eBay

kalvin@ebay.com · ‎09-26-2013

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.

~Kalvin
eBay.ca Community Manager

kalvin@ebay.com

00nevermind00 · ‎08-01-2015

@thegreatcanadiannorthernstar wrote:
The global shipping program has been the best thing that ever happened.

1. Have you seen the ups and fedex fee charts they impose on goods. Yes sometimes smaller purchases under 200.00 do no get assessed, AS THEY SHOULD!!). While Canada post may often hit and miss on this issue, there is no gaurentee you will not pay it's required processing fee of 10.00 Plus gst plus pst plus 6 percent china tax if required etc. You can be sure UPS will never miss!!!!
even on cheap items. Global shipping leaves no surprises. You know up front what you have to pay.

2. Many times most items in the USA are priced including free shipping. For example you can find cerwin vega cv 5000 amplifiers priced at 799.00 with free shipping to usa buyers. The Canadian if purchased would have to usually pay 150.00 extra for shipping these heavy amps, and be subjected to 80.00 ups or fex brokerage charge, then of course pst and gst, and china tax. It is like paying twice for shipping!!!.

The same amplifier through GSP allows the seller to include the local shipping cost as a credit to the buyer and he then only pays the difference in the extra cost to ship these items. 100 miles further accross the border. My cost through GPS 799.00 plus 20.00 shipping, plus 77.00 import tax including clearing. This is a savings of over 130.00 in shipping alone, along with a savings of 80.00 in UPS brokerage etc, and even a savings in tax, as many times the couriers charge more tax then they are suppose to.

I have made over 100 purchases under the GSP, and almost never purchase via any other method. The rates for these big items are now unbearable through the USPS, who have priced themselves out of the market for the bigger items like amplifiers, TVS,
Home theatre recievers etc.

3. I find all the GSP rates to be cheaper than common carrier. It does not work well for buying a couple fuses.

There are some items (not many) which are well suited to the GSP. The stuff you buy seems to fall into that category.

I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum. A lot of what I buy is small, cheap and light weight. I remember seeing a thread on the US Answer Center some months ago: the seller had sold 64 photos to a buyer in a GSP country. When the buyer checked out, only 8 of the 64 combined for shipping. I checked the shipping charges for a single photo to Canada, multiplied that by 57 (56 individual packages + one with 8 photos in it) and the total came to somewhere between $600 and $700! Absurd! And equally absurd is expecting the seller to prepare 57 packages to be sent to the same buyer.

I admit that this example is extreme. But there are many horror stories involving the GSP. I am really glad that it's working for you. But for a lot of us, it isn't.

marnotom! · ‎08-01-2015

@thegreatcanadiannorthernstar wrote:

I have made over 100 purchases under the GSP, and almost never purchase via any other method. The rates for these big items are now unbearable through the USPS, who have priced themselves out of the market for the bigger items like amplifiers, TVS,
Home theatre recievers etc.

I find all the GSP rates to be cheaper than common carrier. It does not work well for buying a couple fuses.

There's no question that in terms of shipping costs and customs processing charges, the GSP beats the snot out of commercial carriers such as UPS or FedEx and I suspect that the GSP was designed more with larger, pricier items in mind.

When sellers who know what they're doing attract buyers who know what they're doing, a sale with the GSP can work out quite well. Somewhere along the way, however, something got messed up in its development and roll-out and we've ended up with a lot of sellers--largely unknowingly--using it inappropriately. Many of the complaints about the GSP are from buyers who have made a few purchases from listings that use it--sometimes unknowingly--and figuring that their experiences are universal.

It's a bit like purchasing a stamp shipped as an express parcel and concluding that all express mail shipments are going to be totally gonzo. There's a time and place for express parcel shipments. A stamp sale probably isn't one of them.

