Comments about the Global Shipping Program

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Feel free to share your thoughts about the Global Shipping Program here. 

A few questions to get the ball rolling:

• What has worked well for you with the Global Shipping Program?
• Any ideas to help improve the experience for Canadian buyers?
• What has deterred you from buying items offered using the Global Shipping Program?
• How have you managed to search for items outside the program?

Please try & keep the comments constructive 🙂

If you have any questions about the program, please post them here.

[marnotom!]

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@ut.babe wrote:
Ok, went and got the message. Sellers wording exactly :

"I was wondering what happened to my canada sales. I used to ship at least 2 to 5 items every week but those sales have shrink to 1 or 2 a month."

So I'd say its a loss of sales overall.

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I still don't get a sense of it being a loss from total sales overall.  It could well be just a statement of the proportion of sales having changed.

Of course, I have no idea what this seller sells or how (s)he sells it, so that could make a difference.

[marnotom!]

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@780maxim wrote:

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but what do sellers see when they look at their listing that offers international sales?  How do they get into the GSP without being aware of it? 

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If they look at their own listing, they're going to see what any U.S. buyer sees on the listing page, and since the U.S. isn't a Global Shipping Program country there's not going to be much in the way of clues that the GSP is being used.

Unless they change the destination country on the "shipping" section to that of a GSP country.  Then they'll be able to see the shipping rate and the import charges associated with shipping to that country.

My sense is that some if not many sellers have found themselves opted into the GSP by misunderstanding an agreement click-through at the end of the new eBay.com user agreement.  What appeared to them to be something they had to click in order to accept the new user agreement was in fact an acceptance of the use of the GSP.

There were also instances last fall of sellers finding themselves enrolled in the GSP that may have been due to the third party auction application they were using, but I don't think that was ever conclusively proven.

[anguscoinshop]

still don't get a sense of it being a loss from total sales overall.  It could well be just a statement of the proportion of sales having changed.

Of course, I have no idea what this seller sells or how (s)he sells it, so that could make a difference.

There you go again trying to make a rotten program good.

Canadian will not pay the extra they have to incur because of the GSP.

The best way give yourself a chance to revive your sales is to op out of the program.

[marnotom!]

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@patken123 wrote:

Let's put up a list for buyers to sign up and promise not to buy from ebay for a month.

Here's me signing up,.

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Why would you want to hurt Canadian sellers or U.S. sellers not using the GSP?

[ut.babe]

I don't want to go off the topic trail at all but I'm not sure why it matters?  A lost sale is a lost sale..

If they sold 20 pces a month before and the breakdown was 17 US and 3 Cndn... and the next month he has 20 sells but they are all US, I think he'd still want to know where his Cndn customers went - especially if it continues month after month.  Why not have 20 US sells and still the 3 Cndn for a total of 23 - an increase in sales?

If the implication is that well, they haven't lost anything, I think I'd disagree.  Its very nice when you have a loss in one market and another market makes it up, but I'd still want to know why I had the loss in any market at all.

All rhetorical of course, they cannot be sure it was the fact he/she had GSP on their sales, mainly because they didn't even know it was there or what it was, so there is only hypothesizing that the GSP is the reason for the lost Cndn sales at all.  The timeline is suggestive though, but that is all.

[chimera148]

It could be that without Canadian buyers bidding on the sellers GSP listed items the seller receives less for their items from domestic sellers, but the items may still sell.

I've been involved in that kind of situation.

[patken123]

The only way to get their attention is to hit them where it hurts,1 to 5% of the sales is not a bad start.

Why hurt US non GSP seller?What non gsp sellers?,recently whatever I look to buy is with GSP.US sellers not enrolled with GSP are becoming a rare bread.

What other choice is there? other than pay gsp / grin and bear?

[chimera148]

Correction : ...receives less for their items from domestic buyers .....

I've been involved in that kind of situation a few times, before I gave up on trying to buy from  GSP sellers

[anguscoinshop]

Here's a clear example of lost enay revenue, i was looking at buying item # 370916343222. $150 + import charge, made me phone around. I found the exact same one locally at a total price of $734.44 Cdn. on enay it would of been $854.86US plus exchange rate.

Again the GSP was the deciding factor against buying on enay.

