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.

[dinomitesales]

This is ridiculous. All the shipping fees are stated on the listing UP FRONT, and then you have to confirm them again once you pay for the item using PayPal. If you didn't like the shipping fees, then why did you buy and pay for the item?

I see you are a seller - I find it very strange that you do not know about the GSP program or how it works.

[poppee101]

Used to be that we could happily buy US items and bring them into Canada and if Duty applied, it was paid at a Custom Office, after accept all details, including the shipping cost; 

BUT NOW !!!!  There is an insidious charge attached by ebay on USED ITEMS, under their International Shipping details.   They say it is based on the price of the item, (nothing about whether it is used or not) and just mundane small cost items have a gigantic shipping fee, and now this International shipping fee applied.   They refer to ebay "shipping centre" set up to help the members.   Right !   Appears a slight of hand rip off.   An item that could be sold for under $20, then with added charges, can be more than double the price, in the blink of an eye.   The Buyer can be up to the last Pay Now to find that the cost has gone SKY HIGH.   Heaven help those who pay for big items, as it must be the most alarming aspect to see those prices go thru the roof.  

Good old days of buying are gone - even the newer sellers are not aware that they can, if requested, take a particular item out of the International Shipping area, and just get back to "NORMAL" - wrap it up and send it via Regular US postage.

Would like some feedback : (as we have a family member who is in Canadian Customs) - no charges for Duty or Import into Canada can be charged until it reaches a Port of the US/Canadian border!   How has ebay wrangled themselves into that department;  and ... more especially there was supposed to be  a REFUND if Duty was not applied by Canada Customs.

VERY VERY UNPLEASANT SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES TO SAY THE LEAST.     Thanks

[grandmas-great-items]

I'm glad I didn't make a bid on an item that didn't have a GSP charge on it, but now does due to currency change.

Item is listed in USD and was below $20 CAD a few days ago when currency converted by eBay. No GSP taxes/duties were being charged in the listing.

Now today, that USD listed item is showing as $20.08 CAD after a currency conversion change and there is now a GSP taxes/duties charge appearing on the listing. If I would have bid on this item and then get hit with an additional charge because of this GSP, I would not be a happy bidder.

I have never been charged taxes/duties when an item is a few dollars over $20 let alone 8 cents over when shipped without this GSP ridiculousness.

[blackranda2]

Just want to add my feelings along with many others from what I can see . Sorry but if an item listed with the Global Shipping Program activated I just won't purchase it. In fact I rarely even bother to read the listing, just move on and look for another similar listing.

[whitecourtutv]

I am a fairly casual Ebay user. I have made over 30 purchases in the last few years. On only one occasion have I paid import charges because the seller sent with UPS when I had requested USPS. I am sharing my GSP experience because like many others I want it gone. Or more accurately, refuse to use the program, I will never purchase from a GSP seller again, now that I have had an unwanted experience with it. I was completely unaware of the program, and so was the seller! How is that possible Ebay? 

I won my item and received a message from the buyer saying he will only ship to the lower 48, although I had agreed to and already paid HEAVY shipping costs. He said he had received the item price plus $10 for shipping, when I looked at Paypal it said I had paid to the seller exactly that. Now I am confused, I had agreed to pay more, but as I am not the only one who uses my paypal account, I didn't question the Pitney Bowes charge or expect it to be part of the same transaction. I never agreed or was informed of a third party shipper being involved. So, I agreed to pay the seller the additional $15 for shipping. I sent it and 2 days later received my item. EASY, as it should be, and was before. However I still have a $35 shipping charge from Pitney Bowes and even though I have brought this to Paypals attention, I have not received a refund. So now I need to take more time out of my day to get money back from a shipping company I never wanted involved, that did nothing but complicate the transaction, and has only a complete pain in my A$$. The sad thing is that I made two American transactions that day. I received my item directly from the seller 2 days after I paid the additional shipping, which took a few days to sort out. It is Friday of the following week and I still have not received the item that Pitney Bowes Is overseeing, about 10 days later. At least this seller was aware he was in the program.

So, in short; higher shipping costs, additional shipping fees, and import charges that may or may not cover your import charges? All of this to complicate and slow down what worked before.Sadly the only easy solution I see to avoid the program, or filter out those involved, is to search for buy now/free shipping sellers. The down side is that this pretty well knocks out every seller other than those in China.

