New Ebay international shipping (replacing global shipping program) have killed all deals on ebay

[thechabinator]

Since new ''Ebay international shipping'' replaced ''global shipping program'', shipping prices have drastically raised and duties/taxes are now unknown since they are charged at delivery (the charges will be way higher then the included duties/taxes from global shipping program).  I also dont know which carrier they will use, so great possibility of enormous clearance fees if they use UPS, fedex, etc

I was buying a lot from both Canada and Usa sellers.  When Ebay introduced taxes on all canadian sales, I stopped buying from Canada sellers because it killed all deals.  Now, the new shipping program have killed all deals from USA.  I was buying A LOT , and now I haven't bought anything since.

[brettjet38]

You will pay TAXES no matter where you purchase your items from and as for the GSP being replaced by the ''Ebay international shipping''...

As the buyer, you should be aware of possible:

• Delays from customs inspection.

• Import duties and taxes which buyers must pay.

• Brokerage fees.

Fees payable at the point of delivery.

Your country's customs office can offer more details, or visit eBay's page on international trade.

3 min article

International purchases and shipping for buyers

When purchasing from an international seller, keep in mind that shipping can sometimes take longer and cost more than buying from a seller in your own country. If you have any questions about shipping, contact the seller before you go to checkout.

Customs and import charges

As a buyer, it’s your responsibility to check which customs and import charges may apply, and to pay them. Your seller might be able to give you some information about import charges, but before you bid on, or buy an item, it's a good idea to check with your country's customs office for more specific details.

Import charges include

• Sales, goods, and services
• Value added taxes
• Duties
• Tariffs
• Excise taxes
• Other amounts assessed or levied by any government authority in connection with the importation of goods into the applicable country of importation
• Third party brokerage fees (including advancement and disbursement charges as well as customs brokers’ handling and filing fees)
• Penalties
• Classification charges associated with the assignment of a Harmonized System (HS) classification code
• Charges for export compliance screening and verification and the assignment of an Export Control Classification Number (ECCN)
• Charges relating to the management of variances between the quoted import charges and actual costs

Import charges are in addition to the customs duties and taxes imposed by country tax and customs officials.

https://www.ebay.ca/help/buying/postage-delivery/changing-delivery-address-method/international-purc...

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@thechabinator wrote:

Since new ''Ebay international shipping'' replaced ''global shipping program'', shipping prices have drastically raised and duties/taxes are now unknown since they are charged at delivery (the charges will be way higher then the included duties/taxes from global shipping program).  I also dont know which carrier they will use, so great possibility of enormous clearance fees if they use UPS, fedex, etc

I was buying a lot from both Canada and Usa sellers.  When Ebay introduced taxes on all canadian sales, I stopped buying from Canada sellers because it killed all deals.  Now, the new shipping program have killed all deals from USA.  I was buying A LOT , and now I haven't bought anything since.

---

@thechabinator 

In the past it was possible to find US sellers with reasonable shipping options. Unfortunately, since the implementation of GSP and going forward, this new program (by appearance - the majority of searches) US sellers are  unable/unwilling to pass on any savings when it comes to shipping for international buyers. Sadly, this is what we are now stuck with. Call it the new reality!!

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

@thechabinator 

My recollection of the early days of the GSP is that the "GSP bot" was sometimes coming up with some pretty bizarro shipping and import charges that varied wildly depending on whether the listing was viewed on .com or .ca.  That seemed to get mostly sorted out in time, but one of the GSP's big weaknesses remained, and it seems to be shared with the new eBay International Shipping program:  Both schemes are very dependent on the accuracy and completeness of the information the seller provides on the item.

What you're likely seeing in those really high eIS shipping charges are situations where the seller hasn't provided any information to eBay on the item's shipping dimensions and weight, so that throws the "eIS bot" for a loop.  I don't think it's a matter of sellers "not passing on the savings" as I don't believe they have any say in the calculation of eIS's share of the shipping charges.  However, they should be providing eIS with enough information on the item for customs and shipping purposes.

I do have to say that I find interesting your claim that taxes are "killing deals" on eBay when the "import charges" on GSP items are/were largely made up of an estimate of taxes due on the listed item.  I agree, though, that as the carriers involved with eIS are largely unknown at the moment, it does make it difficult to anticipate the charges on delivery.  I have seen a few listings where eIS is used where it notes that the import-related charges and taxes will be payable at checkout, but I'm not sure what triggers that option; it may be the item's selling price.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@thechabinator 

@marnotom! 

