eBay

kalvin@ebay.com · ‎09-26-2013

Do you have questions about the Global Shipping Program? Please post here & I'll do my best to track those answers down for you!

If you have any comments about the program, use this forum instead.

Thanks,

~Kalvin
eBay.ca Community Manager

kalvin@ebay.com

00nevermind00 · ‎05-04-2014

@trits10 wrote:
Ok, I feel we are focused on the wrong part of my question here. Lets assume I've already submitted a claim through the resolution center and my refund is being processed. Now, my original question was about the Global Shipping Program. Has anyone got the tracking message "Exception - Held at Terminal" and does anyone know why/how this happened?

I don't think anyone can explain what happened to your item. Maybe Bennett can look into it for you. If it was me, I'd be more interested in getting all my money back at this point than in finding out why I won't be getting my item.

Here's another question: Why oh why isn't eBay making sure that items which cannot be shipped through the GSP also cannot be listed with the GSP? We keep seeing angry and/or bitterly disappointed buyers who, having bought and paid for an item, are told that their item will go no further than Kentucky. Yes, they get their money back (it would be an outrage if they didn't!) but since they bought the item, it's safe to say that that's what they wanted. This does NOT make for a pleasant shopping experience on eBay. There are enough of those bidders who post here, but I wonder how many more simply decide that eBay is not a good place to shop and never come back.

This needs to be fixed. Urgently!

trits10 · ‎05-04-2014

I wasn't looking for someone to explain what happened to my item, I was asking if anyone has received a similar tracking message, and if they did, if they had any information they could provide me. The reason I want to know about the shipping is to know if I need to avoid buying items that are associated with the GSP, or if this is just a coincidence and the item was held at customs for an unknown reason. This being my first experience with GSP, I'm leaning towards the former.

The item was 40 bucks, and I know I'll get my money back, I'm not worried about that.

Anonymous · ‎05-05-2014

Global Shipping tracking number UPAAA000000053478594, small package.

According to your website tracking, this item was turned over to Canada post in Etobecoke ont.

on April 29/14 and cleared customs the same day. Canada Post tracking 7035114423812258

indicates that all they have is paper work saying it is on its way. They say they have not received it.

My question is- Where is it?

Thanks

Bill

femmefan1946 · ‎05-05-2014

April 29 was four working days ago.

Etobicoke is on the western side of Toronto.

It's somewhere between Etobicoke and Salmon Arm BC.

It should arrive before Friday.

It's easy to forget weekends (although Canada Post does work weekends, they just don't pickup or deliver) and for some reason the name of the month changing throws people.

dragonsquill7 · ‎05-05-2014

Not a fan of this Global Shipping. It's very shady and has potentially dangerous consequences to sellers and buyers.

I purchased an in-game auction this morning- so my item gets delivered through the internet from one video game console to another. There's no physical item, no parcel, nothing that actually comes through the mail. (US to Canada). There was shipping and import charges listed, which I contacted the seller about. The seller could not even see them on his end. Just that he had listed the auction as free shipping. And I couldn't even see the free shipping.

I paid the extra charges along with the purchase price, as I had no choice. And when I received the invoice, there were TWO transactions, separate ID's, one to the seller and one to an unnamed company eBay uses to help get things through customs.

I now have a case pending with paypal, which caused eBay to send the poor seller an "item not received" claim. The seller's had excellent communication and has been patient while this is resolved.

eBay, I don't understand how you- or your shipping company- is calculating this shipping or the import charges. How well are you examining the listings that you're charging? This has the potential to rip off customers bigtime.

Worse, these charges appear as part of the seller's listing. And I would hate to get into a dispute with an honest seller because of something it appeared he or she was charging. If I have to pay import, I'll pay import, but please be up front about the fact I'll be paying another party, so I can see what the seller's actual shipping is.

While EBay has promised to address this, refund me the shipping and not penalize the seller in any way, for which I thank you, buyers please beware of what you're paying.

marnotom! · ‎05-05-2014

@dragonsquill7 wrote:

Not a fan of this Global Shipping. It's very shady and has potentially dangerous consequences to sellers and buyers.

I purchased an in-game auction this morning- so my item gets delivered through the internet from one video game console to another. There's no physical item, no parcel, nothing that actually comes through the mail. (US to Canada). There was shipping and import charges listed, which I contacted the seller about. The seller could not even see them on his end. Just that he had listed the auction as free shipping. And I couldn't even see the free shipping.

I paid the extra charges along with the purchase price, as I had no choice. And when I received the invoice, there were TWO transactions, separate ID's, one to the seller and one to an unnamed company eBay uses to help get things through customs.

I now have a case pending with paypal, which caused eBay to send the poor seller an "item not received" claim. The seller's had excellent communication and has been patient while this is resolved.

eBay, I don't understand how you- or your shipping company- is calculating this shipping or the import charges. How well are you examining the listings that you're charging? This has the potential to rip off customers bigtime.

