Am I Missing Something? (Another GSP Question...)

[00nevermind00]

I came across a GSP listing (who doesn't!) when browsing eBay earlier today. Have a look at this screen shot:

The item's price is definitely above the paltry $20 tax-free limit, yet there are no "import charges"??? I checked the same item on .com and the amount also comes up as zero for the "import charges".

What am I missing? Is this a new GSP twist? Or just a glitch? If I were to buy this, would the "import charges" suddenly jump to a more realistic amount? Not that I would buy it, mind you. It's a very small and light item that could ship directly for a few bucks. But I think about all those posts in which buyers claim that the "import charges" were not visible until they were committed, and I wonder...

[afantiques]

You could try the BUY button, you are not commited to buy till you commit to buy on the next screen but you should see the charges to your province. You can then simply back away and nothing is deemed to have happened. The item will remain availiable for sale to  another buyer till you actually commit.

Otherwise I have no idea. The mysterious ways of God are easier to understand than those of the GSP.

[pjcdn2005]

Great minds...I was just doing up some screen shots showing the same thing. They seem to be adding the import charge when the item is a bit over $50 C ($41ish U.S.)

Adding to the cart and checkout do not change the import charges that show on the listing.

[pjcdn2005]

The first pic shows an item over C$50 with import charges to Alberta. The 2nd pic shows no import charges for an item just under C$50 and the 3rd pic shows the same item in my cart with the same $0 import fees. The fees didn't change when I clicked on checkout although I didn't do a screen shot for that.

[pjcdn2005]

Earlier I found one for C$50.01 without an import charge so the threshold seems to be just above C$50

[pjcdn2005]

I clicked on commit to buy this one.

[pierrelebel]

"What am I missing?"

What is the description of the item?  Is it a tax exempt product (such as basic grocery?)

[pierrelebel]

The wallet was an auction listing with Buy-it-Now option.

The bidding was at $3.01 when the Buy-it-Now was made.

Is it possible that the system calculates "import charge" (zero) based on $3.01 the highest bid (under Cdn$ 20) at the time and will adjust at time of payment?

[00nevermind00]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

Great minds...I was just doing up some screen shots showing the same thing. They seem to be adding the import charge when the item is a bit over $50 C ($41ish U.S.)

Adding to the cart and checkout do not change the import charges that show on the listing.

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Thank you for confirming that I am not crazy 🙂

I checked some GSP items from the UK and they seem to still be charging Canadian buyers for "import charges" on items over $20.  Screen shot:

This is just one example but I did check several items. And I checked them on both the UK and the .ca sites.

Another thing: I started looking for more GSP items on .ca and .com and all of a sudden, I'm not finding any! I tried small, cheap items such as trinket fashion jewellery and coffee filters, and large, expensive ones such as TVs. Not a single GSP item appeared in m searches. I always use "List View." Is this happening to anyone else?

[00nevermind00]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

"What am I missing?"

What is the description of the item?  Is it a tax exempt product (such as basic grocery?)

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It was some jewellery item, a ring or earrings. I'm no longer sure which.

[arlene_v]

Thanks for posting this.

I've checked quite  a few items this AM, and items above $20 but under $50 (Can) are showing zero import charges, but slightly higher shipping costs, so maybe the import charges have simply been moved over to shipping costs for "optics"? Once the $50 threshold is reached the import charges appear but the shipping costs decrease. (I checked several sellers with similar items and this held true)

One thing I noticed too ...I've basically given up shopping on eBay because of the GSP and only rarely buy here  so don't look at listings  very often, but this morning I actually had difficulty finding GSP listings.

Are US sellers finally realising that the GSP is not to their advantage?  I had to scroll through dozens of listings to find the GSP ones.  Last year the GSP listings were a plague here, now, not so much. Oh happy day if this is the case.

[arlene_v]

In my earlier post I mentioned that there seem to be fewer GSP listings.

Well, not sure if this has been noted here before but I've discovered why this appeared to be the case.

When I was searching I limited my search results to "North America" for location, thinking that would result in getting US GSP items and eliminate all the international listings to make it faster to scroll through.

Well,  it appears  that eBay now considers ALL GSP sellers to be "International Sellers" and this filters those results from the search when  "North America" is selected for location. 

GSP listings all appear as "Other items from International Sellers" as a separate set of results.

So yes, a sort of filter. I scrolled through at least 400 vintage t-shirts and didn't find a single GSP item and was beginning to wonder why ....!

Wonder if this is just a glitch or a permanent change? It does appear that a certain amount of tweaking is going on behind the scenes with this program .

