US SELLERS SHOULD KNOW BETTER ABOUT EBAY'S GSP: TWICE THE COST AND TIME COMPARE TO DIRECT USPS!!!

[1965stanleycup]

Could you please tell me the advantage for US seller to send through ebay's Global Shipping Program, compare to send through directly with USPS international packet with tracking number? This seems a big scam from ebay: double shipping price and almost double shipping time...  I lately purchased quite a few items from US sellers: some shipping through tadfitional method with USPS international packet with tracking number and some with ebay's GSP, I'm telling you, I'm getting over with US sellers using this shipping method and I won't be surprised many Canadian potential buyers are experimenting the same... This will reduce the potential market because of already diminished transactions on ebay, who imposed fees on shipping costs a few years ago, than put along this GSP scam to make their over profit on shipping... As I told you, for Canadians buyers: twice the price and twice the shipping time compare to USPS international packet... But who cares this complaint at ebay? I'm writing this on ebay's Community forum and see if ebay will censure that!.  Thanks for your attention.  Regards.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@1965stanleycup wrote:

Could you please tell me the advantage for US seller to send through ebay's Global Shipping Program, compare to send through directly with USPS international packet with tracking number? ...

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The only country that is cheaper to send directly using USPS tracked is to CANADA -- the rest of the world is more expensive. So GSP has an advantage for the rest of the world, Canada not so much, particularly for the stuff under $100.

If the US seller actually reads the eBay.com help files they will see that they can exclude countries from GSP (and ship directly to them, Canada is used as an example). But it is something the seller has to setup when making the listing.

..,

The very long GSP comment thread: http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Comments-about-the-Global-Shipping-Program/m-p/149905#U149...

[1965stanleycup]

Thanks for that info.  Next time I,ll be interested to an item from US labeled with GSP, I'll contact seller asking for traditional USPS before bidding and see what happens, if she/he could dot it.

[reallynicestamps]

The GSP is a Seller Protection program.

It has very few advantages for buyers. The only exception is that it encourages paranoid and xenophobic US (and UK) sellers to sell internationally, making more neat stuff available to non-US customers.

The advantages to the SELLER are:

• The seller is only responsible for delivery to the GSP hub in Kentucky, using cheap domestic postage and tracking.
• The seller is not blamed unfairly for foreign duty and taxes (and service fees) charged on their doorstep. (The notorious GSP import fees.)
• The seller does not get returns from foreign buyers who refuse packages when they are asked to pay those import fees.
• The seller can have feedback mentioning import fees removed, since these are not in the seller's control.

So, nothing there for buyers.

The GSP is useful, and sometimes even cheaper than postal shipping, for high value and/or bulky items that are likely to be stopped at the border by CBSA or their overseas colleagues.

[1965stanleycup]

Thank you for very useful infos.  Sooner or later, Canadian buyers will realize GSP is an OVER shipping charge and, as I tried to let ebay know, this method will squeeze Canadian market for US sellers, therefore, they should avoid Canada in their GSP shipping preferences.  USPS international shipping to Canada with tracking number is a fair price and safe way to ship up North, as Canada Post Expedited Parcel to the US with tracking number is this other way South. With all these "extravaganzas" ebay, while trying to maintain his business level up, is slowly loosing its liability.

[reallynicestamps]

While I basically agree, keep in mind that  GSP, as a private company, is required to assess and remit the Canadian duty and sales taxes that are owing on any item over $20CDN(~$17USD).

Canada Post and CBSA have made the sensible decision not to bother with low value (under~$100CDN) imports, although on paper they should be collecting those fees.

If you buy a $100 coat, which would be bulky and heavy, there is a very good chance that CBSA would stop it and charge you duty and sales tax.  (If it were made in a NAFTA signatory there would still be sales taxes. If it were used, there would still be sales taxes.)

So choose your battles.

I've purchased a grand total of ONE item through GSP since it was introduced. And that was after researching here, on dotCOM and on dot UK, and finding that the GSP item was the lowest price , even with the import fees.

I've passed over a few items where the GSP made the price higher than I wanted to pay, and have taken a chance on paying duty and tax. So far, so good.

The first problem is not really the GSP. It's that the duty free limit for postal imports is $20.

Twenty.

Since the mid-Eighties.

Write your MP about that.

You don't need to stamp the envelope.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@1965stanleycup wrote:

... Sooner or later, Canadian buyers will realize GSP is an OVER shipping charge and, as I tried to let ebay know, this method will squeeze Canadian market for US sellers, therefore, they should avoid Canada in their GSP shipping preferences.  ...

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Since the GSP has been around since 2013, seems just a bit unlikely.

As a Canadian buyer I do give GSP negative value when picking between sellers, but... as a Canadian seller, I find I'm a supporter of a GSP that would squeeze Canadian market for US sellers ... except, I don't think it does. Most of the GSP sellers would never have considered exporting anything if it hadn't been for the GSP.

-..-

[marnotom!]

As with any shipping method, there are situations where it does make some sense to use the GSP, and others where it doesn't.

I've purchased two mobile phones from sellers who shipped with the GSP.  Because they offered "free" shipping within the United States, the shipping cost was quite reasonable, certainly better than overkill shipping methods such as FedEx that may have seen me having to pay much more in "import charges" than what the GSP levied.

The cases I bought for these phones from other sellers using the postal system took longer to arrive than the phones, to boot.

Sending postcards by express mail doesn't make sense, but we don't generally rag on express mail as being a stupid way to send stuff.

We just need to educate sellers to use the GSP where it makes sense, and use something else when it doesn't.

[nikkow]

Expensive because of the global scam program