kxeron wrote:
Okay, time to cut to the chase here,
Personally I'd prefer costs being placed where they really are and paying more for honesty, transparency and structure instead of eBay's black box method where it's so easy to cook the books or to have crackpot calculations behind the scene.
- Look at how many sellers on eBay implement scams where they charge $10 for a $40 item, then have $60 shipping, only to get more noticed in search results, scamming people into believing they're getting a deal. Particularly predatory for new buyers — No, you can't expect new buyers to be aware of this completely as it's a darker part of eBay culture behind the 4 colours of eBay's logo. (Auctions are especially vulnerable to this as often times the retail cost will be entered into shipping so the seller knows they'll get their money's worth regardless if their $40 value item sells for $10, they're still getting $70)
- Look at how there's no information available to determine what was used by the shipping calculator for its calculations nor an information centre for what the eBay going rates for specific shipment types are.
- Look at how the GSP has no breakdown whatsoever, there's nothing you can receive from PBI saying "While you're not paying the taxes/duty directly, according to our calculations, WE WILL pay $xx.xx to the Canadian government for these purposes and that's a promise"
- Look at how shipping costs can wildly vary between items for the exact same level of shipping for the exact same item.
- Look at how many times the shipping calculator has been challenged for its accuracy.
I'd rather more expensive, more honest pricing over a system where "Shipping costs" may as well be written "Miscellaneous" where anything and everything (the real item cost included) can be tucked away under those costs and is never allowed to be questioned what goes into those costs and why.
The reason why shipping costs, ("Import charges" included), item costs, etc are so wild and varying on eBay is because there's no mechanisms in place to ensure seller accountability and to provide accounting for eBay's own calculations before something goes wrong. eBay's policies are exclusively reactionary to problems, they are never preventative in nature, requiring you always to submit a claim or report or something of the sort when something goes wrong. You never get the full attention of an eBay employee with influence over any process nevermind anyone from the "GSP Team" (e.g. PBI) without an active problem existing and even there, you just get a refund and sent on your way, never is "The System" re-evaluated when it fails to protect buyers from inaccurate information nor are reports for items that violate eBay policy taken seriously.
Perhaps at this point in time, the GSP's poor performance in operation is in fact a symptom to a greater problem where the shipping cost mechanisms of eBay are near completely arbitrary and grossly over-simplified from an outside perspective and don't appear to be based on a scientifically verifiable method from a public perspective.
PS: Oh and with Amazon? You're practically guaranteed to get your item and not just an "oops, here's your money back", so you pay for peace of mind.
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Well said, you are not the first eBay buyer who has stated something similar and you will not be the last, unfortunately there are a few posters out there who are not buyers or have bought one or two items to make it appear they are buyers who have always defend the GSP at every turn.
Yes as a buyer we want to get the best bang for our dollar but also as a buyer we are not going to blindly and quietly hand over money to a program a faulty as this one. So yes we are willing to pay a little bit more for an item where we know exactly where the cost breakdowns are, the reliability in delivery and reasonable delivery prices even if it means going to other sites.
It is sad that the buyer wannabes continue to spout their single minded ideology because in their minds they are right and all the multitude of buyers who hate and avoid using the GSP and have stated so are wrong but that is their problem not ours.
I agree that the GSP's poor performance in operation is unveiling a larger problem but I think it is also more to do with the lack of any meaningful corrective action to resolve the GSP's shortcomings because any reasonable person would be asking why is nothing being done?
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