[i*m-still-here]

parker........ They've probably already lost much more than 5% of their sales from US to International locations.

Canadians don't like the program, but European and countries other don't love it as least as much as we don't love it.

They're getting hit much worse than we are.................

and yet the program not only persists......... it's getting worse.

[Anonymous]

As for the sellers who opt in GSP don't see it, they can sign on eBay.ca (Canada) to see their listings.  The problems with US sellers, they don't think to use eBay.ca to check their listings.

I sign on eBay.ca and also eBay.com on a daily basis to check and also eBay.com for buying.

As for boycott, not sure if it is working but I always inform the US sellers with GSP that I cannot bid or buy because of GSP and that I am NOT willing to pay for the so-called import charges for many items when we fully knew they would never be dinged for the import charges at Canada Border at any time, plus am not willing to pay the inflated high shipping costs that come with GSP.

Too often US sellers informed me that they opt out of GSP as they want me to buy their items.  Thanks.

[marnotom!]

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@angus_coin_shop wrote:

Here's a clear example of lost enay revenue, i was looking at buying item # 370916343222. $150 + import charge, made me phone around. I found the exact same one locally at a total price of $734.44 Cdn. on enay it would of been $854.86US plus exchange rate.

Again the GSP was the deciding factor against buying on enay.

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So without the GSP you wouldn't have been encouraged to shop around locally for a better deal?  Interesting.

At any rate, this seller has a number of those presses on hand right now, and given his extensive selling experience I doubt he'd be selling them if he didn't figure he could sell them all.

Given the nature of his merchandise, I doubt he sells much outside of the United States anyway.

[afantiques]

That reloading press looks like the sort of heavy item that would cost a lot to ship and be unlikely to escape import charges however it was sent.

[marnotom!]

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@i*m-still-here wrote:

parker........ They've probably already lost much more than 5% of their sales from US to International locations.

Canadians don't like the program, but European and countries other don't love it as least as much as we don't love it.

They're getting hit much worse than we are.................

and yet the program not only persists......... it's getting worse.

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I haven't seen nearly the posts on the UK boards about the GSP as I have on the Canadian boards.

I don't think European buyers are nearly as reliant on the United States as a source of frivolous goods as we are in Canada.

And let's not flatter ourselves here:  the Canadian market is much smaller than the American market.  We need them more than they need us.

[anguscoinshop]

I'll simplify this one;

Local shopping: 1

enay GSP: 0

[anguscoinshop]

Again your thinking is flawed, try to use expression that are neutral.

[marnotom!]

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@angus_coin_shop wrote:

Again your thinking is flawed, try to use expression that are neutral.

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A statement like that reads like "I'm right, you're wrong" and serves more as an attempt to shut down discussion rather than generate a useful exchange of points of view.

Keep in mind that I didn't say that all purchases made by all Canadians on eBay were "frivolous", by the way.

[bb_cool_stuff]

While there are valid points in regards to the GSP, Refunds, INR & IND Disputes, it still comes down to a personal choice.

Does the GSP make a difference in my buying choices, yes, but so has the increase in the USPS Rates since the New Year.

Some of the items i research have higher USPS Rates than shipping rates which include the GSP.

My choice whether to buy the item or not. If you choose to buy an item which includes the GSP, your choice, but lets don't kvetch after the fact.

I have bought a quarter of what i bought last year on eBay. Is this because of the GSP & USPS Rates, sometimes, but usually it is beacause i cannot turn the product & make a decent profit.

I agree with buying local if possible. Of my twenty purchases this year, thirteen have been from Canadian Sellers, eight which were bought from local sellers.

[bb_cool_stuff]

And let's not flatter ourselves here: the Canadian market is much smaller than the American market. We need them more than they need us.

Absolutely Right Marn.

Can only speak for myself of course, but any loss of US Business will affect my bottom line.

[i*m-still-here]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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And let's not flatter ourselves here:  the Canadian market is much smaller than the American market.  We need them more than they need us.

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marmo......... No one here was "flattering themselves."    On the contrary.

Everyone is well aware that we need them more than they need us.

We all know we're helpless against the Big Guy.

That's at the heart of almost every post on the subject and much of the reason Canadian buyers are so angry with the GSP.