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

marnotom! · ‎02-03-2017

@lesterbeachgirl wrote:

I spoke to ebay and they said the seller has to refund me the global shipping charges, why should they ? they never
received those funds it was sent by PayPal to the global shipping program.

Regular eBay customer service reps know little to nothing about the Global Shipping Program. Phone again and say that you need to speak with a Global Shipping Specialist.

If the Specialist can't arrange a refund for you, you may have to make a claim on the PayPal website for the Pitney Bowes charges, just as you would for a not-received item.

afantiques · ‎02-03-2017

Ebay customer service are wrong. As usual with GSP problems. If the GSP is not used you should get a refund of the GSP element of the charge from Pitney Bowes. I expect rns will contribute a practical suggestion very shortly. Methods for contacting PB directly have been mentioned recently.

i.am.vivian · ‎02-03-2017

lesterbeachgirl wrote:
The seller is going to refund me the purchase price and her mailing charges.
how to I get reimbursed for the money sent through PayPal to the global shipping program.

If ever you call eBay's Customer Service about a GSP issue, you need to request a "GSP specialist". I suppose there are not enough resources to train ALL their employees how to handle issues related to that program. That leaves the first person you speak to having to say whatever pops into their head and make it sound like a real answer.

You are right, it is ridiculous that a seller refund for charges they never received. Since I personally find dealing with eBay's Customer Service to be a real stain on my patience, if it were me I would first try to phone or email Pitney-Bowes through their "contact us" page.

http://www.pitneybowes.com/ca/en/contact/contactus-email-us-canada-en.html

Anyone who has contacted them and reported back here tells of being treated kindly, with respect, and in a professional and efficient manner. All monies owed were quickly refunded and by going straight to Pitney-Bowes the experience ended very positively.

sutherlandzcom · ‎02-07-2017

I never opted to be in the global shipping program. But my highest ticket item 44.95 got railroaded into this program over the holidays and ripped off.

I saved the money in my account to buy groceries and gifts for my daughter. The day I went to withdraw it, I see it has been refunded to the customer. Tracking details are on file and noted as delivered in pay pal and ebay system. Paypal sent email to me that I never checked over the holiday. I've never had a refund come through pay pal before only ebay. I assumed this would come in clear the account that I'm constantly logged into via web page or app. But no it's quietly sent out to the associated email account.

So I request call back from ebay who are like "Hey we cant do anything about it because paypal deals with the money". Let me put you through to pay pal. I think I had got through and talked to one of the representatives and she said "I can email the customer and ask politely if they will do the right thing and send you back the payment".

After 3/4 day with no result I called back to ebay, who put me through to paypal and they left me on hold for four and a half hours. I gave up.

I've called eBay back today, re explained everything again and the man has assured me he's written up a request for action sent it on and hell put me through to paypal. I explained the four and half our hold from the last time and he said there's a work around. Push some button and say the magic word. So I'm sat here like a fool pushing buttons and saying the magic word for an hour and for combined total of five and half hours paypal spent in the ignore line.

On top of that I'e been selling e cig products for about two years on ebay. I applied to sell in the e cig category in Nov and never ever received a reply.

Today they have removed my #1 best selling product (glass replacement tube for e cig tank) of one brand while leaving glass tubes from other brands active.

I've been railroaded, ripped off, handed off and dumped in the ignore que. And now they are taking the food right off the table with this glass tube stuff

And I'm loosing it now, I want to take legal action, to get some kind of justice because this is evil. Still on hold with paypal Total 6 hours! I'm livid!

sutherlandzcom · ‎02-07-2017

After 2 hours of listening to paypal hold and we'll be with you shortly, I've hang up again. Again they've blown off the case....

sutherlandzcom · ‎02-07-2017

Try to contact ebay again and the call back option is gone...

femmefan1946 · ‎02-07-2017

You bought an item from a US seller who had opted into the GSP, which is a Seller Protection Program.

Buyers do not opt into the program. It is a Seller Protection Program.

Er, no.

You are a SELLER in the USA, who sold internationally, but did not realize you were co-opted into the GSP.

You should be posting to the dotCOM boards about this.

You may have noticed that most of the posts to this Board are from very very unhappy buyers.

Canadians cannot sell using the GSP.

Your buyer opened a Dispute.

For what? Non-delivery? Not As Described?

The first is the sole responsibility of the GSP. Your account should not have been touched.

Since you have confirmation of delivery, it doesn't look as if that is the problem.

Not As Described remains your responsibility.

Paypal sent email to me that I never checked over the holiday.

Checking your emails is your responsibility. If you don't look at that email account, it would be best to close it entirely and use an account that you do check regularly for business purposes.

I'e been selling e cig products for about two years on ebay.

EBAy bans the sale of ecigs, vapes and other similar products as part of their more general ban on tobacco products.

chimera148 · ‎02-07-2017

@sutherlandzcom wrote:
Try to contact ebay again and the call back option is gone...

