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.

[rick31797]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

"Charging $18 SHIPPING on a $2 baseball card"

Unfortunately, you are dealing with a very misinformed seller.  eBay recommends not to use GSP for items under $50 (on average)

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I dont think pierrelebel got the point... putting the GSP aside, we have Ebay sellers charging ridiculous amounts to ship small items.. i have replied to these sellers telling them i know the proper shipping cost but they say that is the price you pay.I also find it funny when they offer free shipping across the USA, and want 45.00 shipping to Canada.. which turns out to be 1/2 the distance, on some of the items i have look at, no excuse for it, just greed.  

[konamicode]

Since these are the only topics I respond too, I agree. I didn't even bother speaking on this forum until the PB scandal came in to effect. I'm also avoiding any seller who uses it because it makes buying off here more expensive than buying local. Gone are the days for Canadian buyers on here who wanted to buy stuff from their U.S neighbours.

Sure, I could show items only in Canada. I could also manually filter out the GSP listings, but why bother? My selection would be narrowed down to abysmal numbers, and to manually filter out the GSP would mean I spend more time on eBay avoiding purchases than finding something I want to buy.

Get your act together eBay, or you're really going to be losing your Canadians. I haven't purchases ANYTHING since the GSP came in to effect. I look, but I don't buy. I've had it with FEEBAY. Enough is enough. This time you went too far.

[konamicode]

I've added so many replies to this same topic, but I refuse to go quietly.

I have completely stopped using eBay as a result of the GSP. I collect old Nintendo games, and the selection up in Canada is nill. I need my U.S brothers and sisters to help me get these items. I cannot justify paying these fees, nor will I.

I am not sure if eBay even cares. Their lack of customer support and money grabbing shows me they care about one thing only. Profits. Like a junkie getting its fix. Money Junkies are no different. Canadian buyers should make this junkie go cold turkey.

eBay is being written on my corporate boycott list. This list is getting long.

[marnotom!]

I would suggest doing the number crunching and decide whether the overall price of the item makes sense to you and you're willing to live with the GSP's terms and conditions and general service standards.

I've found many examples of items where the total in import charges is less than what would be charged if the item were assessed taxes (and duties, if applicable) by Canada Border Services with Canada Post's C$9.95 processing charge added to it.  The shipping price seemed fair to me, too.

Just because the GSP is generally rubbish for items that can be shipped by First Class International (oversized letter / Small Packet) doesn't necessarily mean that it's a wash in all cases.

A while ago somebody posted complaining about the GSP charges on a small GPS unit that they'd purchased.  I added the shipping and import charges that were on the listing and compared it to the shipping charges that sellers had for similar items shipped directly to Canada, and the GSP won out by a long shot, even without taxes calculated on the direct shipments.

[marnotom!]

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@konamicode wrote:

I've added so many replies to this same topic, but I refuse to go quietly.

I have completely stopped using eBay as a result of the GSP. I collect old Nintendo games, and the selection up in Canada is nill. I need my U.S brothers and sisters to help me get these items. I cannot justify paying these fees, nor will I.

I am not sure if eBay even cares. Their lack of customer support and money grabbing shows me they care about one thing only. Profits. Like a junkie getting its fix. Money Junkies are no different. Canadian buyers should make this junkie go cold turkey.

eBay is being written on my corporate boycott list. This list is getting long.

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If you're going to stick with this topic for a while, perhaps you can elaborate on how eBay is profiting from this, because I've done the number-crunching and it doesn't appear that it's from the shipping or import fees.

And if you're running up a long corporate boycott list, could it be that it's the result of erroneous information in some cases?

[femmefan1946]

.  She was charged $13.60 for GSP and $6.50 shipping for an item that I had bid and won for $15.00. 

She should not have been charged anything for the GSP. The money that you pay for this goes to the Canadian government and to PitneyBowes.

She gets the $6.50 she used to send your parcel to PB in Kentucky for trans-shipment.

Do you mean YOU were charged $13.60 for GSP?

All the items I bid on are used items coming from someone's home.  How can eBay defend the use of a third party that is clearly profiting from massive fees from imaginary tariffs that don't exist?

Used items are dutiable and taxable. You pay tax on a used car for example.

jacket at US $52.27 (amount confirmed at checkout)? Combined with the shipping cost of $26.89, it put the jacket out of most Canadian shoppers' price ranges

Seriously? Check the Sears Catalog and try to find a jacket under $75 brand new. Even an indoor women's blazer will run you over $40.

[marnotom!]