My suspicion is that a lot of the problems with the GSP that Nevermind noted a few posts ago are largely the making of PitneyBowes. The fact that the GSP doesn't seem to fit nicely into eBay's (and PayPal's) general workings (e.g. combined shipping, damage claims, use of "item specifics") strike me as being the product of development and coding that went on in isolation without much--if any--input from eBay staff. I wouldn't be surprised if the "GSP specialists" are on PitneyBowes' payroll (or contracted out by PB), not eBay's.

jrmaslak · ‎08-01-2015

i am a canadian buyer, and pass any global shipping stuff listed,i think ebay is sucking in sellers in the usa and not telling the truth about restiction,they cant ship non restricted knives to canada and dont tell the sellers and will not work with sellers to turn this problem into a positive issue,locking the sellers into global shipping and will not change the situation around holdint the seller hostage, so seller gets less bids on items by blocking bids from canada because they are band from shipping non restricted knives to canada,they must have done something awfully wrong to be band that way. was it keeping the custom duties they were collect????????????. so ebay get your head out of your you know what and work with the sellers to make it a positive buying and selling effot and more profit for ebay and more bids on items by not blocking bids and be more honest to sellers and holding them HOSTAGE to the fine print and restrictions that you created,its put a real NEGATIVE issue inside me as a ebay user,noting positive that forsure.joe m. ebay user for yrs. hopefully you can turn this into a positive situation,THATS THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH,I have heard from sellers and many different stories from ebay personnel over this issue for months on end and still the same.

femmefan1946 · ‎08-02-2015

That's a lot of words, but I think your basic complaint is that PitneyBowes/GSP is not shipping knives that can be legally imported into Canada.

There have been reports of guitars being stopped by PB/GST. This is the first time I have heard of knives.

There are two possible solutions.

The first you have already worked out.

Do not purchase knives from sellers enrolled in the Global Shipping Program. Instead, if you see an item you want, contact the seller and ask if he will set up a listing just for you (using your name as the title) with an agreed upon price and USING USPS International Priority Parcel service. Make sure he understands that this service gives him the Confirmation of Delivery protection that he wanted when he enrolled in the GSP.

If he says no, move on. His loss.

The other is for items already purchased.

Open an Item Not Received Dispute. Make sure that you mention this sale used the GSP for shipping and payment of import fees.

If PB/GSP cannot prove delivery to you, they will refund you.

Your seller will not be harmed by this Dispute. (Many sellers are unaware that they were enrolled in the GSP by default.)

The claim that PB/GSP is not forwarding the Canadian duty and sales taxes to the Canadian government is contstantly being proclaimed by posters. None has ever shown any truth to the rumour. Most are also unaware that many companies that export to Canada do handle import fees for the Canadian Border Services Agency. (LL Bean is often mentioned, for example. So does Vermont Castings for their Canadian retailers, but not for one-off private purchases.)

thegreatcanadiannorthernstar · ‎08-03-2015

1. The global shipping program creates more buyers and more product available for Canadians and other countries to purchase. Many never shipped out of the USA to avoid buyers complaining about paying duties, To avoid packages being returned because of surprise duties, To avoid the hassle of filling out the customs form. To avoid a transaction that takes a long time to complete.

Now sellers can sell globally without worry of package refusal as all costs are known upfront and paid upfront. Only have to ship to a location inside the USA, and do not have to worry about getting foreign addresses wrong, or declaring the item which is all done by

GPS.

2. The actual fee to pitney bows, although not shown when buying , as it is included in the shipping costs already, is about 6.75 no matter the value of the item. Cheaper than Canada posts 10.00 fee. Cheaper than Ups who charge up to 100.00 in extra charges for a 1000.00 item.) Fed ex no different. Pitney bowes is not gouging anyone with this cheap clearing, yet many complain they are. Taxes due are taxes due and you cannot blame the GSP because you like to play hit and miss with Canada post. Canada post simply cannot ship everything you want to buy, and they do hit you with taxes even though sometimes they pass a package without collecting. This is the governments fault for not making our 20.00 import limit the same as the USA's 200 per day limit. Because of this limit which has not changed in 20 years all the courier companies have traditionally took advantage with outrageous clearing fees for

small items, making them a bad deal, after delivery. You will never find cheaper border clearing than GSP.

3. Complaining that the GSP charges too much tax is outrageous. Try buying the same item, threw ups or fedex and see what happens. Compare your final costs and you will see that GSP is cheaper.

4. All transactions , not just GSP transactions are totally the **bleep**s when dealing with items that do not arrive or arrive damaged. To single all this out to a GSP problem is completely unfair. It is simply an internet buying problem, that will be there no matter what venue of buying is done. It's a problem to deal with under any purchase anywhere!!. The only exception would be big box stores that let you return online purchases, via the local store if you want.