So you are in the UK and your sell items are listed with the GSP. You will need to opt out.

i.am.vivian · ‎02-07-2017

@sutherlandzcom wrote:
I never opted to be in the global shipping program. But my highest ticket item 44.95 got railroaded into this program over the holidays and ripped off.
On top of that I'e been selling e cig products for about two years on ebay.
Today they have removed my #1 best selling product

As a UK seller there will be different restrictions on what you can and can't sell internationally on eBay. A lot of your problems will clear up if you opt out of the GSP program,

To opt out of the Global Shipping Programme:
Go to My eBay > Account > Site Preferences.
Click the Show link to the right of the Postage Preferences section.
Click the Edit link to the right of Offer the Global Postage Programme.
Click Opt Out.
Be sure to SAVE any changes.
The process taes about 72 hours to vanish completely.

Brits are great smokers and much more lax about it than over here. It will be the GSP thing most likely that caused your electronic cigarette to get snuffed out. In the UK, it is merely a "restricted" item. In North America, it is prohibited.

Your policy,

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/tobacco.html#policy

Our policy (North America),

Just get yourself out of the GSP (you may need to check on that periodically to make sure they have not sneaked you back in) and all should be as before.

marnotom! · ‎02-07-2017

@sutherlandzcom wrote:

I never opted to be in the global shipping program. But my highest ticket item 44.95 got railroaded into this program over the holidays and ripped off.

Were you making your items available to international buyers before this? Did you have shipping rates for countries other than the UK calculated and displayed in your listings?

If not, and you haven't set your buyer requirements to block potential buyers without UK shipping addresses, eBay may opt you into the GSP as per the user agreement

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/user-agreement.html#GSP

hend1972 · ‎02-12-2017

My recent purchase shows a shipping and handling charge from the seller and then another shipping and handling charge from the GPS program. Is this normal. How do we know that all the GST PST charges are being remitted to the Canadian Revenue agency. How do we know if those import, GST, PST charges are applicable.

The older system was much better for buyers. Through the free trade agreements , duty is a thing of the past. GST PST are only applicable on certain items. Items under a certain value (used to be $20.00) were GST PST exempt. Who owns this GSP program.

i.am.vivian · ‎02-12-2017

hend1972 wrote:
My recent purchase shows a shipping and handling charge from the seller and then another shipping and handling charge from the GPS program. Is this normal.

Yes. The GSP in its simplest form is a basically a 2-part shipping system where the seller you buy from sends the item to Kentucky. There, the item is checked and sent on to the buyer.

The other way (when a seller does not use the GSP for international orders) is when the seller mails it with USPS and it comes through the postal system to you directly.

hend1972 wrote:
How do we know that all the GST PST charges are being remitted to the Canadian Revenue agency. How do we know if those import, GST, PST charges are applicable.

We don't, not really. If Pitney-Bowes was doing anything illegal, it would soon get out and would be an end to their business. I think they are charging a lot more than people think for their "handling" fee, but it will be all very legal.

Any item that rings in over $20 CANADIAN in value will have tax, and depending where it is MADE, it will have duty also. Only items made in a NAFTA country are without duty.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/courier/menu-eng.html

hend1972 wrote:
The older system was much better for buyers. Through the free trade agreements , duty is a thing of the past. GST PST are only applicable on certain items. Items under a certain value (used to be $20.00) were GST PST exempt. Who owns this GSP program.

Pitney-Bowes owns this GSP program, if "owns" is the term.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitney_Bowes

femmefan1946 · ‎02-12-2017

he older system was much better for buyers. Through the free trade agreements , duty is a thing of the past.

Canada has FreeTrade agreements with USA, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, and Israel. There probably are a few others.*

We don't have Free Trade with China.

There is continuing work on CETA (European Union) free trade.

The TPP also continues (Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and Mexico and Chile again) but nothing is signed yet. The TPP does not include China (and the USA has dropped out).

NAFTA which I think you are referring to, only makes items manufactured in NAFTA signatories duty -free (and even then on a macro level- soft wood lumber, drywall, and steel continue to cause problems).

So purchasing something from a US seller does not mean it is duty-free.

GST PST are only applicable on certain items.

There are some items that are sales tax free.

Sales tax exemptions vary from province to province. For example, BC does not tax children's shoes but ON does.

But if the import is valued over $20CDN (~$16USD) sales taxes do apply.

The one that surprises people is that used goods are subject to sales taxes.

Items under a certain value (used to be $20.00) were GST PST exempt.

It's still a ridiculous $20CDN.

Vacationers have higher exemptions. When we returned from a 10 day vacation this winter, we could have brought in $800 CDN each.

All couriers (and freight forwarders like the GSP) are required to remit applicable duty and sales taxes.

That's the law.

CBSA and Canada Post have come to the sensible conclusion that it is silly for public servants to assess and collect duty and taxes, when the amount collected will be lower than the cost of collection. One result is that many importers do not realize that they should have paid duty, but it was waived.

Who owns this GSP program.

