international priority shipping

[greatjay]

international priority shipping -  to Canada -  GIANT RIPOFF benefiting Ebay, paypal and the company that does the actual shipping.   example - item listed at $US 1.18  buy it now with s/h via international priority shipping  $12.63 .    WE THE BUYER should be allowed to opt to use USPS which is much less costly and faster.   Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[femmefan1946]

International Priority Shipping isn't a thing.

It's just a name that eBay uses to cover hundreds of different services from the 175+ postal systems (not counting private couriers) in the Universal Postal Union.

If you mean the Global Shipping Program, that is a seller protection service which can be used by US and UK sellers to protect themselves from the horrors of dealing with foreigners.

Hard to spot if you browse on a phone, but on a computer the words:

Customs services and international tracking provided

Will show on Search.

Don't buy those.

Because our Canadian duty-free allowance is only $20(~$15US) the GSP is not a useful way to import goods.

However, it should also be noted that any seller who is so xenophobic that he uses the GSP on a dollar store item, is probably not capable of dealing with reality, nevermind overseas customers.

You can contact the seller and ask that he use USPS for your purchase, keeping in mind that he is probably pretty paranoid if he is using GSP, that his profit margin is too low to make any special effort worth his while, and that the cost of shipping has little or nothing to do with the value of the item being shipped.

WE THE BUYER should be allowed to opt to use USPS 

No.

It is the seller's responsibility to get the purchase to the buyer in a timely and secure manner. He chooses the shipping service with that in mind.

[pjcdn2005]

You can ask the seller if they will ship direct to you but if the item isn’t letter size or if the seller is only willing to ship with tracking,  the minimum usps first class parcel postage cost starts at US$10.  

[femmefan1946]

Good point.

Here is the actual pricing a US seller sees when he wants to ship internationally.

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

Note that letter rates, which  are not available for online printing, are not included, and that the cheapest rates, First Class International Package, is at the bottom of the list.

[marnotom!]

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@greatjay wrote:

international priority shipping -  to Canada -  GIANT RIPOFF benefiting Ebay, paypal and the company that does the actual shipping.   example - item listed at $US 1.18  buy it now with s/h via international priority shipping  $12.63 .    WE THE BUYER should be allowed to opt to use USPS which is much less costly and faster.   Thanks for taking the time to read this.

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Just to add to the excellent points already made:

When used in relation to the Global Shipping Program (GSP), "International Priority Shipping" simply refers to a network of carriers, freight forwarders and logistics companies that Pitney Bowes (administrators of the GSP) uses in the process of forwarding items onto their buyers once the sellers have shipped them to a hub in Kentucky.  It serves about 100 countries in addition to Canada.  It works well for many of those countries, generally not so well for Canada because of our proximity to the United States and our very established trade relationship with that country and the infrastructure supporting that trade.

But consider how the Global Shipping Program works.  If you've scanned through Pitney Bowes' terms and conditions that buyers have agreed to, you'll note that it relies a lot on sellers doing certain things properly.  Ironically, they don't have an agreement with Pitney Bowes the way buyers do and many of them are unaware that they're even using the program, so these sellers end up not providing the information that Pitney Bowes requires so that the GSP bot can calculate an accurate shipping rate.  The bot has to make a guess or sorts based on a category average, instead.

If you don't want the GSP handling your items and you can't convince a seller using it to ship directly to you, consider establishing a US address to get items like this sent for you to either pick up at some point or to have forwarded to you.  Just like the good ol' days before the GSP eliminated many "ships to US only" listings.

[canada_anton]

yes i am reluctant to buy ANYTHING now from eBay as I have been burned by FedEx and UPS ... the seller makes me pay for shipping, customs and then the couriers charge you a fee when you sign for it. It is a complete con and eBay know about it. That is why people are using Facebook Marketplace now

[canada_anton]

the main difference between USPS and FedEx or UPS is that USPS DO NOT charge import fees like the couriers (can be anything from $10-$100 for the item and you have to pay by card before they give you your package). It is DAYLIGHT ROBBERY. eBay is totally in on this.

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.