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.

[marnotom!]

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@cookief34 wrote:

Overpriced, lengthy delays, items stuck in customs when the whole point of paying extra fees is to prevent that. This month it's been 3 weeks for a set of books from Cali to southern BC. The parcel is sent clear across to Kentucky, then up to ON or PQ, then back across Canada. This is the 3rd and final order we will place with GSP, and possibly Ebay. We should be given the choice of accepting this farce!

Sorry, but I haven't found anything constructive to recommend, other than tossing GSP. The tracking email link doesn't even show tracking past the border, other than to say "CA" 😕  Too much money for too little service. 

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I'm on Vancouver Island, and three weeks--while a bit on the slow side--isn't unusual for transit time for a parcel sent directly to me by mail from the United States, even California.  

I suspect that that set of books may have been a smidgen cheaper shipped by the GSP than by mail, too, depending on how much the seller charged for shipping to Kentucky.  Heavier items tend to ship less expensively through the GSP than by parcel post.  The trade-off, of course, is potentially slower shipping time.

[oldbroadangela]

 I too am greatful of your invitation.  I have to admit that at first I had no thoughts on GPS, but after a long wait  for a package from NW California, whereas I live just above the 49th in the SW corner of B.C . As it was the parcel had to travel from California to Kentucky then north to Toronto then back across the country to the west coast of Canada. If  I was still driving truck, I could have driven done to seller and been back before the package even got to Kentucky . 

  I think the direct route is far and away the fastest & cheapest method of shipping.  Also  in the past, I always made sure that the seller was using USPS for shipping. Thank you so much for allowing me to post my little rant, & although I don't like the system, I love Ebay so this is just the cost of doing business with your sellers.  Cheers Angela Dodds aka oldbroadangela 

[billybishop72]

The GSP will disappear soon enough under it;s own greed. Someone will decide they are not skimming enough money of Ebay buyers and they will fold their tent....

[joel3020]

Hi

Global Shipping Center isn't worth the anything. Can't track anything when it gets to the center. Useless piece of skin. 

[reallynicestamps]

Another poster worked this out for buyers who have not yet received their GSP shipment.
TRACKING SYSTEM FOR GSP
It's not user friendly... But I found how to track your package via the global shipping program, once it gets to Canada you need to:
- Log on to eBay.ca
- Under the My eBay menu select Purchase History
- Under your orders find the specific order.  It should have something like the following:
        Estimated delivery Mon, Jan 11 - Thu, Jan 21
        Tracking number: Tracking number UPAAB000000#########
- Click on the UPA number.  This should open up a Shipment Details window, which should contain something like this:
     This shipment has been transferred to CPC for delivery to the final destination # 70351#########
-Click on the Canada Post number to see where the Canada Post Tracking history and expected delivery

This has been posted several times in this thread. And will be again and again and again.

[towertreasuretrove]

Maybe the Enigma machine code-breakers from Bletchley Park can figure out the GSP tracking system?

[femmefan1946]

Pitney Bowes uses several subcontractors to carry parcels to Canada.

Once in Canada, those several subcontractors pass the parcels to Canadian carriers, usually Canada Post and sometimes CanPar.

PB keeps a close eye on where the parcels are-- just as most couriers do, and unlike Canada Post which only keeps an eye on parcels that have tracked services purchased.

But they are not particularly diligent about making the path of the parcel public.

Still the much posted system above does work.

[grace11roses]

Well, my story is convoluted, and I won't waste too much of the readers' time, but I want to say that Pitney Bowes came through for me. On October 27th,My postal carrier informed me that two separate parcels had received the same tracking number; hence one could not be scanned. Unfortunately for me, that was the item I ordered on eBay. The item that I did receive was not one I ordered, nor was it from the same seller and so, at my postal carrier's advice, I refused it. Apparently that was a no-no. My item was not delivered to me. The tracking information read incorrect address ( not true, but it couldn't scan). I phoned eBay to open a case ( not against the seller), but to explain what had happened. I lost. I appealed. I lost. I appealed the appeal. I lost. The CSR's that I spoke to didn't even try to decipher the messy tracking information. If they had, they would have seen that two separate items were being tracked. In desperation, I emailed Pitney Bowes  last week and a few days later, I received my item with a new shipping label from PB. Underneath the new label was written "tracking number used twice." No one @ eBay believed me, but PB made me whole by locating the item and sending it to me. This is not so much to praise PB, but to express my disappointment with eBay's  unsympathetic and lazy customer service.

[i.am.vivian]

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@grace11roses wrote:

I emailed Pitney Bowes  last week and a few days later, I received my item with a new shipping label from PB. Underneath the new label was written "tracking number used twice."@ No one @ eBay believed me, but PB made me whole by locating the item and sending it to me. This is not so much to praise PB, but to express my disappointment with eBay's  unsympathetic and lazy customer service.

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Amen!  Thanks for sharing.  I wonder how P-B found the item.  From what I hear they process thousands (at least) daily.  Also, WHO was it that used the tracking # twice?  Was it P-B? 

[marnotom!]

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@grace11roses wrote:

@No one @ eBay believed me, but PB made me whole by locating the item and sending it to me. This is not so much to praise PB, but to express my disappointment with eBay's  unsympathetic and lazy customer service.

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From the posts I've read, the problem seems to be that the typical eBay customer service rep knows little to nothing about the workings of the GSP and that when one has a problem with a GSP sale, they're supposed to request a "Global Shipping Program Specialist" to handle the call.

