It's like this - Imagine you were given a manifest of EVERY ebay transaction and could insert yourself as the "Buyer" into *any* ebay transaction you want, and all you have to do is pay what the buyer paid.
Ebay gets paid, so they don't care.
The seller gets the money they are contractually entitled to.
The buyer isn't out of pocket.
You get the item at whatever the highest bid was.
So you pick and choose which items to ship, and which items you want to keep for no more money than the item went for. And when someone gets a really good deal, you take the item, resell it and make $$$$$.
Now, clearly if someone bids too much, and pays the extortionate shipping costs, then it's more advantageous to ship the item, and it will arrive.
However, if it's something like a valuable collectors computer, and is worth way more than what the winning bid was, then you only have to pay whatever the winning bid was, and now it's yours and no one has any recourse whatsoever.
THAT PERSON is GSP. The Global Shipping Program. They pick and choose which transactions they want to keep for themselves.
Every time I win big on Ebay, GSP takes it away for themselves. Every time I win poorly, it gets delivered.
THAT is how GSP works (aside from gouging on shipping... ).
And it really sucks... Check out the links that were posted earlier. It's not just poor decisions by the GSP/EBay - It's THE BUSINESS MODEL.
And it sucks just as much for the seller as the buyer.
David