Doing daily research on products (specific categories - LV electronics, Books, DVDs, CDs) search results routinely bring up sellers with out of this world shipping options to Canada. Several years ago it was more of the exception vs the rule. Now, not so much. And sorting by lowest price is no guarantee the results you will see are in the correct order. They just get smattered in randomly. Most of the sellers are the one's with 10's of thousands of listings. (Not always, but usually.). If sellers no longer need to include actual parcel measurements causing results to be bot driven this will become ever worse of an issue going forward. According to the dot com release for this new program shipping to Canada is "supposed" to be reasonable for smaller parcels. 

-Lotz

Side note. Same thing happens if you search using closest. I am Calgary. Often it brings up items in China first. (11,000 km approx as the crow flies). I've even seen listings in the UK magically appear in the mix with a few Canadian listings down the page. So something is something is definitely screwy in Botswana, so to speak.

From the International shipping page:

Discounted shipping rates

Buyers will see lower shipping costs, making your listings more competitive. And by the end of the year, eBay will allow buyers to choose whether to pay import charges at checkout or upon delivery.

[thechabinator]

15% taxes on canadian to canadian transaction killed the deals  (nothing to do with ebay but the new laws in canada) **that was before new shipping program

-shipping fees are way over what it was  (compared same items from sames sellers I already bought from)

-not knowing what taxes/duties I am going to pay or any brokerage fees  ...brokerage fees will be obviously much more then what pitney bowes charged (gsp program)

-GSP program seemed to not charge the provincial taxes since parcel were not cleared in my province..now I will have to pay possibly to pay

**my transactions were from 300$ to 2500$, no small items

[marnotom!]

---

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Doing daily research on products (specific categories - LV electronics, Books, DVDs, CDs) search results routinely bring up sellers with out of this world shipping options to Canada. Several years ago it was more of the exception vs the rule. Now, not so much.

---

Shipping a 150 gram package to Canada is now US$15.75 by First Class Package International.  I found a listing for a CD that has eIS applied to it, and its shipping cost is US$22.00.  The seller is charging US$7.00 to be shipped by media mail within the US and presumably to the eIS consolidation hub, so that would make the eIS's shipping charge to Canada US$15.00.  While the price difference isn't much, it's still a discount over the USPS rate.

From what I've seen of other eIS listings, @lotzofuniquegoodies, its rates aren't too bad compared to USPS if the seller has provided shipping size and weight, but the seller's domestic shipping charge on top of eIS is what seems to be the deal-breaker, just as it was sometimes with the GSP.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@marnotom! wrote:

---

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Doing daily research on products (specific categories - LV electronics, Books, DVDs, CDs) search results routinely bring up sellers with out of this world shipping options to Canada. Several years ago it was more of the exception vs the rule. Now, not so much.

---

Shipping a 150 gram package to Canada is now US$15.75 by First Class Package International.  I found a listing for a CD that has eIS applied to it, and its shipping cost is US$22.00.  The seller is charging US$7.00 to be shipped by media mail within the US and presumably to the eIS consolidation hub, so that would make the eIS's shipping charge to Canada US$15.00.  While the price difference isn't much, it's still a discount over the USPS rate.

From what I've seen of other eIS listings, @lotzofuniquegoodies, its rates aren't too bad compared to USPS if the seller has provided shipping size and weight, but the seller's domestic shipping charge on top of eIS is what seems to be the deal-breaker, just as it was sometimes with the GSP.

---

@marnotom! 

As per eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/ebay-labels-services/ebay-international-shipping-services...

Feature comparison chart:

https://ir.ebaystatic.com/pictures/aw/pics/sc/pdf/ebay-international-shipping-features-comparison-ta...

1. Lost, Damaged, or Undeliverable Items.

1. eBay Money Back Guarantee. EIS Items purchased by your Buyer (and sent to your Buyer’s specified delivery address or a collection center near your Buyer designated by the shipping carrier) may be covered by an eBay Money Back Guarantee in countries without eBay Money Back Guarantee.

   In general, you will be responsible (under the eBay Money Back Guarantee) for the loss of, or damage to, an EIS Item until it is accepted at the US Shipping Hub or if the item has been returned to you from the US Shipping Hub. For example, you will be held responsible for eBay Money Back Guarantee cases or other disputes (whether or not an EIS Item can be repackaged or returned to you) where eBay finds that:

   1. The EIS Item that you sold was not received at the US Shipping Hub.
   2. The EIS Item that you sold was noted as damaged by the domestic carrier when received at the US Shipping Hub.
   3. The EIS Item that you sold was found to be damaged upon opening after receipt thereof at the US Shipping Hub.
   4. A Parcel contains the wrong or no EIS Item associated with the Buyer’s order, or where the EIS item is deemed counterfeit.
   5. One or more of the following pieces of information provided by you is incorrect or indeterminable (and it is not practicable for eBay or its service providers to correct):
      • Country of Manufacture
      • Item Category
      • Item condition
      • Weight of Parcel
      • Dimensions of Parcel
      • A Parcel is oversized and/or overweight and cannot be sent through an upgraded service.
      • The EIS Item that you sold requires destruction (e.g., contraband).

