eBay

crott2010 · ‎01-21-2020

Can you please explain why this package went all the way across the continent and now will go all the way back across to be delivered to me. Rather then the straight shot north that's less then a third of the distance it has already traveled? And 29USD to ship an envelope, and it takes what will be almost three weeks? Terrible... Just Terrible. Tracking didn't update for four business days, usually avoid this program unless I have no other option due to problems like this. I guess that is now NEVER use.... Pay for first class USPS and get ground service for what should be airmail.

Went from LA to Chicago where it stayed for a week, then cleared customs and went to Montreal and is now traveling back west to me in Edmonton. Actual route =7000 KM vs LA to Edmonton 2000km... If the next flight was going to Chicago from LA why not just wait for the next one to Vancouver or where ever the western Canada import terminal is. Id bet it would have arrived a week ago like mail from LA does when I pay for first class UPS non GSP...

femmefan1946 · ‎01-21-2020

It's called spoke and hub delivery and is used by most carriers, from Canada Post to Emirates Airlines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoke%E2%80%93hub_distribution_paradigm

It's counter-intuitive, but is cost-efficient.

If you parcel had to wait until USPS had a truck filled heading straight north, the delay could be much greater than shipping from the seller's location to Kentucky (a central location) and then with thousands of othe packages that day, heading for Mississauga, and then across Canada.

From here in Victoria, if I send a birthday card to my SIL up-island, it goes by ferry to Vancouver by truck to Richmond, gets processed, ferries back to Sydney then off to Comox. Spoke and hub.

If you remember the early scenes of Castaway, there is a good example of spoke and hub delivery as used by FedEx. (Come to think of it, when Tom Hanks decided to make the delivery directly himself instead of allowing the "slower" system to work as intended, there was a shipping delay of several years. So there's that.)

I've been in mail order for over 35 years and in my experience any delivery within North America is likely to take 21 days. Enough are earlier to be a pleasant surprise, but most take the full three weeks. I'm shipping pretty well every day, and get mail almost every day, so I may have a larger overview than most occasional shoppers.

Went from LA to Chicago where it stayed for a week, then cleared customs and went to Montreal and is now traveling back west to me in Edmonton.

????

That's not the GSP.

The central GSP plant is in Erlanger KY. All GSP shipments are sent there (usually by USPS) and then are transported from KY to the border, again usually to the Canada Post plant in Missisauga.

If your item was bouncing from coast to coast, are you sure it isn't still in the hands of USPS or another carrier?

The GSP gives you a tracking number after the shipment leaves Erlanger that starts with UPAxxxxxxxxx.

Also you paid the import fees when you purchased a GSP enabled item, there is no reason for it to be assessed again.

I am concerned that your seller (is he new?) did not actually use the GSP and that as a result you will be charged again for import fees when the carrier is on your doorstep.

ichopshop · ‎01-21-2020

I live between Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto. Given the right circumstances, a package will drive past my house 4 times before being delivered to my local post office.

Just one of those things.

Ian

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎01-21-2020

Just spitballing here but maybe if buyers caught up in the GSP thingamajiggy knew what mail service they were paying for and actually receiving, they would be a little less skeptical and understanding when they hit the purchase button in using this program. Calling EVERYTHING Priority Shipping when it could, by eBay transit logarithm take up to 3 weeks OR longer for delivery with whatever random service PB actually chooses. Even more important when the package is going to Western Canada. There are numerous modes of shipping with USPS (or whoever they are affiliated with for final end delivery.) How difficult would it be to let buyers choose 1 that works best for them? Please clean this up and clarify which one we will truly be receiving. This way there would be the possibility of less surprises/frustration while the customer patiently waits for their package to arrive. Priority should not mean sooner or later. It's a good bet if this program was really fixed there would be a lot less angry posts on this board!!

