Questions about the Global Shipping Program

[kalvin@ebay.com]

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,

[Anonymous]

Open the dispute for item damaged and you will get refund from GSP through eBay.  It worked for me last week.

[loml888]

I purchased an item from a seller who shipped it to a center in KY that was supposed to send it on to me in Canada.  It has been more than a month since I purchased it and still have not received it.  Is this now the normal time frame I have to wait if I purchase an item from the US that uses the Global Shipping program?  If so, I won't be buying from sellers that ship this way again.

[pjcdn2005]

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@tierus0 wrote:

Greetings,

We just received a breadmaker. When we opened it up we noticed a substantial crack on the unit. Upon turning it on, the unit was non-operational as the paddles spun continuously. We have contacted the seller and he has alerted us that this is a GSP issue and that we need to seek a refund through the GSP.

I've attached photos of the unit in question:

8H355197M3548892L

What options are available to us?

Thanks in advance,

Martin

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Hi Martin,

You have to file an not as described claim through ebay or Paypal.  The seller is not responsible for any damage that happens after the item arrives at the Kentucky gsp center but you still have to file a claim as usual.They may put a temporary hold on any funds that you paid the seller but if the gsp program is at fault, they are the ones that will refund you and you shouldn't have to return the item.

[afantiques]

Me and the seller have decide to use UPS

If you use UPS ground you may wind up with more charges and taxes than with the GSP. Avoid UPS to Canada.

and ebay use USPS for global shipping.

USPS is not used for global shipping.

The problem, we don't know if we may change that in the invoice send to seller. The seller should go to UPS office and evaluate the shipping cost and give the price for the packaging. We don't know if the global shipping system work with UPS?

You cannot 'un-GSP' an item once sold. There was a way of doing this but that has now been closed.

The seller would need to go for a mutual cancellation and relist the item.

It is possible to obtain an answer from an administrator of Ebay ?

No.  This is a member to member board widely ignored by any ebay staff.

[afantiques]

 The seller was kind enough to refund my money (60% of total paid) but how do I get a refund from the Global Shipping Program (40% of total paid)?  Thanks!

The seller made a well meaning mistake. You should have made a claim through PP for damage in transit, the seller would have kept the money you paid and the GSP would have refunded your total payment with no need to return the item.

As usual neither seller nor buyer knows how to use the rules of the system.

[afantiques]

What options are available to us?

Claim for item not as described through Paypal, reason, damaged in transit.

You get refund, seller keeps money, no need to return item.

[afantiques]

I purchased an item from a seller who shipped it to a center in KY that was supposed to send it on to me in Canada.  It has been more than a month since I purchased it and still have not received it.  Is this now the normal time frame I have to wait if I purchase an item from the US that uses the Global Shipping program?  If so, I won't be buying from sellers that ship this way again.

Open an item not received claim immediately. As long as the item made it to Kentucky, your seller keeps his money, you get full refund.

If the item does turn up later, there is no mechanism or system for repaying the refund, so you are ahead of the game.

[mater721]

"has been more than a month since I purchased it"

How much more than a month? You have limited amount of time to wait (45 days?) before time runs out to file a claim.

Have you contacted seller? They confirmed it was shipped to Kentucky, and when?

File an item not received through ebay if you are near the cut-off date.

And yes, for most items shipping to Canada, the GSP is horrible. Have not used it yet because of increased cost, amongst many other issues (damaged items, difficult refunds, etc.)

[pjcdn2005]

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@loml888 wrote:

I purchased an item from a seller who shipped it to a center in KY that was supposed to send it on to me in Canada.  It has been more than a month since I purchased it and still have not received it.  Is this now the normal time frame I have to wait if I purchase an item from the US that uses the Global Shipping program?  If so, I won't be buying from sellers that ship this way again.

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No, I don't think that is normal although it obviously can happen.  I recently ordered something from a seller that was using that program and delivery took 13 days.

Have you filed an item not received claim yet?

[racedriver-ca]

Hello! I bought the item that I bought but it wasn't as described, so seller made a refund for me on this item, but he didn't make a refund for money that i spent for shipping. And he said that I need to contact Your program to get a refund for shipping expenses. How it will works? Thank You.

[patri-guilf]

Why do I have to pay GSP on a product when I know Korea won't charge import duties on it?

[pierrelebel]

The fee charged by Pitney Bowes is not exclusively for duty.

Pitney Bowes charges a handling fee for every shipment it handles regardless whether taxes and/or duty are charged.

Duty and taxes (if applicable) are in addition to the basic fee charged by Pitney Bowes and are incorporated into "import charges".

If you do not want to go through GSP, you need to ask your seller if he is willing to ship to South Korea directly, instead of using GSP and inquire about the shipping cost to South Korea.  USPS postage charges may be higher than those charged by Pitney Bowes.

[afantiques]

like Japan and Canada, the Korean postal system may not charge tax on low value items even if they are liable to import sales tax, but the freight shippers who deliver GSP items have no such option, and any taxes charged will be found to be in accordance with your country's regulations.

http://www.dutycalculator.com/

[delarosbel]

Just to add to the discussion, I've just received a package that went through the PBI repackaging service and it is the very last time I buy anything handled by PBI through the GPS program. They seem to toss stuff into small boxes or envelopes without the slightest bit of padding or protection. The item I bought was a fountain pen and there was this in the envelope: 3 stryfoam peanuts (3!) and a small  3"X1''piece of crumpled kraft paper.  Does eBay really condone such practices? And for this, I was charged 15.00 USD. Wow. Third time I received such packages. It is shameful.

