I too recently "caved in" and bought an item within the GSP, and I've been meaning to post my experience on these boards, since there has been so much railing against the GSP and very little first hand experience from posters or real-world analysis of it.
I purchased an item from US GSP seller (located in New York City) on Sept. 29th, somewhat against my better judgment, but this was an item I'd been unable to find anywhere, on or off eBay, was something I specifically wanted, and the base price was excellent.
I first asked the seller very nicely if he'd considered relisting the item outside the GSP. The poor guy didn't even know how he'd gotten himself into it, let alone what the programme was, and had no idea how to opt out for one item, a telling reflection of how poorly eBay has been informing US sellers about the details of the programme and how strongly eBay has been promoting it.
I explained to my US seller how the GSP worked, and its perceived disadvantages from Canadian buyers' point of view. However, he was so unsure of how to proceed, and it was getting very complicated emailing back and forth, so I finally told him I'd just purchase the item as listed, with the GSP. Here is what I paid ($US):
Base price: $110.98 (an outstanding price for this item - 9-1/4 yards of top quality Italian pure wool fabric)
My seller's shipping charges: $19.98 (i.e. price to ship to the "hub" in Kentucky, a good price considering the weight)
Additional shipping charges: $17.26 (from Kentucky "hub" to my address in Nova Scotia)
Import charges: $30.86 (Includes Pitney-Bowes' fees plus applicable HST/GST; Based on 15% HST, the breakdown would be roughly: HST: $16.80 [on a ca. $112 Cdn purchase]; P-B's own fees: $14.06.
So the total I paid was: $179.08
A tracking number was issued by eBay, and I followed the tracking, showing about 3 days' delay at Kentucky. I recall it was a private delivery at this end, not CP. Total transit time from date of purchase was about 8 business days, not outstanding, but quite acceptable. The parcel was (fortunately) not torn open and repacked at Kentucky, but I had specifically asked the seller to put a packing slip on the front of the parcel (I always do this when shipping an item over $200 to the US, in the hope that the official-looking eBay/Paypal slip may dissuade Customs from rooting through the box itself).
Now for the comparative analysis:
(a) Local Purchase: If I had bought this fabric locally, I likely would have paid at the very least, $30 to $40/metre x 9.0m = $270.00 minimum base price, plus HST/GST of $40.50 = $310.50 total, plus I would have to factor in the cost of driving (probably to Halifax) to find it, another $15 or so.
(b) Non eBay internet seller: I do buy similar wool fabric occasionally from a favourite (non-eBay) supplier in the US who uses USPS for shipping, so I know almost exactly what this shipment would have cost if I'd purchased it from them: Roughly $20/yard x 9.25yds = $185.00 + about $40 shipping = $225.00, plus $33.75 HST/GST, plus CP's fees which I believe are currently $9.95, for a total of $268.70.
(c) EBay Seller: The above total might be lower from an eBay seller offering a better per yard price and lower shipping costs, but likely not more than about $50 less (I did check before choosing my GSP seller - similar fabrics were selling at $20 to $25/yd by others). For the sake of analysis, I'd say about $220.00 total.
(d) EBay Non-GSP Purchase (or other internet seller) assuming no HST/GST charged: If this purchase could get through Canada Border Services without being charged HST/GST then a non-GSP EBay seller might be a comparable choice (para. (c) above), except that my experience is that items of this type and value rarely get through Canada Border Services without charge.
So this particular transaction was a win for me, because it was highly unlikely this parcel would get through in any case without HST/GST and CP's fees being charged.
The bottom line, as I see it, is not that the GSP is necessarily a bad programme for every purchase, for every Canadian, but that it can work if you're very careful about when you choose it. Obviously for items under $20 in value, some will object to an automatic HST/GST + broker charge. It's hardly worth it for that value. However, once you're looking at buying something that will most likely attract HST/GST at the border anyway, you have to look at the total cost of the transaction, and do your own math to work out the approximate HST/GST and broker fees.
So I would say that if you find something on eBay that is rare or excellent quality at an outstanding price, if it's worth more than about $100, it may not be a disadvantage to use a GSP seller.
Now, granted, I still have my criticisms, even after this relatively positive experience:
1) US sellers seem to have been railroaded into the GSP without understanding what it is, or what their buyers are paying, which in my view is wrong;
2) Buyers are not shown the full breakdown of costs until they are at the point of purchase (i.e. invoice), which in my view is wrong;
3) For a buyer, trying to parse out the details of the transaction after the fact takes some accounting skill and determination -- I ended up printing out 11 pages of information from eBay/Paypal in order to be able to break down all the details;
4) Returns -- I'm still not sure exactly how I would have had to handle a return if I'd been unhappy with the item. The seller offered returns with money refunded, but how? And who pays the return shipping, and to where? These details aren't made clear to the buyer at the time of purchase.
Overall then, I would say that I'd only choose a GSP seller if I knew the price was so good, or the item so impossible to find elsewhere, that the total costs were worth it.
I think the main message is that you do need to be an informed purchaser to buy with the GSP, and that means knowing your item value/prices, being aware what GST/HST will apply (and being prepared to have to pay it), knowing that brokers' fees will be charged, and knowing that you can pretty much double the shipping cost shown by the seller (or look up USPS shipping prices from Kentucky to your own location -- this will give you some idea of what the GSP portion of the shipping will cost).
w~~_7.JPG "pjcdn2005"){kind=avatar}
zW2Ig~~60_7.JPG "brandeentertainment"){kind=avatar}