5. I have never seen so many complaints about a program that I have found absolutely awesome. It has really allowed me to make purchases and save a lot of money on shipping and clearing , that never would have been possible before GSP. I bought so much when the value of the canadian dollar was high and saved big with Global shipping by ebay. I always told ebay in my suggestions that the border was the big problem!!! and if they could solve for that sales would be through the roof. They listened and have done it!!!!!>

thegreatcanadiannorthernstar · ‎08-03-2015

Yes , but this has always been the problem no matter what venue of shipping or buying you use. This is the fault of the 20.00 Canadian import mail limit that has not changed in 20 years!!!!. Guess they forgot to index it with their government pensions?

IF we had the same 200.00 per day, incoming package value postal limit, no one would ever have complaints about any courier shipping small value items as they would all be exempt from duty and tax and thus no brokerage or clearing costs!!!.

This is a Canadian problem and you are better off complaining about your government, and petitioning them for change, rather than blaming GSP, and common carriers for a gouging problem, as this problem is created by our government. The USA does not seem to have the same problem, and this is the reason folks. So don't blame the GSP for it.

00nevermind00 · ‎08-03-2015

1. The global shipping program creates more buyers and more product available for Canadians and other countries to purchase.

It all depends on what you buy. If you purchase small, lightweight items, the GSP adds ridiculous costs. What's the point of seeing all those extra items if you're not going to buy them anyway on account of total costs? If you were in the market for $10 items that are small and light enough to ship inside a small bubble envelope, would you buy GSP items? I doubt it.

2. The actual fee to pitney bows, although not shown when buying , as it is included in the shipping costs already, is about 6.75 no matter the value of the item. Cheaper than Canada posts 10.00 fee. Cheaper than Ups who charge up to 100.00 in extra charges for a 1000.00 item.) Fed ex no different. Pitney bowes is not gouging anyone with this cheap clearing, yet many complain they are. Taxes due are taxes due and you cannot blame the GSP because you like to play hit and miss with Canada post.

Again, there is no reason to use Fedex or UPS if you purchase small, light-weight items. Buyers tend to make that mistake only once, after which they search for items that ship through the postal system. Or they ask the seller if they'd be willing to switch carriers, something that's a lot easier to do when the GSP is not involved.

What's wrong with "playing hit and miss with Canada Post," as you put it? For purchasers of small low-priced items, it's a game they win almost every single time. And their purchases arrive faster, too.

3. Complaining that the GSP charges too much tax is outrageous. Try buying the same item, threw ups or fedex and see what happens. Compare your final costs and you will see that GSP is cheaper.

Again, people get burned by UPS/Fedex once at most. Plus since eBay doesn't force GSP sellers to mention the size, weight and country of origin of their items, GSP items sometimes do get assessed more tax than they should. And these extra charges are not refundable. You see this with clothing items all the time. Items barely over the paltry $20 limit with close to 50% "import charges" slapped on. Not to mention a $20+ shipping charge. PASS!!!

4. All transactions , not just GSP transactions are totally the **bleep**s when dealing with items that do not arrive or arrive damaged. To single all this out to a GSP problem is completely unfair. It is simply an internet buying problem, that will be there no matter what venue of buying is done.

I'm sure we all know that. The problem here is that the process to deal with damages to, or the non-arrival of, GSP items is completely counterintuitive but the buyer is mostly left to fend for him/herself. The natural tendency is to involve the seller, as is done with non-GSP problems, but it is actually the worst thing to do. Buyers who do this will not receive back the money they paid to PB. That process is convoluted and usually ends in a terribly negative experience for the buyer.

The GSP has also been know to swap labels at the Kentucky processing center. Maybe one day you'll order stereo speakers and receive a whistling teapot. If that happens (which I hope it won't, for your sake), I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on how you manage to sort it out and get a full refund.

5. I have never seen so many complaints about a program that I have found absolutely awesome. It has really allowed me to make purchases and save a lot of money on shipping and clearing

Do you think all those people are misguided? Look at the number of people who keep asking for a way to filter out GSP items! Could it be that they do this because the program doesn't work for them? Personally I'd rather have dental surgery than purchase anything GSP-related. I now buy less in a year than I used to in a month. I don't even search for items anymore because I'm tired of all the GSP stuff polluting my searches with no way for me to filter it out. Ignoring anything that has the GSP blurb simply isn't enough anymore. Ebay has GSP'd me out!

wickedservant · ‎08-03-2015

A seller I contacted... at first was confused, responding that he did indeed ship via US Postal Service.

