Global Shipping Program - The Black Hole | Buying | eBay Canada EN

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Global Shipping Program - The Black Hole | Buying | eBay Canada EN

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Global Shipping Program - The Black Hole

Summary: cleaninghouseinc criticizes the Global Shipping Program (GSP) and Pitney Bowes for lacking transparency and providing no tracking updates, leading to a frustrating package delay. baxterdmutt echoes similar sentiments, describing inefficiencies and detours in the shipping routes that increase delivery times, and compares this unfavorably to Amazon's shipping. mrdutch1001 questions why buyers continue using sellers who participate in these programs, to which baxterdmutt responds that they are sometimes given no choice due to limited availability of desired items. marnotom! suggests an alternative using package forwarding services, though warns of potential loss of eBay buyer protections. reallynicestamps offers insights into shipment processing timings and mentions that the GSP is being phased out, indicating a shift in handling import fees. aramatic offers a contrasting view, stating that while they once complained about GSP, the cost and service could be worse.

Why is it that the Global Shipping Program and Pitney Bowes ship is such a disaster. As soon as the parcel hits the Global Shipping Centres there is zero tracking information provided. I have a package that shows zero updates for the last 7 calendar days. Ebay customer support is zero help, Pitney Bowes is zero help, the seller is zero help and I see nothing but complaints online about this program yet Ebay just continues to use this horrible program. I see no value in using this **bleep**py shipping program with a company that makes photo copiers. LOL what a complete joke.

cleaninghouseinc

236 View listings

Posted 5 years ago·Last reply 3 years ago

21 comments

kh-leslie

·3 years ago

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.

aramatic

·3 years ago

I'm a reformed sinner. I used to complain constantly about Global Shipping until I realised things could be worse. And now they are. I used to rail against what to me were vaguely calculated "import charges" but they're nothing compared to provincial and federal tax + $9.95 for handling + occasional duty on just about anything worth more than $20. And the delivery times are no better. On every item I think of buying from the US that isn't sent by GPS I add 12% + $9.95 before making a decision.

baxterdmutt

·3 years ago

I see a lot of people defending the GSP but they’ve clearly never had to endure their product sitting at USPS for 3 days because they are closed on weekends. Then there’s the fact that it goes from the west, all the way east to come into Canada on the wrong side of the country. Of course add the inordinate amount of time it sits at the GSP partner with a tracking number attached. 3 days now. If this is like the last 3 times I’ve been forced to endure this program, it will sit there until at least next Monday. (It’s Wednesday today) The whole week wasted. I read another thread in this forum where it was all blamed on a postal strike in Canada years ago. Well so far, it hasn’t made it to the boarder so don’t try blaming border services. This package originated in Glendale CA. I order another package direct from a business in San Diego later the same day I ordered this item. The San Diego package (about the same size and via regular mail) arrived this morning. If sellers want to keep making money on EBay then EBay needs to fix this or buyers just won’t come. I only buy used on eBay now because Amazon international shipping does not have this problem. Ok there you have it. This was likely a total waste of text so let the haters and the Ebay staff shoot me down.

mrdutch1001

·3 years ago

If a buyer has endured an unhappy experienced with USA sellers using said shipping programs, why would a buyer continue to purchase from sellers who use these shipping programs & take the risk of a repeat said experience? Sorry, but how does one expect sympathy for buyers who continue to purchase from sellers who use these shipping programs and then rant & complain about their continuing unhappy experiences?

NO buyer is "forced to endure this program"...

It's the buyer's choice from whom to purchase items...Buyers have the choice to refuse to purchase from a seller who uses these shipping systems/programs...