With this program there appears to be a number of things that cause an order to go off the rails. And that's what buyers are starting to report.

The unknown shipping courier mentioned in a previous post could be a very major 1.

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

Hey, @lotzofuniquegoodies, that rate sheet you found is for eBay International Standard, not eBay International Shipping, which is what @thechabinator is posting about.

As far as things that can cause an eIS shipment to "go off the rails" goes, I don't think that laundry list is really that much different from the GSP.  The big difference is that the eIS seems to be (justifiably, IMO) more insistent in getting sellers to be more responsible for getting their Ps and Qs in order when preparing the item for shipment than the GSP did and they're spelling it out in a manner that the GSP never really did.

[reallynicestamps]

@thechabinator 

15% taxes on canadian to canadian transaction killed the deals

That would vary from province to province /territory depending on the buyer's location.

Here in BC, PST+GST is 7%+5% so if I bought from an Ontario dealer I would pay 12% in sales taxes. An Albertan would pay only 5%.

And it would be the same for an import from the USA  if the value of the item was over $40. (Duty for US imports kicks in at $150).

If I imported from Singapore, which is not under the new NAFTA agreement, I would be paying* duty and sales taxes on any item over $20.

Basically, the tax-free days of internet buying are over.

As you point out though, the problem is that with eIS we don't know who is delivering, and couriers charge very high fees compared to Canada Post ($9.95) or GSP (~$5 USD).

*Although CBSA has been ignoring low value imports for decades, figuring that it was more expensive to assess and collect import fees than the labour cost for doing so.

[reallynicestamps]

@lotzofuniquegoodies  devon@ebay 

• One or more of the following pieces of information provided by you is incorrect or indeterminable (and it is not practicable for eBay or its service providers to correct):
  • Country of Manufacture
  • Item Category
  • Item condition
  • Weight of Parcel
  • Dimensions of Parcel
  • A Parcel is oversized and/or overweight and cannot be sent through an upgraded service.
  • The EIS Item that you sold requires destruction (e.g., contraband).

My hope and concern is that the shipping label for eIS shipments may not demand this important information.

Devon, could you post a sample of the form the US seller would see if they are using the eIS?

If the shipment can't proceed without this, many of the concerns faced by buyers would disappear since the eIS would be dealing with complete information, and not trying to decide if the shipment is an anvil or a picture of an anvil.

[marnotom!]

---

@thechabinator wrote:

15% taxes on canadian to canadian transaction killed the deals  (nothing to do with ebay but the new laws in canada) **that was before new shipping program

---

Yes, but I don't get how paying QST and GST on an eBay shipment within Canada is any different than paying a mess of import related charges and GST on a GSP shipment.  A lot of people posting to these discussion boards resented the GSP's import charges, not really understanding what their makeup was and why they weren't charged on a shipment from the US sent directly by mail.  You're one of the few who don't seem to mind them, probably because of the reasons you give later in your post.

---

@thechabinator wrote:

-shipping fees are way over what it was  (compared same items from sames sellers I already bought from)

---

Looking at a few listings from your past sellers, I see that they seem to be using flat-rate shipping within the US or even free shipping within the US.  They're probably not including information on the item's weight and size when creating the listing, so the "eIS bot" has nothing to work with.  My understanding is that with the GSP, the "GSP bot" made a guess based on an average for the category in these sort of instances.  That could have led to some really good deals on shipping to Canada.  On the other hand, the "eIS bot" may be calculating its shipping charges a different way when it doesn't have enough information on the item's weight and size.  I suggest advising these sellers that their shipping prices with eIS seem to be out of line and ask if they're providing eBay with information on the item's shipping weight and size.

[reallynicestamps]

@marnotom!  You want a US seller to add more information that he absolutely has to? What about his FREEDUMB!

Unless the information is mandatory, too many will still ignore it.

I am old and unAmerican.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@marnotom! wrote:

Hey, @lotzofuniquegoodies, that rate sheet you found is for eBay International Standard, not eBay International Shipping, which is what @thechabinator is posting about.

As far as things that can cause an eIS shipment to "go off the rails" goes, I don't think that laundry list is really that much different from the GSP.  The big difference is that the eIS seems to be (justifiably, IMO) more insistent in getting sellers to be more responsible for getting their Ps and Qs in order when preparing the item for shipment than the GSP did and they're spelling it out in a manner that the GSP never really did.

---

@marnotom! 