After another message explaining things, he then messaged me (quote) "What the is this **bleep**"

I laughed pretty hard at that, then messaged him back that he had just received a bid on the item and would no longer be able to make changes, thanked him for the good conversation and went about my business.

Shoehorned is an accurate term I think for how this program was put to the US sellers.

marnotom! · ‎08-03-2015

thegreatcanadianbuyerandseller wrote in response to Marnotom!:

Yes , but this has always been the problem no matter what venue of shipping or buying you use. This is the fault of the 20.00 Canadian import mail limit that has not changed in 20 years!!!!. Guess they forgot to index it with their government pensions?

IF we had the same 200.00 per day, incoming package value postal limit, no one would ever have complaints about any courier shipping small value items as they would all be exempt from duty and tax and thus no brokerage or clearing costs!!!.

This is a Canadian problem and you are better off complaining about your government, and petitioning them for change, rather than blaming GSP, and common carriers for a gouging problem, as this problem is created by our government. The USA does not seem to have the same problem, and this is the reason folks. So don't blame the GSP for it.

Are you responding to a point or some points I made? I re-read my post and I don't see what I wrote had to do with the $20 tax/duty-free limit for postal imports.

mater721 · ‎08-04-2015

"2. ...yet many complain they are. Taxes due are taxes due and you cannot blame the GSP because you like to play hit and miss with Canada post."

Umm... yes we can. Just because you don't like to play "hit-and-miss" doesn't mean others can't. That's the way the Cdn govt operates, and we play by their rules.

"3. Complaining that the GSP charges too much tax is outrageous. Try buying the same item, threw ups or fedex and see what happens. Compare your final costs and you will see that GSP is cheaper."

Only on bulkier items with high Inherent shipping costs or very high prices is the GSP cheaper. In many (most) of the other cases GSP causes the total cost to be higher.

And you conveniently forgot to mention USPS. Compare those prices to GSP and get back to us.

skythings · ‎08-04-2015

This is my first post here. It is great to see that I am not alone with my contempt with the Global Shipping Program. Living in Canada I too avoid most auctions using it. In fact if I am really interested in the item, I contact the seller directly and advise them of the insanity.

I ask the seller, would you buy this item if you had to pay $27.00 to ship this small pin in a small padded envelope to your home? That usually hits home and they update their auctions to USPS for $6.00 shipping. If they don't change it, I let them know they lost my bids or purchase and move on. Now that I am aware of this site, I will include a link here so they can read for themselves how the GSP is hurting their auctions.

My entire experiences with the program are 100% negative. Do not ask me to mention a positive aspect of the GSP, because there are none. It is not cheaper. 75% of my items - even the high value ones get through Canada Customs without fee's & taxes. 100% get dinged with GSP. It is not faster- It takes over a month from the USA to Canada sometimes when USPS and Customs takes 10-15 days. Try tracking items on the GSP. You can't. I pester shippers during the delivery process just to let them know the method of shipping they use to Canada is horrible and I have zero confidence my item is coming when I can't track it.

Here is a tracking number for an item marked shipped a couple of days ago. UPAAB000000117665697 The number is not a USPS format so nothing shows up there. I click the eBay ...

eBay defaults the GSP to sellers auctions when they list items and many are not aware of this. eBay takes 10% of shipping charges. The more the shipping costs, the more eBay profits.

eBay- Get rid of the Global Shipping Program-

mater721 · ‎08-05-2015

My one and only experience was actually fairly positive. The total cost was very reasonable, the shipping took around three weeks and amazingly PB had not damaged the item with their infamous poor re-packaging.

I mention one-and-only because for the most part I don't even bother bidding - the overall cost for the items I want tend to be way too high. So I'll continue to search, and if the final price to me for a GSP listing makes sense, I might try it again.

mater721 · ‎08-05-2015

"Here is a tracking number for an item marked shipped a couple of days ago. UPAAB000000117665697 The number is not a USPS format so nothing shows up there."

