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.

[reallynicestamps]

Yes, and the place to complain is on the eBaydotCOM boards, where American sellers are listing.

EBay does not encourage US sellers to use the Global Shipping Program for items selling for less than $50US. But they explain this very very very badly to US sellers.

 I can see two possible ways of correcting the problem.

For eBay: on the Sell Your Item form, have a pop up that is triggered whenever an item with an asking or starting price of less than $50 is listed with GSP. The popup should explain that using GSP with inexpensive items can cause a serious backlash from international bidders and buyers.

For Canadians: Write your MP and ask that the limit for dutyfree imports be raised from $20 to $200, matching that available to cross-border shoppers. You need not stamp the envelope (just write OHMS where the stamp would go) and the address is House of Commons, Ottawa ON , K1A 0A6

[toby_le_pue]

Most items that are imported into Canada with a

value of more than $20.00 Canadian is subject to

Canadaian and provincial taxes.

You are getting duty confused with taxes.

[hope81026]

With all due respect. It seems to me that you are simply refusing to accept what Pierre is saying. This program costs Canadians so much more that it is ridiculous to arge it is not. We can all see here. Canadians are not mindless fools. Now I am learning why my items are not only costing so much but are taking longer to reach me. Thats ok because we always know the FB system is rigged anyway,  no surprise.  However now I do know that the boots I paid 120 $ for had to pass by Pitney Bowes first? Its taken me a month and a half to recieve them but thats ok because from what I am reading here the seller will not be held accountable.  But yet, you dont understand what Pierre is saying? The costs are more than money and I am one more Canadian you can add to the list of lost buyers to the U.S. Sadly most of what I buy is clothing and your major competitor doesnt deal in clothing however China has great knock offs. Got a great pair of sequined boots which look like 250$ Uggs for 15.99 with free shipping.  This is my third year wearing them with no complaints. Everybody compliments me on my great Uggs. I can live with it. Goodbye America hello China,  Canada and everywhere else that doesnt used GS.

[sutherland1023]

Nothing has "worked well" for me with your global shipping option, but it never was.     If the seller insists on using it, I will either  not bid, or I will retract my bid if they will not simply POST IT.    Usually I am called some kind:- of thieving, scumbag son of a **bleep**, by U.S. Dealers.         This despite the fact that I have 100% feedback, and have never had such a problem, as this is suppose to overcome.   

       In future I will no longer buy or bid on anything from the USA.   A Total boycott !   as far as I'm concerned is the best way to fix this. I have complained to our Government, as I fail to understand how Pitney Bowes can access Duty on Canadian citizen's, as we employ Canada Custom agents for that.   

       When PITNEY BOWES get's it wrong, which is everytime, with the stuff, that I buy, they just keep the funds.       This is nothing more than a insurance policy for lazy US dealers who fail to check the Country that the bidder is From,  and or secondly, what their feedback score is. 

      EBAY you can stuff your U.S. goods up your **bleep**, and your Lazy U.S. Dealers too. I will never deal with you again.  I will find somewhere else or another way to obtain my stuff, or go without. Sick to death of the U.S.

     I would en-courage all other Canadians to do the same, until we get fair treatment from This Dictatorship, something we have rarely had.

[mycollectablethings]

I'm curious to know if US based eBay sellers are aware of the number of potential Canadian buyers they are losing because they are using the Global Shipping Program. There are several hundred, maybe several thousands of Canadian eBayers that are boycotting US sellers because they are taking part in GSP. I have used the USPS for over ten years and have never had the problems that I have had with GSP. Items that once arrived at the destination in under a week are now taking upwards of a month to get to the destination, if at all. US sellers using GSP are risking either negative feedback, neutral feedback or no feedback at all.

[dudlbug12]

Spoiler

I think the program is ridiculous.  As a Canadian buyer looking for a deal, any savings I might find are all but wiped out by the added shipping & duty.  If I were a US seller, I would opt out of the program fast because Canadian buyers are really discouraged!

[hope81026]

There are no refunds. Lol. I have been on Ebay for years and I make a habit of reading my listings. However an item got passed me and turned out to be only half an outfit although the listing said very little about this fact. Perhaps one maybe 2 words. One would think 165 $ would include the pants but in any case I learned a hard lesson. That money was for the top only and the 60$ whatever charges were gone. Gobbled up by a huge corporate machine. Yes it is a sad commentary that no one knows how to get a refund for a purchase that turned out to be made in error, invalid or whatever. What was done to earn that money because I want to know where my 60$ went. Additionally Ebay totally backed the seller. The only way I git any money back was after 4 tries to paypal in which my request kept getting mysteriously cancelled. The seller recieved the item back with tracking. The extra charges in her store were outrageous. Who in their right mind would return a 600$ dress that cost them 800$ when they know thst extra 200$ is lost. This cleverly gets around paypals return policies as well. Bravo Ebay!