[00nevermind00]

________________________________________
arlene_v wrote:
I've checked quite a few items this AM, and items above $20 but under $50 (Can) are showing zero import charges, but slightly higher shipping costs, so maybe the import charges have simply been moved over to shipping costs for "optics"? Once the $50 threshold is reached the import charges appear but the shipping costs decrease. (I checked several sellers with similar items and this held true)
________________________________________

That's interesting! If you're right, then this program is now even less transparent than it was. The charges should be broken down clearly: how much goes to shipping, how much to PB for "services rendered" (ha!), how much for taxes and duties (if applicable). Maybe this would cut down (at least a little) on the accusations of "scam" and "rip-off" because buyers would know what they are paying for.

While they're at it, they should also stop using the words "International Priority Shipping" because it looks like a deliberate attempt to confuse buyers, who think that they are getting the USPS International Priority service when in actual fact, they are paying a lot for a cut-rate service. At best, this is misleading and it just adds to the overall confusion about this poorly explained program.

________________________________________
arlene_v wrote:
One thing I noticed too ...I've basically given up shopping on eBay because of the GSP and only rarely buy here so don't look at listings very often, but this morning I actually had difficulty finding GSP listings.

Are US sellers finally realising that the GSP is not to their advantage? I had to scroll through dozens of listings to find the GSP ones. Last year the GSP listings were a plague here, now, not so much. Oh happy day if this is the case.
________________________________________

Ditto! When the program was first introduced, I moved a lot of my eBay browsing over to the UK site but now that the GSP infestation has spread to that site, I hardly ever search for things to buy anymore. I have only bought a handful of items so far this year, and all of those were from sellers I've dealt with previously and who wouldn't dream of inflicting the GSP on their international buyers.

I wonder if this recent "lack" of GSP items is an effect of "Best Match". If so, it would be the first time ever that "Best Match" has actually matched anything I want! Except that I never use "Best Match". I always use "Ending Soonest" to sort out my searches.

Yesterday I searched for items again and some GSP items did appear, but not nearly as many as only a few days ago. One disturbing thing happened though: on the UK site, I was presented with "Gallery View" and had to switch to "List View". If "Gallery View" is made the default option, many buyers will not know to switch and will not see the warning GSP blurb.

[00nevermind00]

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@arlene_v wrote:

In my earlier post I mentioned that there seem to be fewer GSP listings.

Well, not sure if this has been noted here before but I've discovered why this appeared to be the case.

When I was searching I limited my search results to "North America" for location, thinking that would result in getting US GSP items and eliminate all the international listings to make it faster to scroll through.

Well,  it appears  that eBay now considers ALL GSP sellers to be "International Sellers" and this filters those results from the search when  "North America" is selected for location. 

GSP listings all appear as "Other items from International Sellers" as a separate set of results.

So yes, a sort of filter. I scrolled through at least 400 vintage t-shirts and didn't find a single GSP item and was beginning to wonder why ....!

Wonder if this is just a glitch or a permanent change? It does appear that a certain amount of tweaking is going on behind the scenes with this program .

---

Very interesting... I also used the "North America" filter to filter out all the Chinese sellers when I searched on .com but I don't remember using any such filter on the UK site.

There does indeed seem to be quite a bit of tinkering going on with the program at the moment. There are a number of posts on the .com boards about items actually being returned to the sellers from the hub. This also seems to be a new development.

It would be nice if we were told what is going on and what they are trying to do, but that is probably expecting too much. The weekly chat was cancelled last week on the US site but if it is on this week, and if I can attend, I may just ask a question about this.

[arlene_v]

Something has definitely changed in the way the search is now working on the .ca site for me anyway.

I love sterling purses and about a year ago many of them were listed under the GSP, much to my dismay.

Today there isn't a single one under the GSP when I search.

Another example ..."Towle sterling purse mirror." Despite the fact that there are GSP listings they do not appear in my primary search results.

Ditto for "Vintage t-shirts USA."

At first I thought it had to do with location but now I am wondering ?

This is very interesting. 

I might  start shopping here again.

[arlene_v]

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@00nevermind00 wrote:

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Very interesting... I also used the "North America" filter to filter out all the Chinese sellers when I searched on .com but I don't remember using any such filter on the UK site.

There does indeed seem to be quite a bit of tinkering going on with the program at the moment. 

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Try the eBay.ca site and you will be very pleased to see that GSP listings are now virtually invisible.

Here is hoping this is not just temporary.

They are still on the Ebay.com site so be sure to use the .ca site, this makes the difference. 

Has eBay finally responded to Canadian buyer feedback?

I almost feel like pinching myself to make sure I am not dreaming this but having done numerous searches today on the .ca site and not seeing all those horrible listings with the cheery  message about customs and international shipping ..... gosh it feels like 2012 again here on eBay.ca.

Whooohoooooooooo!!!!

[00nevermind00]

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@arlene_v wrote:

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Try the eBay.ca site and you will be very pleased to see that GSP listings are now virtually invisible.

Here is hoping this is not just temporary.

They are still on the Ebay.com site so be sure to use the .ca site, this makes the difference. 