This is, of course, one of the many aspects of the program that's not publicized in the information pages on the program.  

I wouldn't be surprised if the GSP Specialists actually work out of a PBI office.

[marnotom!]

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@i.am.vivian wrote:

Also, WHO was it that used the tracking # twice?  Was it P-B? 

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By your question do you mean who generated the Canada Post tracking number twice, or are you asking if both parcels were GSP shipments?

[grace11roses]

Thanks for responding. There are gaps in my information, but my understanding is that the mistake ( 2 identical shipping labels put on entirely unrelated items)  occurred at/with Pitney Bowes. But did it happen in Erlanger/Kenntucky..... or Mississauga/Ontario?  I don't know.  At any rate, I'm happy because I wanted the item much more than I wanted the refund.

[grace11roses]

I wouldn't be surprised if the GSP Specialists actually work out of a PBI office.

Marnotom, thank you for your interest. Ah, if they don't, they should. At the time, I didn't know to request those "specialized"  customer reps. From my experience, I would recommend that people who have a problem with PB contact their complaints department:

pbisgspcs@pb.com

They generated a service ticket immediately and addressed my problem within a few days. In sharp contrast, the eBay CPRs were doggedly determined to shut me down.

[chefamarinier6ci3]

In my opinion the Global Shipping Program is the worst execution of a good idea to come along. Shipping times are longer and no tracking is really frustrating as a buyer. I cannot understand why a product sold in Michigan needs to go to Kentucky before heading to Canada? That ads un necessary wait times for me to receive products.

[marnotom!]

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@grace11roses wrote:

Thanks for responding. There are gaps in my information, but my understanding is that the mistake ( 2 identical shipping labels put on entirely unrelated items)  occurred at/with Pitney Bowes. But did it happen in Erlanger/Kenntucky..... or Mississauga/Ontario?  I don't know.  At any rate, I'm happy because I wanted the item much more than I wanted the refund.

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When it comes to the actual shipping of a GSP item, Pitney Bowes is more like a ringmaster of a multi-ringed circus of freight shippers, logistics companies and domestic carriers.  My understanding is that while they may operate the Global Shipping Center in Kentucky, they don't actually transport GSP shipments and they leave that to various subcontracted outfits.

Because GSP items are destined for so many countries, I doubt that they have the capacity or even the ability to put shipping labels for dozens of different carriers on GSP items.  That's the job of whoever handles the item in Canada once it's transported as freight from Kentucky to the Canadian receiving hub.

If you still have the package your item arrived in, you should find that there's a return address in Canada on the mailing label.  If you do some searching for that address on Google, you should be able to trace it to the company that handled the processing of the item in Canada and sent it off in the mail.  Your item was likely sitting in that company's equivalent of a "dead letter office" until Pitney Bowes got in touch with them.

AFAntiques, a member from the UK, has had a tour of the UK Global Shipping Center and he may be able to weigh in with his observations.

[afantiques]

In the UK, labelling through to destination is done at the hub.

I don't know if it is the same in the USA but I don't see how it could be different in any major way, the hub is the only place with the ultimate destination information.

Any Canadian return address may just be on labels going to Canada, they do not want returns anyway, but a return address may be a postal requirement. Only Canada uses postal delivery of GSP items, so other countries labels may differ.

Not in having a Canadian return address of course, but in having any return address at all. I'd expect abandoning undeliverable items is cheaper than having them shipped back then disposing of them.

[marnotom!]

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@afantiques wrote:

In the UK, labelling through to destination is done at the hub.

I don't know if it is the same in the USA but I don't see how it could be different in any major way, the hub is the only place with the ultimate destination information.

Any Canadian return address may just be on labels going to Canada, they do not want returns anyway, but a return address may be a postal requirement. Only Canada uses postal delivery of GSP items, so other countries labels may differ.

Not in having a Canadian return address of course, but in having any return address at all. I'd expect abandoning undeliverable items is cheaper than having them shipped back then disposing of them.

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Yeah, that makes sense.  Do the other countries you've been researching use the same domestic carrier for all GSP shipments, though?  There seems to be a choice of a small handful here.  When my wife or I receive an item where the shipping label has been electronically generated, the name of the carrier and the shipping service employed is usually on the label itself.  I guess the decision of what carrier to use is made at the time the item is processed in Kentucky and the information associated with the item is transmitted to Canada.

Having said all that, I'm more of the mind that the problem of a tracking number being duplicated may be a Canada Post glitch rather than anything that was the direct result of anything Pitney Bowes or its contracted logistics firm did.  It could be a case where the shipping information for the two items was processed virtually simultaneously and one tracking number was generated for two shipments.

I tried performing an online search for webpages where the subject of duplicate Canada Post tracking numbers was discussed but while I did find several results suggesting that this does happen periodically, I didn't find any actual explanations.

[paroxy777]

Every time I buy from a US seller using GPS this is what happens: I pay a premium shipping fee. Then item takes 3 times longer to get delivered because it sits in Erlanger for 2 weeks.

If there is taxes and duties on the items I buy then I'll deal with it at the post office! EBay or PB doesn't need to get the middle and slow everything down in the process.

[billybishop72]

"... multi-ringed circus..."

Excellent description of GSP Pitney Bowes headquarters, marnotom!...

[icvideo]

Amazon is looking better each day... No more E-bay USA for me I waited 3 weeks to get an Item almost right across the border from Me.. They would only sell through GPS......