[hope81026]

Generally I become concerned about border tax when a parcel is over 100$. They let the smaller things go. I recieved a pair of Uggs today which I asked the seller to please not send GS. The seller did as i requested but charged over 50$ for the shipping . The boots were fair at 120$. Btw the border tax was 24.00 on 120$. I fiqured they might get tagged due to the fact they were over a 100$ and all the noise that has been going on lately. The seller took off the GS but raised the shipping charges 30$. I came away with a small win saving myself the sellers original shipping charge of 20-30$. Still the seller should have stood by their original shipping fees but as I said earlier. I am done with even trying to negotiate on the GS

[hope81026]

If Ebay cared about its reputation or good? name there would be an answer. Fact is it appears they think like other problems inthe past, it will all go away and all on the receiving end will grow fatter. This is going to be an interesting strategy.  My guess is Ebay considers itself omnipotent. This will be the test.

[jt-libra]

I don't think the majority of U.S. sellers are losing any sleep over missed sales to Canadians.  They have a big pool of customers right in the good old U.S.A.

I know that some sellers have been contacted about the high shipping cost to Canada under the GSP and, evidently, they weren't even aware.  I think if Canadian sales were important to them, they would make a point of knowing what people in other countries are being charged.

[moncsicsi13]

yes it is true. I'm a a buyer from Canada and I don't buy from sellers who use a Global shipping. 

First is a charge for duty fee is not correct. They charging more even for $10 item. The charge is a joke for $200 worth a fur coat was $600.00  duty charge from global shipping. Canada don't pay duty under $20 items and a taxes is up to 15%.

 US sellers will loose business from Canadian buyer because they use Global shipping.

 There is a site on the net you can even check for eBay items for duty price.

 GLOBAL SHIPPING IS WRONG!!!!!! 

[luminites]

Do you have the item number for the fur coat?

[moncsicsi13]

 sorry no.  I was interested  for a coat but when I seen a duty fee charge a I left a page.

 I will keep looking for those kind of items and I will post it here if I will see same kind of charge.

[moncsicsi13]

I. don't mind to pay duty fee for items what I buy, but let Canada  to charge me at the border, because Canada charge is less duty fee then Global shipping. 

[moncsicsi13]

I just seen a  other coat from ebcollection seller. the coat is $52 and a import charge is $116.83

and a 1 sweater is $20 and a import charge is $20. and a other fur is $29 and import charge is $81.92 ID;161215950573

 Those charges are jokes!!

[marnotom!]

---

@mallet1665 wrote:

Any seller that uses this for moderately priced goods to Canada is losing business.  USPS is the only way to go.  Sellers from USA to Canada should check the listings - a 20$ item costs 35$ to ship?  Get real Ebay.  Check your head.  FedEx, Ups, etc are all cross border rip offs.

---

Keep in mind that the GSP's shipping charges are actually the seller's charge for shipping to Kentucky plus the GSP's charge for shipping from Kentucky to you.  If the seller's shipping charge within the U.S. is somewhat hefty, that's just going to increase the GSP shipping charge by that much.

Also keep in mind that the value of the item has nothing to do with the shipping charge.  If that $20 item were very, very  heavy, would you expect it to ship for dirt cheap?

Having said that, a couple of days ago I purchased (on my usual ID) a $134 item shipping through the Global Shipping Program for less than $12.  The import charges were more than reasonable, too.

As it seems that many sellers enrolled in the Global Shipping Program are "U.S. only" sellers who don't even realize they're offering it, I doubt that most GSP sellers are seeing a downturn in sales thanks to the GSP.

[reallynicestamps]

You are required to pay sales taxes on any import over $20 (GST/HST/PST) but CBSA and Canada Post tend to be lax about this.

The seller has nothing to do with it. All the money collected goes to government or the shipper.

If you want to take a chance with USPS/Canada Post/ CBSA avoid sellers with this note in Search or on their listings.

Customs services and international tracking provided

[marnotom!]

---

@arlene_v wrote:

Right. Well let's use these two examples to illustrate this.

Check out the significant difference in shipping and import charges for the same BIN price between two sellers of vintage Pyrex dishes. . . . So in the first example the seller has listed the item in such a way that these dishes are attracting duty, even though they are made in the USA ...and also the shipping is way higher.

---

Did you notice why the shipping is "way higher" in the first example?  The first seller charges US$11.35 to ship the item domestically, while the second seller offers "free" domestic shipping.  That $11.35 gets added to the GSP's own shipping charge because the buyer has to cover both the U.S. and non-U.S. legs of the item's transit.

Buyers willing to do a bit of research can get some GSP items shipped to them relatively inexpensively.  Of course, there's the matter of the import charges, as well. . . .

[reallynicestamps]

You're preaching to the choir here.

Only US sellers can use this program.

You can do your bit by posting to US seller boards

and

by asking sellers whose items interest you if they would ship by USPS First Class International which carries up to four pounds of product and offers Delivery Confirmation to Canada instead of the Global ShippingProgram.

Some may say yes. The Delivery Confirmation is something new and many sellers are unaware of it.

[arouraborealis1]

I will pay any duty on my purchases MYSELF . Why do I have to pay UP front for a manufactured fee and if there is NO ACTUAL import charge do I get a refund??? NOOOOOOOoooooooo of course not. I'm done here.