Has eBay finally responded to Canadian buyer feedback?

I almost feel like pinching myself to make sure I am not dreaming this but having done numerous searches today on the .ca site and not seeing all those horrible listings with the cheery  message about customs and international shipping ..... gosh it feels like 2012 again here on eBay.ca.

Whooohoooooooooo!!!!

---

So let's recap:

1. All of a sudden, cheap (under $50) items that should normally be taxable show up with zero "import charges" on .com and .ca. This does not happen on the UK site where GSP items still show up with "import charges" as soon as their price goes over C$20. It is unclear whether the "import charges" are being folded into the shipping price or if they are simply not being assessed. If the latter, what happens to "no additional import charges at delivery!" (or whatever the wording is - please note that I did not omit the exclamation point, no doubt included to stress just how exciting this "feature" is supposed to be.)

2. Also all of a sudden, GSP items are conspicuously absent from .ca, unless one scrolls all the way down to the bottom, where they are bunched together with items from "international sellers".  GSP items still appear normally on .com and on the UK site.

The only explanation I can see to these sudden developments is that the never-ending flow of complaints from Canadian buyers was indeed heard and eBay finally realized that they were alienating many buyers. I wonder if this change came solely from the .ca management or if the powers-that-be in San Jose had something to do with it.

It would really be nice to know what happened, why and how. Let's hope that the weekly board hour does not get cancelled this week, as it has been on several occasions lately. I would really like for someone to ask about this (and I am prepared to do the asking.)

I may just start shopping here again also.  Woohoo indeed!!!

[arlene_v]

Just checked the date, no it isn't April1.

Phew!!!

I want to say a big thank you once again for starting this thread and pointing out the anomalous zero import charges on the .ca and .com sites VS the UK one,  and also the "missing" GSP listings.

Until this is confirmed  .... well, let me not be cynical but the complete lack of concern shown by anyone from eBay or PB towards the thousands of unhappy customers here for almost two years has left most of us that way, I think.

When I read the responses on the weekly Q&A hour from eBay staff to questions posed by long time respected posters here re the GSP,  I couldn't believe the brevity and the pat nature of those responses.

This attitude has probably alienated more buyers here than eBay will ever know.

The two GSP threads have been a PR disaster for this site, in my opinion. The complete absence of any sort of input - not even  a cursory once a month appearance by eBay or PB on one of those threads, has done nothing to build customer loyalty to this site.

So, let's see if eBay will make an announcement here (this is richly owed) and if these changes will last.

I will also check the weekly Q&A hour and see if they respond to your questions re these changes.

[adamcarlseventyfive]

I'm seeing the difference as well and I've ALREADY made a purchase because of it. 

[pocomocomputing]

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@00nevermind00 wrote:

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@arlene_v wrote:

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Try the eBay.ca site and you will be very pleased to see that GSP listings are now virtually invisible.

Here is hoping this is not just temporary.

They are still on the Ebay.com site so be sure to use the .ca site, this makes the difference. 

Has eBay finally responded to Canadian buyer feedback?

I almost feel like pinching myself to make sure I am not dreaming this but having done numerous searches today on the .ca site and not seeing all those horrible listings with the cheery  message about customs and international shipping ..... gosh it feels like 2012 again here on eBay.ca.

Whooohoooooooooo!!!!

---

So let's recap:

1. All of a sudden, cheap (under $50) items that should normally be taxable show up with zero "import charges" on .com and .ca. This does not happen on the UK site where GSP items still show up with "import charges" as soon as their price goes over C$20. It is unclear whether the "import charges" are being folded into the shipping price or if they are simply not being assessed. If the latter, what happens to "no additional import charges at delivery!" (or whatever the wording is - please note that I did not omit the exclamation point, no doubt included to stress just how exciting this "feature" is supposed to be.)

2. Also all of a sudden, GSP items are conspicuously absent from .ca, unless one scrolls all the way down to the bottom, where they are bunched together with items from "international sellers".  GSP items still appear normally on .com and on the UK site.

The only explanation I can see to these sudden developments is that the never-ending flow of complaints from Canadian buyers was indeed heard and eBay finally realized that they were alienating many buyers. I wonder if this change came solely from the .ca management or if the powers-that-be in San Jose had something to do with it.

It would really be nice to know what happened, why and how. Let's hope that the weekly board hour does not get cancelled this week, as it has been on several occasions lately. I would really like for someone to ask about this (and I am prepared to do the asking.)

I may just start shopping here again also.  Woohoo indeed!!!

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I doubt it was the number of complaints. Most likely there was a strong decline in sales to Canada from the USA over the past three years with no change in the trend. The only voice that was heard and listened to was the lost $$$$ in sales.

While the GSP may have increased international sales for other counties, it is an apparent failure in Canada for most items.

The complaints may have given reasons for the decline but the lost $$$ over the years is what pushed the apparent change.