eBay

fort2b · ‎07-17-2016

In the item description, the GSP no longer shows import charges, just the shipping cost. The buyer won't know he's going to be charged import charges, which are often way higher than they should be, until after he/she has bought. Expect some angry buyers if you use GSP.

This probably won't effect many Canadian sellers as I doubt many of us use GSP but for those that do, beware. The US and UK sellers, many of whom do use GSP, are going to get a lot of angry buyers from this change. Nice surprise charge after you've committed to buy. Cool.

marnotom! · ‎08-01-2016

@sylviebee wrote:

Note also that P.B. varies the amount charged according to the Province the item is destined for and that indicates that the charge varies and is not a flat rate %age of the selling price.

You can't have it both ways.

You're comparing a calculation of a levy based on where the item originated to a levy based on where an item is destined, though.

LL Bean must have decided that for a relatively piddly volume of sales to Canada, researching and calculating duty for every one of the thousands of items that it stocks wouldn't be terribly time and cost effective on their end. On the other hand, Pitney Bowes only has thirteen Canadian jurisdictions that require tax calculations.

Keep in mind that if Pitney Bowes charged us tax and duty, those amounts would be showing up on a receipt as line items with the appropriate tax registration numbers. I seem to recall that someone on this board once tried getting a receipt for a GSP purchase from Pitney Bowes that included taxes paid and received a pretty vaguely presented explanation of charges.

pierrelebel · ‎08-01-2016

"someone on this board once tried getting a receipt for a GSP purchase from Pitney Bowes that included taxes paid and received a pretty vaguely presented explanation of charges."

That goes back several years ago. The answer from an eBay staffer attached to the program was simple: we do not provide that information. End of story. The program can only be used for personal purposes (as per terms and conditions), not for business so the taxes paid cannot be used for ITCs.

What PB charges for "import charges" is an approximation of the taxes (GST/HST) they pay (based on province of buyer), duty (if applicable, based partially on information from seller) and their service charge.

If buyers do not like the charges they should not buy the item. It is that simple.

As stated regularly for nearly four years now, the program is NOT Canadian buyer friendly and should be avoided in most instances.

sylviebee · ‎08-01-2016

You two are diverting attention away from the issue at hand. Of course we don't have to use the program, but sometimes we do use it for various reasons. It's not important or relevant for you to know why we use it.

Challenging people by stating that they don't have to use the program is counter-productive and condescending.

We are aware that no one is forcing us to use the GSP and don't need your permission to avoid it.

I offered a theory which might offer some direction towards an explanation of how P.B. can charge GSP fees which don't or barely even cover taxes.

P.B. is clearly not in business to lose money so there has to be a logical explanation.

If posts and time spent (Pierre and marnotom) are any indication. then you two are more interested in that question than anyone else is.

It's only a theory.

pierrelebel · ‎08-01-2016

"P.B. is clearly not in business to lose money so there has to be a logical explanation."

Of course there are very logical business explanations. You simply do not know them as you stated earlier: you do not have the facts.

"It's only a theory. "

Everyone can assume everything they want. We all know the meaning of assume.

A buying decision by a Canadian buyer should be made based on whatever information is available. Trying to understand the business motives that lead to the price and charges being offered is largely irrelevant.

sylviebee · ‎08-01-2016

@pierrelebel wrote:
Trying to understand the business motives that lead to the price and charges being offered is largely irrelevant.

You're the one trying to understand business motives, for example, when you compared to LL Bean above.

In fact, you analyze eBay to death every day trying to understand their business motives and you are hardly in a position to counsel others in that regard.

On the other hand, I use the GSP and am trying to understand why my bill is what it is. There's some overlap but it's not the same thing.