-Lotz

PS. Now off to check delivery status of the soapbox I ordered 4 months ago. :

pjcdn2005 · ‎01-21-2020

How difficult would it be to let buyers choose 1 that works best for them?

Packages are shipped in bulk via freight which wouldn't be possible if buyers could choose which method they wanted the items shipped by. The gsp doesn't use USPS and I imagine that there are only of freight providers that they use to Canada. However, I do think that it is a big mistake to call it 'international Priority' as buyers seem to think that it is an upgraded and faster service which it obviously isn't.

femmefan1946 · ‎01-21-2020

@lotzofuniquegoodies

What you are missing here is that the Global Shipping Program is a SELLER PROTECTION.'

The seller's responsibility for delivery ends at the doorstep of the GSP plant in Erlanger.

The seller does not face the possibility of a customs pickup scam*, since import fees are paid before she ships.

The seller is not responsible for goods damaged in transit , after delivery to Erlanger.

The buyer should NOT be allowed to decide whether or not the seller can protect herself against slow international shipping, customs scams, damage in transit,etc.

The buyer can decide not to buy if the cost of shipping is greater than he wants it to be.

*The buyer claims Item Not Delivered. The item is actually at customs awaiting payment of applicable duty and/or sales taxes. When the seller cannot prove delivery, the buyer is refunded in full. The buyer then pays the import fees and takes the purchase home at only the small percentage of the value reflected by the import fees. With GSP the import fees are pre-paid.

marnotom! · ‎01-21-2020

@crott2010 wrote:

Can you please explain why this package went all the way across the continent and now will go all the way back across to be delivered to me. Rather then the straight shot north that's less then a third of the distance it has already traveled? And 29USD to ship an envelope, and it takes what will be almost three weeks? Terrible... Just Terrible. Tracking didn't update for four business days, usually avoid this program unless I have no other option due to problems like this. I guess that is now NEVER use.... Pay for first class USPS and get ground service for what should be airmail.

Went from LA to Chicago where it stayed for a week, then cleared customs and went to Montreal and is now traveling back west to me in Edmonton. Actual route =7000 KM vs LA to Edmonton 2000km... If the next flight was going to Chicago from LA why not just wait for the next one to Vancouver or where ever the western Canada import terminal is. Id bet it would have arrived a week ago like mail from LA does when I pay for first class UPS non GSP...

A few other thoughts in addition to those already posted:

1. It's called the Global Shipping Program, not the Canada Shipping Program. The program serves about 100 countries in addition to Canada and, as far as I know, everything that goes through the program has to be shipped to Erlanger, KY.

2. The Global Shipping Program is actually a glorified forwarding service. The seller ships to the forwarding hub in Kentucky, and it gets sent to the destination country from there. You pay the seller for shipping the item to Kentucky, and you also pay Pitney Bowes for getting the item shipped out to you from there. Some buyers in countries with suspect postal systems or customs bureaux actually like the program because their item bypasses the post or customs in their home country, and extra time the item spends in the US is balanced out by the shorter time it spends getting processed in their home country.

3. Calculation of Pitney Bowes' part of the shipping charge is done by a bot and is based on information provided by the seller. If the seller doesn't give the bot this information, it has to make a guess based on a category average. The bot probably had to do this in your case as the seller likely had a flat domestic shipping charge for shipping the envelope and didn't provide information on its size and weight.

3. The GSP generally doesn't fit Canadian sales well because of our geographical proximity to the United States and our trade relationship with that country. Other countries don't have that blessing or problem, depending on your point of view. It is what it is. Then again, there's no shipping method that's perfect for every single item out there. It's a good idea to do your homework and figure out how best you may be able to use the program. I've found it works well for cell phones, for example, but nothing else that interests me on eBay.

4. The term "Priority" doesn't mean "fast". It just means "faster than something else," as in "shipments from X get priority over shipments from Y". Both USPS and Canada Post have "Priority" services, but they're actually quite different in terms of how the items are handled and their delivery standards.