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@bryanrobo wrote:

I have noticed that certain sellers in the USA are using the pitney bowes option to mail items to Canada.  THIS IS a SCAM.  Due to the NAFTA free trade agreement that is in place between Canada, Mexico and the US, all items made on those countries are exempt duties so why would you force buyers to pay these non required fees to a 3rd party company and be forced to have items mailed using this program.  

 Any item mailed to Canada by USPS goes to Canada Customs and they will decide if any custom charges are applicable for that item, if so, then GST is applied which is a lot cheaper than this pb program. Sometimes an item may not even carry an import fee so why pay for this scam.

 As a result, i will no longer buy from any US seller that participates in this program who is not willing to give the opt out option. I strongly suggest that other Canadians also find alternatives as ebay items will not be worthwhile purchasing from the USA.  If they are willing to lose the Canadian customer base then their loss.

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By the way...

NAFTA is about eliminating duties, but not sales taxes.  You still pay GST/HST/PST on NAFTA-manufactured goods you buy at a store.

Items purchased from a NAFTA country that aren't manufactured in a NAFTA country are still subject to duty.

Canada Border Services doesn't so much "decide" whether or not an item should be subject to tax charges as it just semi-randomly does it.  In theory, anything with a declared value of more than C$20 is subject to taxes and duty (if applicable).

The Global Shipping Program may be poorly implemented and not run as well as it could be, but a scam?  I don't think so.

Most eBay sellers offering the GSP are not experienced international sellers and probably don't realize how straightforward it is to ship modestly-priced, lightweight items out of the country by mail.  Heck, some sellers aren't even aware that they've opted into the program in the first place.

I don't think there are too many sellers who have switched over from using the postal system to using the GSP unless they've done the number-crunching and figured out that the GSP is a better deal for their buyers, which it can be in some cases.

[pierrelebel]

"Canada Post's C$9.95 processing charge added to it.  "

The subject of Canada Post $9.95 handling fee keeps coming back quite often in these discussions.  Some still think it is $5.00, others $8.00, others $8.50

I did a bit of research looking at my own postal purchases.

Back in 1969 - that is a long time ago - Canada Post charged $5.00 handling fee whenever taxes (and/or duty) were being charged by Canada Customs.

In 2004 it was still $5.00 for parcels and $8.00 if coming through Priority Post.

In 2010 it was $8.00, increased to $8.50 on July 1st, 2011

Finally, the handling fee was increased by Canada Post to the current $9.95 on August 18th, 2012.

http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/aboutus/news/announcements/customsfee.jsf

Canada Post has been collecting duties and taxes on behalf of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for many years, and is compensated for this service through a handling fee charged to customers. As of August 18, 2012, this handling fee will rise from $8.50 to $9.95 for all mail that has been assessed with import duties and/or taxes by CBSA.

[anguscoinshop]

You do not have to prove anything on this board, some post you do not want to respond to.

i find it amazing how this web site have simply decided to ignore the buyers.

buyer attitude will never change, when buyers feel they got ripped off, they go to a venue with transparency

over a year now and thousands upon thousands of complaints, what has been done?

NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING

[mpawlowski]

The fees that some dealers attempt to charge are outrageous. An auction finished today in which the vendor wants $11 for shipping, and $7 for 'import charges'. The cost to send this by mail is a $1.50. The vendor wants to use a shipping company I have never heard about. I do not know if he has a personal or financial interest or shares in the shipping company. He also wants to charge an import fee. This vendor is not the Canadian Government and he is not a collection agency for the Canadian Government. He has no right in Law to collect any fee that could be assessed by a government agency before it is assessed. The item cost $31 and he wants an additional $17. I have questioned his ethics. This follows a case last week in which a vendor (following my query regarding his fee) replied that he had to charge that much to make a profit on the sale of the item. That is outrageous!    May I suggest that Ebay establish this system: when listing an item, there must be a choice of mailing methods and fees specified. The buyer determines his choice when he pays for the item. Using this manner would also cause the vendors to no longer be responsible for any lost or delayed mail because the choice was the buyers.  Something has to be done to control the outrageous over charging by certain vendors. 

[1967togo]

I've bought a fair amount from eBay in past years before this GSP thing and I can't remember getting an 'import charge'.It's usually the guys in the brown trucks who will get you for broker fees,fees for having someone do the paper work for your purchase to get through customs.USPS/Canada Post don't charge for anything very often,sometimes sales tax.We have a free trade agreement which covers a lot of stuff.By the time you get all these taxes and with the Canadian $ going down,cheaper to stay in Canada and tell 'em to stick their GSP.

[marnotom!]

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@angus_coin_shop wrote:

You do not have to prove anything on this board, some post you do not want to respond to.