A customer has the right to know what they are being billed for even when the bill is lower than expected.

marnotom! · ‎08-02-2016

Sylvie, have you ever received a quote, estimate or invoice for repairs or renovations to your home?

kenk101 · ‎08-03-2016

My purchase shows the global shipping program importing fee when it is time to pay sometimes it doesn't come up when looking at a item even when bidding but after I am winning it sure comes up sometime at 20% then Down to 10% once I won the item but that is 10% more than UPS, FedEx or USPS would charge on a no Tax or Duty owing item.

I guess this shows that EBay just sees us their customers as sheep to be fleeced. And most of the seller could care less no skin off their noses.

Amazon here I come

00nevermind00 · ‎08-03-2016

@kenk101 wrote:

Amazon here I come

You don't have to leave eBay. You can simply avoid purchasing GSP items in the future.

The best way to do this is to use List View (not Gallery View) to search for items. "List View" can be selected in the upper right-hand corner of your search screen.

With List View, all GSP items will display a blurb that reads "Customs services and international tracking provided" in pale grey font. When you see that, simply skip over the item.

Depending on what you buy, the GSP can sometimes work to your advantage. If you buy large and/or heavy and/or pricey items, you should do a little comparison shopping between GSP items and non-GSP items as the GSP can sometimes be the cheaper option for those. Check the GSP items on both eBay.ca and eBay.com to make sure you have all the necessary information, as eBay has been running some goofy experiments in which some information is hidden from some buyers on the .com site.

sylviebee · ‎08-03-2016

@marnotom! wrote:
Sylvie, have you ever received a quote, estimate or invoice for repairs or renovations to your home?

OK, I'll bite. Can't imagine how you and your side-kick Pierre think that estimates for renovations are comparable to P.B. charging less than their cost for their services, but I am a little curious.

So, yes, I have received estimates for house renovations.

marnotom! · ‎08-04-2016

@sylviebee wrote:
@marnotom! wrote:

Sylvie, have you ever received a quote, estimate or invoice for repairs or renovations to your home?

OK, I'll bite. Can't imagine how you and your side-kick Pierre think that estimates for renovations are comparable to P.B. charging less than their cost for their services, but I am a little curious.

So, yes, I have received estimates for house renovations.

Actually, what I'm responding to is this point that you made:

On the other hand, I use the GSP and am trying to understand why my bill is what it is. There's some overlap but it's not the same thing.

A customer has the right to know what they are being billed for even when the bill is lower than expected.

Did your estimate for house renovations go into detail about how much was going to be spent on every single element of the renovation? How much were they going to charge for nails? Sandpaper? Gas or diesel for transportation?

sylviebee · ‎08-04-2016

@marnotom! wrote:
@sylviebee wrote:
@marnotom! wrote:

Sylvie, have you ever received a quote, estimate or invoice for repairs or renovations to your home?

OK, I'll bite. Can't imagine how you and your side-kick Pierre think that estimates for renovations are comparable to P.B. charging less than their cost for their services, but I am a little curious.

So, yes, I have received estimates for house renovations.

Actually, what I'm responding to is this point that you made:

On the other hand, I use the GSP and am trying to understand why my bill is what it is. There's some overlap but it's not the same thing.

A customer has the right to know what they are being billed for even when the bill is lower than expected.

Did your estimate for house renovations go into detail about how much was going to be spent on every single element of the renovation? How much were they going to charge for nails? Sandpaper? Gas or diesel for transportation?

marnotom:

Your analogy comparing estimates for a house repair to GSP costs is so poor that I couldn't even imagine what you were getting at.

House repairs usually involve numerous costs while the GSP has only 4 and each one is predictable without much variation other than the handling fee.

(1. Shipping from the U.S. hub to the destination country, 2. import fees, 3. shipping from that hub to the buyer, 4. plus a handling fee.)

I've been trying to understand why some or even most of my GSP costs are suddenly lower than P.B.'s actual costs could possibly be. I do realize that you and Pierre rarely use the GSP (if ever) so you don't have hands on experience with the process.

For a long time P.B. bills were so high that the handling fees were loaded. Now all of sudden there's a complete flip to the other extreme and there's barely enough for import taxes let alone two shipping costs plus a handling fee.