There you have it Ebay. I will never have anything to do with any seller involved in the program, and depending on the luck I have finding what I want in China, this program may actually end my Ebay use all together. Hopefully Ebay reevaluates the program before it comes to that, or I just get jaded based on the fact that the would try to slip something like this in on their users and encourage this type of business agreement.

[davesnetwork]

Thanks to the GSP I no longer use eBay.

[anglia51]

That's right & I haven't bought anything of eBay in over a year & I encourage all buyers to do the same & eventually someone will get the message. Less buyers cheaper prices then there will be less sellers & the cycle continues down word.

[kenneth_dee]

By leaving low ratings for shipping charges when leaving feedback is really not fair to your seller.  If your seller shipped the item in a timely manner and provided accurate information on the item then the seller is not to blame for eBay's imposed policies.

[reid4311]

Good Day fellow Canadians!

As has been stated by many others if I see 'custom services and tracking provided' while I'm browsing that only means one thing. An American seller who uses the G.S.P. program. If it's a CD I want I'll add it to my watch list. Then when I'm finished browsing I'll go into my watch list and open 'more actions' then 'view similar items'. Another copy will usually turn up from someone not using the system. As it stands now I purchase most of my music from fellow Canadians. If I look abroad I'll look at the U.K. or even Germany where despite the distance the postage rate is about 50% lower than U.S. sellers using G.S.P. With these kinds of rates you could also look at Amazon.ca or Amazon.UK where the postage rate for one cd to Canada is $5.54 per disc. I'll also look at CD Baby or the artists website where they are only to happy to send you the disc autographed! This may not sit well with some but the idea is to scope out the best deal for yourself so having said that the only loyalty I feel is to my wallet!

One question that has been asked many times in the board hour and has never been properly answered is this: I have one cd in my watch list from a U.S. seller using G.S.P. When I look at it I'm told that shipping to my address is $13.75 Ca. but as soon as I hit the 'buy it now' button the price changes to a whopping $18.18! This is not an isolated case as each and every listing increases in rate as soon as you attempt to buy. There really is no honest answer for this stunt!   

[anglia51]

just because you agree to a shipping cost doesn't mean you have to like it. If you don't want lower feedback ratings then it's up to the seller to keep his shipping rates as low as possible. $30.00 for a $5.00 item is way out of line & believe me there are lots of sellers that charge that kind of money & i'm talking something the size of a hot wheel die cast. & while i'm at it this pitney bowes thing is nothing more than a scam i bought 2 hot wheels & both times they came delivered opened with an ebay paper telling me that canada customs had opened them which i a lie customs do not open packages anymore they are x rayed & if they think there is something suspicious in the package they open the package.    

[afantiques]

$30.00 for a $5.00 item is way out of line & believe me there are lots of sellers that charge that kind of money & I'm talking something the size of a hot wheel die cast.

High shipping charges for lightweight items are due to the seller not specifying size and weight. If they do not, a default size/weight value is applied. The seller is not 'charging' high shipping fees but it is due to their incompetence that the fees are high. However, this incompetence is due to the lack of education ebay supplies to ebay sellers enrolled in the GSP. The thing should come with a sizable handbook and and an examination before a seller is cleared to use it.

& while I'm at it this Pitney Bowes thing is nothing more than a scam. I bought 2 hot wheels & both times they came delivered opened with an ebay paper telling me that Canada customs had opened them which is a lie, customs do not open packages anymore they are x-rayed & if they think there is something suspicious in the package they open the package.

The note may have referred to customs processing, but I very much doubt if it referred to Canada Customs. That's not where any inspection takes place. Once again the problem is due to misuse of the GSP by sellers, who do not specify a 'Country of Origin' when listing an item. No lying is involved here, merely the buyer's misunderstanding. And the seller's ignorance of the importance of apparently irrelevant details.

[ciny2k]

My GSP purchase was also opened, with an ebay form letter inserted in the package. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm assuming that this is standard procedure at the Kentucky warehouse: bring in the goods, inspect the goods, ship the goods. I'm also assuming it expedites the customs clearance process, in that the items are simply waived through - since they've been inspected already. I could be wrong though.

