I too have faced spurious - indeed rip-off - charges from Pitney Bowes. I had to pay over $24 for the sending of a corkscrew from the US to France. This was over and above the postage charge asked for by the seller. I told the seller to send the corkscrew instead to an address in Colorado, which he did. I applied to eBay for a refund, but was unable to get any help from people who sound like zombies and who are not native English-speakers. The combined postal charges almost doubled the price of the corkscrew!
Moreover, even if Pitney Bowes do send an item, THEY DO NOT PAY ANY CUSTOMS COSTS because they use the United States Postal Service. Small items are of course generally not opened or examined by European customs, but go straight through to the addressee. I know two such addressees, who paid fees for non-existent services and received their item through ordinary mail, with no customs examination, no customs declaration even provided, and no address from which the packages were alleged to have been sent. There was in fact no evidence of anyone doing anything except popping the items in a post-bag and laughing all the way to the bank.
Pitney Bowes are thus committing massive fraud, aided and abetted by eBay, and based on the average American's total ignorance of the liberal world outside the USA, let alone the European Union.
I have cancelled my account with eBay, because this organisation, for so long generally beneficial, is now a party to a fraud which could amount to millions of dollars.