How do you and yours explain that?

marnotom! · ‎08-04-2016

Sylvie, I was pointing out that there are other commodified services that use estimation and don't itemize their various charges to the end user.

The GSP's costs to Pitney Bowes aren't as fixed as you may believe. The cost of shipping the item from Kentucky to Canada will vary depending on the volume and weight of the goods in the consolidated shipment to Canada. The cost of shipping the item within Canada will vary depending on the shipper chosen by the logistics firm to ship the item from the receiving hub to its final destination, and that logistics firm may vary as well.

The "handling fee" you refer to is actually a collection of various processing and clearance charges which may or may not end up being incurred depending on the nature of the item.

Import fees are also a quagmire as Pierre alluded to earlier, as sellers don't always specify an item's country of origin in their listings, which means that the calculation of duty may be way off in either direction.

How does this explain what appears to be an experiment where there are no import fees showing up on an item and there doesn't seem to be any accounting for them elsewhere? I recall pointing out that a purse listing you showed us had shipping fees about $6 more than a comparable GSP that had import charges as a separate line item. It's possible that Pitney Bowes may be experimenting with different algorithms to estimate the various charges incurred with a GSP sale and adding those to the shipping charge. These algorithms may work out to PB's advantage, they may not. Such is the nature of experimentation.

momcqueen · ‎08-04-2016

@marnotom! wrote:
Sylvie, I was pointing out that there are other commodified services that use estimation and don't itemize their various charges to the end user.....

Pardon me for butting in but the last time I had work done on my house, I asked for many different estimates for the various jobs that were on the table and a majority returned exceedingly detailed estimates without charges lumped together. The contractors were clear about the cost of their supplies, labour, and taxes they needed to remit because they didn't want, on pride of a job well done, to stand accused of not providing value for their service. Particularly the ones that received the work. I like to know exactly what I am paying for.

sylviebee · ‎08-04-2016

marnotom, this is exactly why I don't respond to your posts very often. (Look at this back and forth nonsense.)

For some reason you have taken it upon yourself to justify and defend anything the GSP does to us regardless of how much of a PITA it is for Canadian buyers.

You are relentless and on every GSP post like white on rice.

My cost for the GSP barely covers or does not even cover import fees so I know they're toying with me.

As stated above: As a buyer I have the right to know what I'm paying for when I buy a service and you can attempt all the analogies you like, but as mj pointed out that type of approach just doesn't cut it with other businesses.

marnotom! · ‎08-04-2016

Sylvie, explaining the method behind the GSP's madness is no more a defence of the program than an explanation of the causes of World War II is a defence of the leader of Germany in the 1930s.

Explaining that expenses often get buried into the charges of commodified services is not an analogy. It's reality.

sylviebee · ‎08-04-2016

@marnotom! wrote:
Sylvie, explaining the method behind the GSP's madness is no more a defence of the program ..........

______________________________________________

You don't have the background to explain anything to anyone.

You make a lot of "AsSuMpTiOnS" when you fill in the blanks and adjust your assumptions/explanations as the program evolves in such a way that systematically justifies and thus defends a program which is not in the best interest of Canadians.

You go on and on and on ad nauseam with anyone and everyone who posts about the GSP and this type of arguing is exceedingly distasteful.

sylviebee · ‎08-04-2016

............... and I so regret having responded a number of posts back. I should have stopped at "Sheesh."

marnotom! · ‎08-04-2016

Black pots and black kettles.

sylviebee · ‎08-04-2016

Sheesh.

oragex · ‎05-18-2017

From what I've seen, Ebay has drastically dropped/eliminated GPS import fees from US to Canada. Before I would have a $15 item with import fees, now a $60 phone has $0 import charges. These $0 charges don't change when the item is purchased/being paid.

Btw, as mentioned one has to shop on Ebay.ca to have these charges displayed as these won't show when browsing on the Ebay.com site from Canada.