Buyers CAN say NO!

baxterdmutt

·3 years ago

Maybe because like me, I needed a special part and the only place that had it was a USA seller. I tried to get him to ship direct, but he said ebay doesn’t allow that. He would have no seller protection. I don’t believe that is correct but when you read stuff on eBay it almost sounds like that’s true. I think it’s shameful to put the eBay shipping problem onto the seller like you have done. The problem is with eBay. Not with the buyer and certainly not with the seller. Some sellers have never experienced this nonsense. You wanna blame them for buying on eBay too!!!

mrdutch1001

·3 years ago

any USA seller who says eBay doesn't allow them to ship directly to a buyer is full of BS and simply chooses not to ship directly to a buyer because they either cannot be bothered to do so>it's much easier to pass the buck as they do not want to accept ANY responsibility for the shipment of their items...

marnotom!

·3 years ago

@baxterdmutt wrote:

I see a lot of people defending the GSP but they’ve clearly never had to endure their product sitting at USPS for 3 days because they are closed on weekends. Then there’s the fact that it goes from the west, all the way east to come into Canada on the wrong side of the country.

The now-defunct GSP and its successor “eBay International Shipping” catch a lot of misdirected flack from buyers who don’t understand why these forwarding services work the way they do. For example, if your description of a three-day delay on USPS’s part is accurate, the item wouldn’t have even been in the GSP’s or eIS’s possession at that point.

A possible way out of having eIS handle the forwarding of your items to western Canada is to enlist the services of a package forwarding service based in the western US. (Oregon is a good choice of location as it has no sales tax to apply to your purchases.) That way, your items will just have to head north after the forwarder receives them. The downside of this solution is that you’d be giving up most if not all your buyer protections through the eBay Money Back Guarantee, so if your item is lost or damaged on the forwarder’s watch, you’d have to deal directly with them for compensation.

baxterdmutt

·3 years ago

So to update how absolutely stupid this program is here is how my lastest packaged travelled:
-From the seller in CA via USPS going to the west coast of canada.
- made it’s way across to the eastern USA and after waiting for the weekend to pass, was delivered to some 3rd party shipper.
-sat in their building for 3 days
-was put right back into USPS to be mailed to Canada.
This is absolutely stupid. If the package had just stayed in the USPS system it would have stayed in the west of the USA and made it across the border in Washington and be delivered by now. Come on EBay…Fix this nonsense or loose customers.

pjcdn2005

·3 years ago

@baxterdmutt

That's odd as the new EIS system has a warehouse in California and one in Illinois. I'm surprised that it wasn't processed there. The seller definitely used eBay international shipping?

I'm curious...does the tracking actually say that usps was used for the next leg? I didn't think EIS used usps after it arrived at the shipping Center. It would be nice if they did though.

baxterdmutt

·3 years ago

Absolutely used EBay’s program. And yes, the package is right back into USPS
“Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS. The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified on August 10, 2023 to expect this package for mailing. This message does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date. Please be advised tracking is not available for this product.”

marnotom!

·3 years ago

@baxterdmutt@pjcdn2005

This program is called “eBay International Shipping” and not “eBay Canada Shipping.” I suspect each destination country has only one “port of entry” for everything sent through the program. Mississauga makes the most sense as it’s located in Canada’s most populous province and a lot of carriers have hubs in the region, including Canada Post’s Gateway facility. As more hubs have been developed (I suspect the one in California is presently designed for shipments headed across the Pacific), there may be plans to fine-tune the direction of shipments to Canada in the future.

As it is, the listings have a delivery time estimate. My one item handled by eIS made it to me within that timeframe, so I don’t really care what sort of journey it took.

By the way, @baxterdmutt, I don’t know where you are in western Canada, but I’m on Vancouver Island. If I mail a letter to my neighbour across the street, it goes across the Strait to Richmond to be sorted before coming back to my town’s post office (a ten minute drive from my neighbourhood) before going out for delivery.