@thechabinator 

devon@ebay 

@reallynicestamps 

That could be the problem? Buyers not knowing what they are getting tied into because of the similarities of the 2  now up and  running programs tripping over each other. In my research it is very difficult to track down sellers using close to comparable shipping to what I posted even when you look at the service attached to the listing. As for EIS it does state that shipping "should" be cheaper for buyers.

Maybe what eBay desperately needs is  for a filter that buyers can use tied to the different services for any Intl. shipping? That would be a REAL IS listing improvement!! I know if I want to buy something from UK seller I know what I am getting. Same as my buyers from the USA.

That has been my biggest issue from the get go. Buyers not being able to tell what specific service is going to be used. All the get in Intl Priority  9 times out of 10 and an inflated  window. How these programs are advertised/pushed seem to be more about the seller and less about the buyer.

-Lotz

[marnotom!]

---

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

---

That could be the problem? Buyers not knowing what they are getting tied into because of the similarities of the 2  now up and  running programs tripping over each other. In my research it is very difficult to track down sellers using close to comparable shipping to what I posted even when you look at the service attached to the listing. As for EIS it does state that shipping "should" be cheaper for buyers.

If by "EIS" you mean "eBay International Standard" then, yes, it should be a bit less expensive for buyers as it's basically discounted USPS rates (I think) and there's only the one shipping charge the buyer has to pay, i.e. the buyer doesn't have to pay the seller's domestic shipping rate to get it to the consolidation hub.

Having said that, my understanding is that eBay International Standard is being phased out the way the Global Shipping Program is.  Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong about this.

---

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Maybe what eBay desperately needs is  for a filter that buyers can use tied to the different services for any Intl. shipping? That would be a REAL IS listing improvement!! I know if I want to buy something from UK seller I know what I am getting. Same as my buyers from the USA.

---

Seeing as many of these services have negotiated deals with eBay, I suspect the last thing the suits in charge of these services would want is to be shut out in buyer searches.  That's not why they gave eBay the deal it did.

And if you were to finally get your FedEx account to work on eBay, would you want buyers to block your listings because they're not being shipped through the postal service?

---

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

---

That has been my biggest issue from the get go. Buyers not being able to tell what specific service is going to be used. All the get in Intl Priority  9 times out of 10 and an inflated  window. How these programs are advertised/pushed seem to be more about the seller and less about the buyer.

---

My wife buys a lot of stuff from the US from sites other than eBay and I bet she could count on one hand the number of times she's known the carrier(s) involved at the time she's clicked that "buy" button.  There are just too many variables involved for a marketplace facilitator to give that sort of information.

And of course it's more about the seller than the buyer.  The shipping service(s) used are one of the few "protections" sellers have on this site.  It's part of their risk analysis.  Most of the time eBay focuses on the buyers because that's ultimately where all the money comes from.

[thechabinator]

I have been talking with a seller I am used to buy with and all the size and weight were filled correctly...and still the shipping price have raised a lot.....

They are no more deals to find in the US ....people will only buy from USA on things they aren't able to find in Canada or elsewhere

New mandatory taxes on any sale between 2 canadian kills all deals in canada....people will focus on local listings (kijiji, facebook marketplace)

RIP EBAY

[marnotom!]

How do the new rates compare to those from the US Postal Service, @thechabinator? 

This page may help.

[brettjet38]

Finally, Shopping Canadian will have cheaper shipping rates than the Americans by the looks of things...

[reallynicestamps]

How these programs are advertised/pushed seem to be more about the seller and less about the buyer.

None of these programs were designed for the buyer.

They were originally (and publicly) designed as a Seller Protection program for xenophobic and parochial US* sellers who were terrified to sell internationally.

I know you have seen dotCOM threads about the horrors of freight forwarders and the total ripoff **of being charged an international fee for shipments to US addresses .

EBay's US sales were flatlining and the GSP was brought in to encourage international selling.

Any policy of eBay is good for eBay.

It would be interesting to  know which company decided to end the GSP, eBay or Pitney Bowes.  Most of the problems seemed to have been ironed out - and I suspect most of the complaints were from Canadian buyers used to the  free pass postal imports were getting from CBSA who were now being charged duty and taxes on the miserable $20Cdn duty &tax free allowance.

PB was very generous about damage in transit and even NAD claims, refunding without demanding returns.  Was that the problem? I notice that is not going to be the eIS policy.

And there were a lot of complaints about poor tracking from the plethora of demibottomed last mile delivery services. Was keeping  reasonable subcontractors the problem?

Sometimes ya just gotta pay the guy who can do the job and get the job done right.

**I do  have a little sympathy for this one. Not much, but a little.

*And later UK because; Brexit.

[reallynicestamps]

Although this one might be easier to negotiate.

https://postcalc.usps.com/?country=10440