09-15-2013 09:11 AM
I was quite amused to read your website's discussion of your GLOBAL SHIPPING PROGRAM which states that it makes it easier for buyers to purchase items from USA sellers and at competivie rates!!
In fact as a Canada buyer you are now preventing me from purchasing cds from most USA sellers because the shipping charge is often 2 or 3 times the cost of the item itself. If your goal of this program is to exclude Canada from purchasing from USA sellers I can tell you that you have succeeded. I can now purchase items from places such as Europe and China for much lower shipping charges than you are forcing Usa sellers to charge and I think it is just a matter of time until they realize that you are costing them sales.
This global shipping charge may be fine for expensive items but for small cheap items it becomes cost prohibitive for Canadian buyers. For a seller to worry about tracking a cd is ludicrous and not worth the extra expense.
09-15-2013 10:18 AM
This GSP reminds me of the "drive clean program" that some one thought of as "a great idea" but with all the evidence to the contrary is still alive and well.My point is I'm sure ebay is aware of GSP being a bad idea (in most cases counter productive to their average customers) but will not abandon it and admit defeat,at least for a long time.
09-15-2013 04:23 PM
@ja3988278 wrote:This global shipping charge may be fine for expensive items but for small cheap items it becomes cost prohibitive for Canadian buyers. For a seller to worry about tracking a cd is ludicrous and not worth the extra expense.
The GSP info page pretty much says the same thing. For some reason, though, sellers aren't finding this information:
http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/shipping/globalshippingprogram/update_faqs.html
Who should use the Global Shipping Program?
09-15-2013 05:47 PM
GSP has turned me off. I saw a sports card for auction starting at $2.00. S&H was $16.00 and some change. I emailed the seller to see if it was a typeo. I told to the seller that past experience shows where an item of this size could be sent from the States with a tracking number for less than $5.00. I got a very cordial, quick responce telling me GSP was the shipping method they used. I thanked the seller and told them the S&H charge was excessive so wouild not be interested in bidding. Thanks GSP people.
09-15-2013 06:22 PM
@Anonymous wrote:GSP has turned me off. I saw a sports card for auction starting at $2.00. S&H was $16.00 and some change. I emailed the seller to see if it was a typeo. I told to the seller that past experience shows where an item of this size could be sent from the States with a tracking number for less than $5.00. I got a very cordial, quick responce telling me GSP was the shipping method they used. I thanked the seller and told them the S&H charge was excessive so wouild not be interested in bidding. Thanks GSP people.
It's not the GSP's fault that the seller chose an inappropriate shipping method for a two buck sports card.
09-15-2013 11:57 PM
I would just add my voice to the dissatisfaction with the Global Shipping Program. I have stopped purchasing from US sellers who use this program as the extra charges are excessive and not necessary for an item to enter Canada.
09-16-2013 12:08 AM
@westcoastmw wrote:I would just add my voice to the dissatisfaction with the Global Shipping Program. I have stopped purchasing from US sellers who use this program as the extra charges are excessive and not necessary for an item to enter Canada.
Just because Canada Border services sometimes doesn't bother to collect taxes due on a postal import as well as a C$9.95 handling charge doesn't necessarily make the GSP charges "excessive" or "not necessary".
09-18-2013 07:31 PM
09-18-2013 08:45 PM
you have to uase your noggin when you say things and know how things work!
Its not worth the time for canadian government to process a charge for a small ticket item and that is why they let a lot of items slide.
It would cost the government probably close to a 100$ to process a 2$ amount tax fee.
employees salary.
time used to do the paperwork.
the paperwork itself... paper aint free, ink aint free...
facilities fees and infrastructures
etc etc etc...
i know how the gov work because i work for them. and what we do sometimes makes sense and sometimes it does not but there is always a logic behind every gov action in the end...
If the gov would bother to tax every small ticket item that comes in canada it would run in the red, that is why it lets slide a lot of things even if it does not make any sense sometimes and you feel lucky because you did not pay duties or tax... the reason is above.
09-18-2013 09:39 PM - edited 09-18-2013 09:41 PM
I don't disagree that there are a lot of instances where it doesn't make financial sense to collect taxes due on a personal import.
All that I'm saying is that just because Canada Border Services doesn't feel it's necessary to collect those taxes doesn't mean that the GSP doing it is unnecessary or somehow excessive. It's merely following the letter of the law, rather than the spirit of the law.