It's run by Pitney Bowes for eBay. Yes, they are the postal meter guys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitney_Bowes

*There certainly are. We have agreements with about 40 countries

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-trade_agreements_of_Canada

But there are 178 countries in the United Nations.

konamicode · ‎02-22-2017

Is there a way to completely remove GSP auctions from showing up in my feed? I know to look for the following, "Customs services and international tracking provided", but I want to completely hide them. I hate the GSP.

Every package I have gotten through this horrible program was damaged. Two of them had the boxes WIDE OPEN. The contents could of been taken out, or fallen out at any time.

I'm tired of the hassle, and this **bleep** showing up in my searches. Has anyone found out a way to filter them out? Perhaps even with a firefox addon that would remove all the offensive listings?

00nevermind00 · ‎02-22-2017

@konamicode wrote:
Is there a way to completely remove GSP auctions from showing up in my feed? I know to look for the following, "Customs services and international tracking provided", but I want to completely hide them. I hate the GSP.

Every package I have gotten through this horrible program was damaged. Two of them had the boxes WIDE OPEN. The contents could of been taken out, or fallen out at any time.

I'm tired of the hassle, and this **bleep** showing up in my searches. Has anyone found out a way to filter them out? Perhaps even with a firefox addon that would remove all the offensive listings?

I'm afraid that the "Customs services, etc." blurb is the only "filter" we have. I don't understand why eBay won't give us that GSP filter that has been asked for repeatedly. They could have a "show only GSP items" filter and another one for "show no GSP items" (or wording to that effect). Buyers can already filter their searches by price and distance, so why not the presence or absence of the GSP?

If the program is as successful as eBay says it is (and there is no reason to believe it isn't, otherwise it would have been scrapped), then eBay doesn't need to force it on those buyers that want nothing to do with it. A GSP filter would help keep them on the site instead of maybe seeing them leave for competing sites.

konamicode · ‎02-22-2017

Yeah... a filter would be wonderful wouldn't it. Ebay just needs to put it in the ADVANCED search area. Many of our brothers and sisters down south are losing sales.

I'm sure you'll agree that manually scrolling past all the GSP auctions gets a little tiring. It's like 9/10th are GSP.

Buyers should have an opt out option too, so we can avoid it. They probably won't give it to us because they WANT us to pay more.

marnotom! · ‎02-23-2017

@konamicode wrote:

Yeah... a filter would be wonderful wouldn't it. Ebay just needs to put it in the ADVANCED search area. Many of our brothers and sisters down south are losing sales.

Many sellers with the GSP applied to their listings are completely unaware that it's there. They think they have their listings set up strictly for shipping to their fellow 'mericans.

This may explain why some packages forwarded through the GSP arrive in such rough shape. The sellers pack them thinking they're going no further than Kentucky and they end up getting squished on a pallet of freight to Canada.

00nevermind00 · ‎02-24-2017

@konamicode wrote:
Yeah... a filter would be wonderful wouldn't it. Ebay just needs to put it in the ADVANCED search area. Many of our brothers and sisters down south are losing sales.

I'm sure you'll agree that manually scrolling past all the GSP auctions gets a little tiring. It's like 9/10th are GSP.

Buyers should have an opt out option too, so we can avoid it. They probably won't give it to us because they WANT us to pay more.

I'm lucky that the categories I usually search haven't been as infected with the GSP as many others. But I recently searched for something totally outside of my usual interests and it was an abomination! The vast majority of items had the GSP tacked on. I soon gave up. I haven't yet made the purchase but when I do, it won't be on eBay.

I doubt that US sellers are losing very many sales due to the GSP. On the contrary! The sales they aren't making to Canadians are just being made elsewhere. I think eBay had their eyes set on the huge Asian market when they came up with the GSP. Next to a population of almost 4.5 billion, our 36.4 million are simply too small to matter.

lomnes1954 · ‎03-01-2017

I am from Canada and have bought many items that have shipped with the Global program. They track well and arrive well within the dates set for delivery. My question is that lately the pricing seems all over the place and don't understand why. I recently bought and item shipped from North Carolina and the Global Shipping rate was approx $25 Canadian + duty. Today i was looking at an item i wanted to buy, the item in question was priced well and would be shipped from Phoenix, but the Global Shipping rate was $59 US + duty which was more than twice the price of the item. i have noticed this extensively lately and don't understand why so expensive. Are the sellers able to set the rate or is this rate set by ebay or Global. Can't afford these costs when i can watch for sellers that use priority post and can ship it to me in Alberta Canada for twenty bucks. all the items i buy are about the same size and weight and the one that i am talking about would be extremely light average in box dimension with others i ahave had shipped at less than half the cost.

anything you can tell me on this?

lomnes1954

sylviebee · ‎03-01-2017

One GSP variable is the seller's cost of shipping. Some sellers ship to the US hub for free while others do not.

The rest of it is anyone's guess. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to how they arrive at GSP costs. Some very expensive items have no import fees while others have high import fees if the item is even a penny over $C 20.