That link won't work for me but... I can say that after a bit, you should see a second tracking # in the listing you won (if seller updates properly). That second tracking # actually seemed legit, and showed me where the item was on it's way to Ontario. A short time later my item arrived. Maybe I was lucky.

pierrelebel · ‎08-05-2015

"eBay takes 10% of shipping charges. The more the shipping costs, the more eBay profits. "

Actually eBay does NOT charge sellers any FVF on the shipping charge for the portion outside the USA. Fees are only charged on the domestic (USA) shipping charge (if any) to the Kentucky distribution centre.

00nevermind00 · ‎08-05-2015

Very discouraging news for all those of us who wish (pray) for a way to filter out GSP items from our searches. From today's Weekly Chat on the .com boards:

marnotom! · ‎08-06-2015

@00nevermind00 wrote:

Very discouraging news for all those of us who wish (pray) for a way to filter out GSP items from our searches. From today's Weekly Chat on the .com boards:

I think Griff's response is indicative of a few things:

1. The Canadian eBay market is very small in size compared to powerhouses such as the UK and Germany, as suggested elsewhere by Pierre and others. The complaints from Canadian buyers probably are "very few" in eBay's grand scheme of things.

2. We Canadians are tied to the United States more closely than most other countries are. Most other countries probably don't rely as much on the United States for goods, services, cultural enrichment, etc. and don't have the same sort of need for American-based goods.

3. The tax/duty-free limit for personal imports shipped by mail or commercial carrier is significantly lower than that of most other countries. While there are some complaints about the GSP on the Australian boards, for example, they're not nearly as extensive as those on this board. The AU$1000 tax/duty-free limit probably has much to do with this, as well as the fact that Australians are pretty accustomed to international shipping rates being feckin' expensive.

andyandted · ‎08-06-2015

Yes I found out today that indeed knives are not being shipped to Canada, thanks for nothing GSP and Pitney Bowes . I was on the phone with EBay for over half an hour today and even they could not understand why items (knives) that I had been purchasing for years on EBay were suddenly blocked. I am not talking about something that is illegal to get into Canada. So if the GSP is there to make the market more international, how does that equate to blocking Canadians from purchasing completely legal items from US sellers. I never liked the GSP, but now it has gone from an irritant to downright invasive. I collect knives and have been for over 40 years, I have purchased hundreds of knives here on EBay from sellers worldwide, and in a blink the GSP has taken away my rights. Did I ever get a straight answer from eBay today? Nope, seems to be another case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Yes I am Canadian from a relatively small market, I just didn't realize that put me in the back of the bus.

marnotom! · ‎08-06-2015

@andyandted wrote:

Yes I found out today that indeed knives are not being shipped to Canada, thanks for nothing GSP and Pitney Bowes . I was on the phone with EBay for over half an hour today and even they could not understand why items (knives) that I had been purchasing for years on EBay were suddenly blocked. I am not talking about something that is illegal to get into Canada. So if the GSP is there to make the market more international, how does that equate to blocking Canadians from purchasing completely legal items from US sellers. I never liked the GSP, but now it has gone from an irritant to downright invasive. I collect knives and have been for over 40 years, I have purchased hundreds of knives here on EBay from sellers worldwide, and in a blink the GSP has taken away my rights. Did I ever get a straight answer from eBay today? Nope, seems to be another case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Yes I am Canadian from a relatively small market, I just didn't realize that put me in the back of the bus.

I realize there's a lot to wade through in these GSP threads now, but it's been stated a few times that if you have a GSP concern, you should be asking for a "GSP specialist" to handle your query and not a regular eBay customer service rep. My hypothesis is that since eBay doesn't administer the GSP, you need to be put through to a representative from or contracted by PitneyBowes to deal with your concerns.

I suspect that if you did deal with a GSP specialist, they'd refer you back to the buyer terms and conditions you agreed to, and part of those T&C is that you will not purchase ineligible items through the GSP.

http://pages.ebay.ca/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html - section 6, paragraph "a"

If you follow the link to the GSP information page, it does list knives in the section for "prohibited items". Yes, it does list them as "weapons" and your item technically may not have been one, and it is rather stupid to put the onus on the buyer to determine whether or not their purchase qualifies as "eligible," but that's the way the ball bounces sometimes, unfortunately.