I've found quite a few cases where what the GSP is charging above and beyond taxes is actually less than what CBSA charges, actually.
09-18-2013 09:45 PM
just to throw gas on the fire.
imagine all the "extra" paperwork that this system generates for all of those trivial charges that PB generates because they follow the law...
i can see my tax money flying.... money that could have been spent on roads, hospital and education being spent on stacks of papers that have to be stored and handle by a bunch of bureaucrats when there was no need for it.
see that is another disadvantage of the GSP. it creates unecessary costly work for the canadian GOV all at the expense of your own tax money...
Just because some company though it was great idea to collect taxes on everything.... just shows you how things were not thought thru ar ebay central....
09-18-2013 11:13 PM
@electric-pixel wrote:just to throw gas on the fire.
imagine all the "extra" paperwork that this system generates for all of those trivial charges that PB generates because they follow the law...
i can see my tax money flying.... money that could have been spent on roads, hospital and education being spent on stacks of papers that have to be stored and handle by a bunch of bureaucrats when there was no need for it.
see that is another disadvantage of the GSP. it creates unecessary costly work for the canadian GOV all at the expense of your own tax money...
Just because some company though it was great idea to collect taxes on everything.... just shows you how things were not thought thru ar ebay central....
What work is being done by the Canadian government thanks to the GSP? All the treasury has to do is figuratively sit back and take in the cash. All the legwork is being done by Pitney Bowes or its subcontractors.
And it wasn't "some company [who] thought it was a great idea to collect taxes on everything." All commercial carriers are legally bound to have taxes and duties collected on imports that they handle.
Just shows you that some arguments are not thought through...
12-03-2013 04:41 PM
Why waste money on Pitney Bowes??? The Canadian Governement is perfectl;y capable of collecting the appropriate - if it so chooses. And the gentlmen ahead is correct - the money wasted on Pitney Bowes could better used to paying for services and infrastructure - in Canada
12-03-2013 05:17 PM
"The Canadian Governement is perfectl;y capable of collecting the appropriate - if it so chooses."
Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world. The current government has decided not to tax most parcels coming in the country even when subject to taxes. Why? Votes. It is a sad statement on our society when political parties buy votes with the taxpayers own money.
12-03-2013 05:24 PM
And the gentlmen ahead is correct - the money wasted on Pitney Bowes could better used to paying for services and infrastructure - in Canada
GSP items actually pay MORE tax to Canada than non GSP ones, it is the 100% application of existing taxes that most folk are complaining about.
12-03-2013 06:38 PM
Let's keep in mind that GSP is international - Canada accounting for a very small percentage of it.
12-03-2013 09:59 PM
@tango69 wrote:Why waste money on Pitney Bowes??? The Canadian Governement is perfectl;y capable of collecting the appropriate - if it so chooses. And the gentlmen ahead is correct - the money wasted on Pitney Bowes could better used to paying for services and infrastructure - in Canada
The GSP advances and remits tax in a manner similar to that of large commercial shipments. Canada Border Services isn't generally enlisted to collect taxes due on international freight.
12-05-2013 11:27 AM
If the gov would bother to tax every small ticket item that comes in canada it would run in the red, that is why it lets slide a lot of things even if it does not make any sense sometimes and you feel lucky because you did not pay duties or tax... the reason is above.
It would make more sense for Canada to raise the import limit to $200, like the limit for cross-border shoppers. You can write your MP at the House of Commons, Ottawa ON, K1A 0A6, about this and you don’t even have to stamp the envelope (Mark it OHMS instead).
And it would be more useful than many of the programs hidden in the Conservative's omnibus bills.
i can see my tax money flying.... money that could have been spent on roads, hospital and education being spent on stacks of papers that have to be stored and handle by a bunch of bureaucrats when there was no need for it.
Those costs are being paid by Pitney Bowes to low wage workers in Kentucky (which I think is a ‘right to work’ state which effectively bans unions.) The US federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. They also have infrastructure costs and of course they do actually move the parcel from their plant to your doorstep, which is never gonna be free.
For the record, businesses that collect and remit taxes for governments get a small rebate as a wage for their time. This includes Pitney Bowes and the guy who runs the Couche-Tard on the corner.
01-27-2014 02:45 PM
01-27-2014 10:44 PM
Please post all questions about the GSP here: Questions about the Global Shipping Program
Please post all comments about the GSP here: Comments about the Global Shipping Program