And about a year ago, I ordered an item from China (from the manufacturer/distributor, not through eBay) that went to Mississauga first before heading back to where I am on the west coast.

baxterdmutt

·3 years ago

Well I suspected that to about 1 port of entry. But I’ve received ebay packages that have done what this one is doing and came right back on the USA side at Vancouver. (Surrey actually) You know it astounds me how customers (there’s all sorts of comments about this **bleep**py service, not just me) trying to inform about how it disuades from eBay buying. Instead you defend it. You’d think the buyers would want better service. You maybe want to try buying something from Amazon.com (not .ca) and see the difference in speed. It’s remarkable. Oh and the distance from one of the islands to Richmond does not even come close to comparing sending it 3/4 the way across the country.

marnotom!

·3 years ago

I’ve been making online purchases of items from the US and elsewhere for almost a quarter century now, and my experiences with delivery times are similar to those of @reallynicestamps: I usually allow two to three weeks for items sent by regular mail.

It’s not necessarily that eBay’s forwarding schemes are slow; they’re generally pretty average. It’s more that Amazon’s network of warehouses and in-house transportation system gives them a lot more control over shipments than what eBay can accomplish without a warehouse system and with a reliance on the seller to get the item out to a forwarding hub in a timely fashion with accurate information on the item being shipped.

You’re expecting eBay—a Greyhound bus—to get your item to you in the same sort of timeframe as Amazon—a 737—when the two e-tailers have completely different inventory systems (i.e. eBay has none) and shipping models. Your expectations are, quite frankly, more than a little unrealistic.

My point about mail on Vancouver Island going to the mainland to be processed had nothing to do with transportation times or distances, only that items being shipped don't necessarily take the "easiest" path and this sort of shipping is not exclusive to eIS.

reallynicestamps

·3 years ago

Neither the USPS nor Canada Post is "closed" on weekends.

Canada Post offices and USPS offices are not open to accept mailings.

(Postal Outlets are open to accept mailings or hand over packages if the store they are in is open.)
USPS delivers and is open to accept mail on Saturdays (with some exceptions).

And both services are still processing shipments all weekend,ready to move out on Monday.

FWIW- I 've been selling mail order since the 70s (we used to sell cast iron stoves and advertised in Harrowsmith) and it's been my experience that it takes up to 21 days for delivery anywhere in North America, whether you start in Texas and ship to Ontario or start in ON and ship to TX.

it hasn’t made it to the boarder so don’t try blaming border services.

The GSP does clear shipments going to Canada while the package is still in Kentucky. It is not unusual for a cross-border shipper to do this. They are supervised by CBSA but the assessment is not done by CBSA officers.

The GSP is being phased out, so in future you will be paying any import fees at the doorstep and not before the seller ships. This means if you are not home when the carrier arrives, you will have to go to the carrier terminal to pay and pick up your parcel.

reallynicestamps

·3 years ago

If you have a problem with porch pirates, and I hope you immediately reported the theft to your local police, you may want to set up Flex-Delivery at your local PO.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/personal/receiving/alternative-delivery/flexdelivery.page

It's free.

baxterdmutt

·3 years ago

Yea, you are absolutely correct. Canada post and USPS are definitely open on weekends. I never said THEY were closed. The people Ebay contracts as the middleman are not open and so the package lost 3 days. I don’t know why USPS couldn’t deliver on the Monday.
Nonsense. It does not take 21 days. I buy lots of stuff from the USA. 10 days at most. Sure, something like a cast iron stove will take longer. It’s not going to go by usps. I buy a monthly coffee and it takes from 6-8 days regular mail. I buy stuff on Amazon.com (not .ca) and they collect the taxes and import fees. The last one I bought came from Texas and it took a long time - 11 days.
I don’t care how long you’ve been selling. I’ve been buying and buyers can experience the different speeds of shipping. EBay is horrible. Stop making excuses. I’m happy to pay the fees when the item gets here. EBay always charges, but if it’s shipped direct, and less than $150cdn CBSA lets it go without taxes. (There is never duty coming into Canada from the USA) so with eBay I have the privilege of paying an import fee on top of taxes for exceptionally awful service, where had it shipped direct, there’s a good bet I wouldn’t pay any extra. Please don’t try to tell me I’m wrong about this part.