[phophet5]

Dear Ebay,

Since Ebay has implemented the Global Shipping Program I have all but stopped shopping & selling VIA USA Ebay!

I have been using Ebay since the mid 1990s & the site has always been fun & easy to purchase and sell from. But....The Global Shipping Program was the last straw in a series of major changes at Ebay I could just not handle anymore.

The idea of prepaying for import charges is insane! Get rid of the Global Shipping Program & leave it up to a countries own customs department to decide if an item should be taxed or not!

[northbear]

HATE THE GLOBAL SHIPPING PROGRAM. BAD EXPERIENCES , CUSTOMERS WANT AFFORDABLE SHIPPING , HENCE WHEN YOU SHIP A IN-EXPENSIVE ITEM LETS SAY 20.00 VALUE , THEY ARE ARE NOT WANTING TO PAY FOR A TRACKING SERVICE 

WHICH IS MORE EXPENSIVE THEN THE ITEM PURCHASED , YOU POST THE CHEAPEST WAY , IT TAKES A COUPLE OF MONTHS TO ARRIVE , IN THE MEANTIME THEY SUBMIT A CLAIM HAVE NOT RECEIVED.

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@pierrelebel wrote:

You want questions?

I got a few more!

How many calls do you receive monthly at your Customer Service centres from Canadian and overseas buyers having questions, complaints or concerns about GSP?

How many calls do you receive monthly at your Customer Service centres from American sellers having questions, complaints or concerns about GSP?

How much does it cost eBay to handle those calls?

Based on your analysis of those calls, what percentage of Canadian buyers favour the program?  percentage of overseas buyers? percentage of American sellers?

Would it not make sense to minimize your call centre expenses by reducing those calls through better disclosure of the various costs (shipping, duty, taxes, fees) to buyers on the listing page?

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 BINGO NOW YOU ARE RED FLAGGED IN THE GLOBAL SHIPPING PROGRAM, THIS CREATES A LOT OF ILL FEELINGS ON BEHALF OF THE SELLER .

[shameless-vintage]

Hi everyone! I am brand new to ebay. Do Canadian based sellers have access to use Ebays global shipping program? Will we ever? If not what is your favourite international shipping method? I am selling Vintage clothing so the weight and measurements of packaging would not be much. Thank you in advance for any input. From what I have read on the board so far it seems like Canada Post does not have a very good track record for being an afforadable way to ship.

[femmefan1946]

No.

Which is a blessing.

The GSP was brought in to encourage US sellers, a provincial and xenophobic lot, to sell internationally, because US to US sales had stagnated.

The program allows terrified US sellers to ship with cheap USPS tracking to a US plant in Kentucky. After that the Global Shipping Program takes charge, levying a fee to pay applicable duty and sales taxes for the nervous seller. The seller only has to prove that the shipment arrived in KY.

Canadians are used to shipping to foreign countries (mostly the US , but still) so the need for the program is not there.

If you want to know the other reasons for not using the GSP, read the 7000 plus screams of agony and despair from Canadian buyers who are paying what they believe, correctly, to be unnecessarily inflated 'import charges' and consider what is happening to the feedback and DSRs of sellers using the GSP.

There is no saving to the buyer with the GSP.

You do not pay shipping. Your buyer pays shipping. If it is too high for her budget, she will go elsewhere. Some sales are not worth having.

Canada Post is not cheap, but you can save from the PO counter prices.

Use Paypal shipping labels. Depending on the service chosen you will pay from 5% to 18% less than PO counter prices.

Or use discounted mint stamps. You can save upwards of 20% off face value buying on eBay lots of mint postage.

Cover yourself by including self-insurance in your asking price. This just means putting a tiny amount into each asking price to cover the occasional claim. This will be hard to work out as a newbie, but you could ask on the dotCOM vintage boards how often experienced sellers have had claims per 100 sales or per $1000 sold.

When you start, sell only to Canada and the USA. overseas is .... fraught. Not that the buyers are a problem, but shipping overseas is tricky.

[femmefan1946]

Before you actually start selling on eBay, do some buying. I would suggest a metric scale, a tape measure, tissue paper, pretty stickers and poly envelopes.

Having some feedback is protection against scammers and also will show you how to sell and how not to sell.

[j978802]

I just purchased an item for $105, with reasonable Import charges of less than $20, and the eBay/Pitney Bowes GSP charged me over $90 for international priority shipping. Firstly, why does the GSP automatically choose to charge for the most expensive shipping option when we used to be able to negotiate with sellers for a reduced rate when we didn't wish for expedited priority shipping. My experience with prior items was that first class air mail int'l seemed to cost about half as much as expedited priority int'l shipping and was perfectly secure and only a little slower and was fine with me. Now there seems to be no way provided for me to negotiate shipping costs under GSP, not even any contact address or appeal process with eBay or Pitney Bowes to try to deal with this, and apparently sellers can't even request/make adjustments if they've signed up under GSP. Just pay-up and shut-up or face a non-payment threat/penalty if you don't want to pay these ludicrous fees (even though you do want the item you selected). I'll never buy anything here again that involves the GSP shipping charges and will in future only deal with sellers who can negotiate shipping rates. I doubt if buyers were ever consulted about these shipping changes as they provide us with no options and no rights and just the most expensive shipping system I've ever seen. eBay may just have found a way to eventually kill their golden goose since if we buyers rebel, eBay and the sellers are screwed. Power to the people, fellow buyers!!!!!