (use USPS directly)

and 

#2  Shipstation (Auctane) will never tell you what these charges are for - you need to write to them for their research. So the next time you get a "random" charge - it is probably "legit" BUT you need to go see what it is about.

For the money we pay Paypal and Shipstation - shame on them for not disclosing what charges are for - just makes for bad everything.  You can print a lable but cannot tell me what a charge is for?

Off to cool down.  Hope this was useful!

[Sparko6079]

Thanks for the very useful information.  Use USPS for global shipping is good advice.

[Sparko6079]

paypalsupport at shipstation dot was the way to go. 

I received very good support and the reasoning behind the charge was easy to understand.

A connection with the exact shipping label and extra charge was offered.  I did not have this information before.

I had selected $10 for a shipment from USA to UK.  I don't know why such a low rate came up for an option but I should have known $16 to $18 was more in the ballpark for any package up to 8 oz.  The additional $6.98 was to cover the difference.

Lesson learned, if it sounds too good to be true it likely is.  

The only fault I can find is that when an additional fee is posted weeks after creating a shipping label the original label purchase should be noted.

To find out details on a sudden Shipstation charge go to paypalsupport at shipstation dot.

Hope this is helpful to others.

[steelytim62]

A couple of weeks ago I got charged $135 from Shipstation. I couldn't find where the charge came from. I contacted Shipstation and got the merry-go-around. Then contacted them on Facebook, got some responses, but the same merry-go-around. Finally after about 2 weeks I got an email from them saying it was for customs and duties. They actually gave me a refund. Ill not be using Shipstation again, Ive gone on to Pirateship which is much better and links easily with Paypal.