Shipping rates are going to vary because sellers have different priorities. Why do I need to sign for a sweater? Because the seller wants confirmation of delivery, I suppose. It's an expensive way to ship, for sure - this is with USPS, and I'd bet the GSP cost would have been lower. But if I really want an item, then I'll suck it up and pay for the primo delivery. I prefer the economy rate, but there's no comparison on the speed of delivery - economy takes a looong time, whereas priority is lickety split. I think if we're going to be shopping online, and relying on couriers and postal services, we need to understand the perks and the perils of the different options we have, and we can choose accordingly. 

[walker0017]

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@ciny2k wrote:

My GSP purchase was also opened, with an ebay form letter inserted in the package. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm assuming that this is standard procedure at the Kentucky warehouse: bring in the goods, inspect the goods, ship the goods. I'm also assuming it expedites the customs clearance process, in that the items are simply waived through - since they've been inspected already. I could be wrong though.

Shipping rates are going to vary because sellers have different priorities. Why do I need to sign for a sweater? Because the seller wants confirmation of delivery, I suppose. It's an expensive way to ship, for sure - this is with USPS, and I'd bet the GSP cost would have been lower. But if I really want an item, then I'll suck it up and pay for the primo delivery. I prefer the economy rate, but there's no comparison on the speed of delivery - economy takes a looong time, whereas priority is lickety split. I think if we're going to be shopping online, and relying on couriers and postal services, we need to understand the perks and the perils of the different options we have, and we can choose accordingly. 

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Respectfully, as a buyer when you purchase something from a US seller using the GSP you do not have a choice of delivery options or combined shipping oh and expect shipping to take twice as long because your item will stay at their warehouse for a week or 3.  As for the GSP being cheaper for shipping well that has been a point of intense discussion here for months but some situations it might be cheaper mostly though it doubles or triples the amount so that a $30 item will cost you almost $45 to 60 depending upon the item and circumstances. Some items cannot be shipped thru the GSP but you won't find that out until after it has reached Kentucky, eBay and Pitney Bowes likes to surprise  their customers that way instead of fixing the problem.

[ciny2k]

But you do have a choice of delivery options: you have the choice to avoid the GSP altogether. Either by requesting the seller to use USPS instead (I've done this several times) or by ignoring their listings (I do this too, sometimes) but nobody is forcing a GSP purchase. It is frustrating when the seller insists on using GSP, but whatever.

[mater721]

"just because you agree to a shipping cost doesn't mean you have to like it."

Why would you bid on an item when you don't like the overall deal, which includes shipping? It makes no sense.

I absolutely hate the GSP, but, if I found an item I could only get from a GSP seller, and purchased that item, then I have no right to leave poor feedback if the seller met all their obligations. As a buyer, no one is forcing you to buy from that seller. It is your choice.

[00nevermind00]

Tomorrow's Weekly Chat on the US board will be about the GSP. 4:00 PM Eastern time, 1:00 PM Pacific. Get your questions ready.

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/bd-p/weekly-chat

[honeysz]

Hope this awful program gets scrapped!

It makes everything so much more expensive and I'm avoiding GSP sellers alltogether. Hopefully they'll get a clue when they see a decline in their sales.

[flopsrabbit]

Thanks ebay for ruining my experience! everything from Amerikan sellers costs to much now! thanks to import fees..........I no longer buy anything from Amerikan sellers anymore except 2 dollar games! I try to use Ioffer now instead, no import fee's 🙂

[m3399]

I always ask the seller before buying what the shipping to Canada would be.If he replies,that he is using GSP,I have no further questions but a NO, THX.

[m3399]

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@around_again_records wrote:

Hi Stillhere: I guess the point I am trying to make is that things are not very clear.

I want to know my total costs before I purchase an item. From what I have read that does not seem to be the case.

the point you mentioned about requesting total may or may not be correct. I don't know, I haven't tried it. According to the quote in my above post though Request a Total Does NOT work with GSP items.

So again, my main point is that nothing is really very clear and up front about what actual shipping costs will be. And that is what I would want to happen before I used the program.

For now I am just going to butt out, and keep reading. Perhaps I do not understand what I am reading in the help files and GSP Users Agreement correctly. If that's the case I will watch and learn. I don't want to add to the confusion.

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I always ask the seller before buying what the shipping to Canada would be.If he replies,that he is using GSP,I have no further questions but a NO, THX.