Worse, these charges appear as part of the seller's listing. And I would hate to get into a dispute with an honest seller because of something it appeared he or she was charging. If I have to pay import, I'll pay import, but please be up front about the fact I'll be paying another party, so I can see what the seller's actual shipping is.

While EBay has promised to address this, refund me the shipping and not penalize the seller in any way, for which I thank you, buyers please beware of what you're paying.

Why not penalize the seller? The seller listed the item in such a way that the GSP--which they may or may not have been aware that they were enrolled in--was triggered. If the seller had listed the item properly, the GSP shouldn't have been activated on the listing. In fact, looking at the eBay "Digitally Delivered Goods" policy, I'm not even sure that this listing should have gone up in any way, shape or form, even without the GSP:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/downloadable.html

You did have a choice with this listing. You could have "walked away" from it if you thought the charges were unnecessary. You could have coached the seller in removing the GSP from the listing prior to purchase. You could have sent a request for a new invoice after committing to purchase the item. You could have had the seller send you a new invoice through PayPal.

Yes, the GSP does make negotiations "after the fact" tough to work out, but the fact that your seller appeared to be unaware that they had GSP charges on their listing should have been a warning that this seller didn't understand what they were doing in the first place.

pjcdn2005 · ‎05-06-2014

@Anonymous wrote:
Global Shipping tracking number UPAAA000000053478594, small package.
According to your website tracking, this item was turned over to Canada post in Etobecoke ont.
on April 29/14 and cleared customs the same day. Canada Post tracking 7035114423812258
indicates that all they have is paper work saying it is on its way. They say they have not received it.
My question is- Where is it?
Thanks
Bill

If you check the tracking number at Canada Post you will see that the package has left Richmond, is in transit and the expected delivery date is Wednesday.

dasia143 · ‎05-06-2014

Does anyone know what are the chances a small parcel bought through the GSP will be delivered by CanPar rather than Canada Post? I have found a small under $20 CAN item I'm willing to overspend on postage to receive, but don't want to take the chance of having to travel a long distance to pick it up. Thanks for any info!

marnotom! · ‎05-06-2014

@dasia143 wrote:

Does anyone know what are the chances a small parcel bought through the GSP will be delivered by CanPar rather than Canada Post? I have found a small under $20 CAN item I'm willing to overspend on postage to receive, but don't want to take the chance of having to travel a long distance to pick it up. Thanks for any info!

I can't really give you the chances, but if my experience is any indication there's a possibility it will travel by both methods.

The smartphone I purchased was sent to the Global Shipping Center in Kentucky as a USPS flat rate envelope. Once in Canada, my understanding from what tracking information there is (there's a black hole in the tracking info between the unidentified receiving hub in Canada and Vancouver), it travelled by Canpar to Vancouver and was handed off to Canada Post which delivered it to me on Vancouver Island.

This is a bit odd as there's a Canpar hub an hour's drive away from me and my wife has received items delivered to our door by Canpar.

How far away is your Canpar hub?

dragonsquill7 · ‎05-07-2014

Thanks for the response.

The fact is, this was my first experience with GSP and my seller and I have both learned from it. It would've been great to have your knowledge and expertise about it at the time, but I didn't. Some of us aren't perfect. Our transaction was completely successfully and a refund for the shipping and import is pending.

I've been an eBayer for many years, and have had great sellers refund overcharges for shipping, so I assumed he could refund the shipping as it was in error. The auction was customized for me and I didn't have time to wait on purchasing. It wasn't until I received the receipt that I saw two transactions had been made under the blanket of one purchase. And that was completely foreign to me.

There's a first time for everything and he's clearly bothered to have this PayPal claim over his head, which is something eBay needs to fix: I couldn't file a claim against PB to refund the import and shipping, even though it's a separate transaction, because it's tied together with the seller's listing, even though they're separate transaction IDs. It isn't fair to my seller that this is dragging on for him when it has nothing to do with his transaction. Similarly, there's no option to leave negative feedback against PB if their shipping and import is found to be unreasonable or if there are problems with their delivery, etc.- this only detracts points from the seller.

I'll forward your link to my seller as well, I'm sure he will appreciate it. He's been diligently working on his end to ensure this doesn't happen with more of his listings and has awesome communication. Thank you for your time.

dasia143 · ‎05-07-2014

Thank you for your reply, marnotom! The Canpar hub is more than an hour's drive away. That's bad enough, but the real problem is, I'm going to be away for a few days during the 8-18 day time frame given for delivery. According to a forum called redflagdeals, Canpar only holds an item for 5 days after attempting to deliver and their office is only open business hours. Could be tough getting the time off to pick it up a day or so after coming back from a trip.

Probably I'd better pass on the item. It's frustrating, because it's the first time I've seen it offered at a low enough price to make it worth paying the inflated shipping. (The item only ever seems to come up in GSP listings these days.) If it was sent USPS, my cat-sitting neighbour could just bring it in with the rest of our mail.

marnotom! · ‎05-07-2014

@dasia143 wrote:

Thank you for your reply, marnotom! The Canpar hub is more than an hour's drive away. That's bad enough, but the real problem is, I'm going to be away for a few days during the 8-18 day time frame given for delivery. According to a forum called redflagdeals, Canpar only holds an item for 5 days after attempting to deliver and their office is only open business hours. Could be tough getting the time off to pick it up a day or so after coming back from a trip.