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True enough, but arguments made without any sort of information to back them up are very weak ones and very difficult to take seriously.

I could say that the Chinese space probe found evidence that the moon was made of green cheese.  I don't have to prove it, but is it likely to be taken seriously without any proof?

[kasiablue2000]

Hi,

I need some help and hope there are some sellers on here who can advise me on how to describe this properly to Paypal and get my money back.

I bid on and purchased an item for my son for Christmas, the same day I purchased other items from other sellers. All  items arrived but the gift for our son. I waited a week and then went back into Ebay to contact the seller. When I got there, I found that there was as tracking number. I printed it and took it to my postal outlet as the tracking info claimed the item had been delivered but we had never received it.

The postmaster, who we know well (the postmaster here knows virtually everyone as it is very small), stated that the only way we wouldn't have gotten it is if the postal box was wrong. We live in a community with keyed boxes and all that needs to happen is to have a shipper reverse the numbers and someone else in our community will get our mail. 

She said the only way she could track down our package is to get a copy of the shipper manifest to find out who the package actually went to. So I contacted the seller to get a copy of her manifest. The seller then tells me that she or he has someone else do the shipping. I live in BC, Canada and the seller had the package sent to Kentucky to be shipped. Not sure why. The tracking info even shows this.

The seller said I needed to contact the shipper to find out what happened. And the seller gave me the address of the shipper, that showed my name at the top. No other contact info.

I messed back and said that I expected the item to be shipped to the address stored in Ebay...which is my address, not someone's address in Kentucky. I also said that I purchased from her/him and that it was her/his responsibility to talk to the shipper and find out what happened, not mine. I agaub asked for a copy of the shipping manifest. So far no response.

So, I did file a claim on Paypal today. But here is my question. If the trace shows 'delivered', how can I prove it wasn't delivered to me? Is there a case for the fact that the seller has admitted to sending it off to another party to ship...and therefore has no idea what address they put on the package? How can I prove a negative? The seller sent me a nice reply but at the same time, has basically told me it's up to me to contact the shipper or Ebay for help. She/he also says 'maybe it will show up within the next couple of days'. How can it show up when it has already been delivered to someone...who is not me????

[anguscoinshop]

i find it amazing how this web site have simply decided to ignore the buyers.

buyer attitude will never change, when buyers feel they got ripped off, they go to a venue with transparency

over a year now and thousands upon thousands of complaints, what has been done?

NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING

[marnotom!]

Repeating a rant doesn't make it any more substantive.

[marnotom!]

Did you see this note at the top of the listing page?

Clicking the "learn more" link will take you to a page that explains, amongst other things, how the shipping process works.

After receiving your payment, the seller ships your item to a US shipping center. Professional custom processors at the US shipping center process the package, complete customs forms, pays applicable import charges, and ship the package to the address that you specified at the time of purchase. 

Some sellers are shipping through the Global Shipping Program because the program assumes all liability for lost and damaged shipments once they reach the US shipping centre in Kentucky.  Some sellers don't know any better or don't even know that they've registered for the program, but that's another story that's covered in the many threads on this board already devoted to the GSP.

As for your question about proof of delivery, does the delivery information state that it reached your postal code or city?  Generally speaking, proof of delivery isn't enough for PayPal/eBay unless it states where the item ended up.

[anguscoinshop]

this site will eventually see the light, that is usually when the bottom line is hurting

that's coming

[kasiablue2000]

This is not the seller or item I am referring to. Is there a reason you copied and pasted this listing???

[kasiablue2000]

Sorry, I forgot to answer your question at the bottom. You said:

As for your question about proof of delivery, does the delivery information state that it reached your postal code or city?  Generally speaking, proof of delivery isn't enough for PayPal/eBay unless it states where the item ended up.

The tracking information states that it reached the town where the postal office is. That is the last place it was seen. The community we live in, is 25 km away and has a different name than the one where the postal office is located. After the package reaches the post office, it is scanned and marked as 'delivered'. But then it makes its final trip to our little community up the highway where the mailboxes are located. Does that make sense?

Regarding the listing. I did not know what the Global Shipping Program is. Thank you for telling me. However, it doesn't really address the issue that the seller has no idea what address was put on my parcel....nor the issue that the seller has told me I am the one that has to contact Kentucky....and I have no hot clue how to do that. Do you know what the seller means by all that...and how I am to follow the instructions about contacting Ebay for help?

And I really need to stress again, the listing you posted is not the one with which I have the problem...unless you were only using that as an example.....

[nudibranch4569]

same old story,dont buy from sellers using global shipping program.