Probably I'd better pass on the item. It's frustrating, because it's the first time I've seen it offered at a low enough price to make it worth paying the inflated shipping. (The item only ever seems to come up in GSP listings these days.) If it was sent USPS, my cat-sitting neighbour could just bring it in with the rest of our mail.

The two Canpar shipments addressed to my wife required signatures and had delivery attempts made when we were out of the house. The delivery person left a card in our mailbox with instructions stating that if we wanted the item left at our house on the next delivery attempt, the card had to be signed and we had to indicate where the parcel should be left.

I'm not sure if your neighbour's signature would suffice if the same situation occurred for you, but I don't see why not. Maybe you could teach him/her how to forge yours. 😉

As it so happens, I was home when the Canpar delivery person made the second delivery attempt, so I can't tell you how well those instruction cards work.

marnotom! · ‎05-07-2014

@dragonsquill7 wrote:

Thanks for the response.

The fact is, this was my first experience with GSP and my seller and I have both learned from it. It would've been great to have your knowledge and expertise about it at the time, but I didn't. Some of us aren't perfect. Our transaction was completely successfully and a refund for the shipping and import is pending.

I've been an eBayer for many years, and have had great sellers refund overcharges for shipping, so I assumed he could refund the shipping as it was in error. The auction was customized for me and I didn't have time to wait on purchasing. It wasn't until I received the receipt that I saw two transactions had been made under the blanket of one purchase. And that was completely foreign to me.

There's a first time for everything and he's clearly bothered to have this PayPal claim over his head, which is something eBay needs to fix: I couldn't file a claim against PB to refund the import and shipping, even though it's a separate transaction, because it's tied together with the seller's listing, even though they're separate transaction IDs. It isn't fair to my seller that this is dragging on for him when it has nothing to do with his transaction. Similarly, there's no option to leave negative feedback against PB if their shipping and import is found to be unreasonable or if there are problems with their delivery, etc.- this only detracts points from the seller.

I'll forward your link to my seller as well, I'm sure he will appreciate it. He's been diligently working on his end to ensure this doesn't happen with more of his listings and has awesome communication. Thank you for your time.

Fair enough. My response was based on what you shared with us prior to this last post, so I could only work with what I had been given. While the GSP has been rolled out in a very sneaky, underhanded fashion, it shouldn't trip up sellers who make some effort to read the updated user agreement and get a sense of what it's about. In your case, I don't think your issues with the GSP would have occurred if your seller had done a bit more homework and researched eBay policy on digital sales, rather than assuming that because other sellers offered them that they were doing everything by the book.

In other words, while the GSP made things more challenging for your particular sale, I don't think it was the root cause of your difficulties.

dasia143 · ‎05-07-2014

In the end I passed on bidding. Much as I'd like to get the item (and as it turned out, no one else bid on it, wouldn't you know), I didn't want to burden my kind neighbour with more than feeding my cats.

The redflagdeals posters, who identified as being in the Toronto area like me, weren't offered the option of signing a card for their items to be left at their homes. It was pickup only. Maybe Canpar operates differently in Ontario.

I'll just keep watching and hoping the items shows up for sale not in the GSP. Getting this close to bidding shows me I'm just not comfortable with the GSP; I much prefer dealing directly with sellers and USPS/Canada Post. But thank you for taking the time to relate how it worked in your case.

marnotom! · ‎05-07-2014

For what it's worth, this is the official word from Canpar on delivery attempts:

If for any reason Canpar Courier cannot deliver your parcel, we ensure it gets back to the shipper with a documented reason. When a consignee is not available to receive a shipment, Canpar Courier drivers will leave a notice and make two more attempts to deliver to a business address or one attempt for residential addresses.

http://www.canpar.ca/en/services/services.jsp#07

goldenfish333 · ‎05-08-2014

What's with these crazy import fees , I try to avoid these listing at all costs, I see some import fees as much as 30%.Talk about how to alienate a whole country of Canada from bidding on Ebay

breeze2004 · ‎05-08-2014

So "No additional import charges at delivery!" is simply a deceptive, up front, unabashed LIE.

QED.

reallynicestamps · ‎05-08-2014

While duty varies depending on the product and its place of manufacture (not purchase, manufacture), any item over $20 will also be charged HST/PST/GST. This ranges from 5% to 15% of the selling price depending on province. Then there is a small service fee (apparently around $5).

Another variation comes in when the seller sets the method of shipping. If he chooses letterrate it will be lower than priority.

But it is not particularly transparent.

barbiegirllyn · ‎05-09-2014

If the Seller has the Global Shipping Program listed can the Buyer request an updated invoice & have it sent Priority Mail minus the import fees if both the Seller & Buyer agree to this?