eBay

kerstingunnel · ‎06-22-2013

Since 2009 I have been and am a VERY happy eBay buyer. The recent surge of US based eBay sellers partnering with GSP, however, has me scratch my head. From what I can tell, it postures to solve a completely non-existing problem while creating a very tangible and substantial one.

In the years I have been buying on eBay, a shipment to me from the US has NEVER ONCE been halted at the Canadian Border Agency to accrue charges of broker's fees, sales taxes and import charges. I have NOT PAID A CENT EVER in such charges for shipments originating from US based eBay sellers. Shipments can be halted, but in my own experience, they rarely, if ever, are.

For each and every purchase from a seller who is partnering with GSP, however, such charges are paid (probably in addition to monies paid to eBay and GSP for their hand in the arrangement) and paid substantially. In a typical eBay transaction an item won at $26 cost $11.50 to ship and $9.51 (!!!) in GSP import charges.

Postal rates have gone up steeply for international shipping recently, adding to the sudden increase in the cost of shipping to Canada..

EBay may not be able to influence US postal costs, but the GSP partnership with eBay vendors is definitely an area of eBay's direct control and prerogative.

I will not buy from an eBay business who partners with GSP.

This year we Canadians number 35 million people and I'm sure that there are many of them who LOVE eBay as much as I do. Since this is a substantial market, I think it would be exceedingly foolish and myopic of eBay to jeopardize it altogether by taking GSP on board. Several eBay sellers I have contacted say that if the partnership becomes mandatory, they will cease to offer their listings to Canadians. Some have tried to work with GSP and find immediately that it doesn't serve them or their Canadian customers well - they have subsequently backed out of the partnership. Many have figured out beforehand and on their own that it wouldn't be in their interest or that of their Canadian customers and they have not opted for bringing GSP on board. All sellers say that they are encouraged by eBay to partner with GSP.

Every seller I have discussed this issue with was under the impression that this a valuable service devised to streamline the buying process and solve existing problems for their Canadian customers. This is, then, patently untrue. If this is how eBay, against their better knowing, "sells" the GSP program to their vendors, eBay actively misleads them. If eBay is unaware of the real state of affairs in regards to import charges, it ought to look into the factual situation more diligently before making such a serious move. It appears to be a predatory and parasitic practise.

It seems, thus, that the arrangement benefits GSP, eBay and the coffers of Canada. It doesn't benefit eBay vendors or their Canadian customers. In the end, since we all coexist and are interdependent, if it chokes or severely affects the Canadian market, only GSP and the government of Canada come out the winners, not eBay, not eBay sellers, not Canadian eBay buyers.

Other US based on-line businesses are partnered with similar programs for shipping to Canadian customers, which is one of the reasons I always prefer to buy on eBay.

Why fix what works perfectly well without fixing?

melissasminis · ‎08-03-2013

Global shipping program is useless in my honest opinion, unless expensive non-american goods are shipped, then you still pay more through the GSP than you do at the door, haven't went through that yet, but if you do the math, it might add up that way. Never needed GSP before, now we have to pay up front. How about let the shipping companies dealing with the packages decide, or the Canadian government, not some strange company I never heard of. Someone to tell us we have to pay extra fees when in reality, those charges would not exist. What a shame the GSP has become to the buyers of ebay. I don't think it's right for USA only to be able to charge import taxes for other world governments, why can't we collect tax for the United States government as well, to see how they feel and like it. When?

exoteeth · ‎08-05-2013

On my package, there is NOTHING that stated the import charges have been paid.

While it might be comforting to have that statement, it is unnecessary. Your specific package is processed and the duty/taxes paid even before the item leaves PitneyBowes warehouse in the States. Then the sealed truck (or container, whatever) crosses the border without any reason for CBSA to look at it again. Hundreds of parcels, all with pre-paid tax/duty, in one sealed container/truck/ airplane hold.

What do you mean when you state that the item leaves their warehouse? So when I buy something from an ebay seller who is involved with this program, their packages are routed through their warehouse?

marnotom! · ‎08-05-2013

@exoteeth wrote:

What do you mean when you state that the item leaves their warehouse? So when I buy something from an ebay seller who is involved with this program, their packages are routed through their warehouse?

Yes. Global Shipping Program purchases are sent by the seller to a shipping centre in Kentucky which then forwards the item on to Canada. It's likely that a different carrier will handle the item in Canada than the one between Kentucky and the border entry point.

exoteeth · ‎08-06-2013

I just bout a pair of new AKG $200 headphones and paid $23.09 for the import tax. I think that's a pretty decent deal for this particular transaction. It's POSSIBLE they might not have dinged me but very doubtful for that amount. (Someone would have had to be in a good mood to let that slide)

00nevermind00 · ‎08-06-2013

@exoteeth wrote:
I just bout a pair of new AKG $200 headphones and paid $23.09 for the import tax. I think that's a pretty decent deal for this particular transaction. It's POSSIBLE they might not have dinged me but very doubtful for that amount. (Someone would have had to be in a good mood to let that slide)

It has been proven that the GSP can be a good deal for buyers in some circumstances. The problem is that ebay is pushing the program (in rather dubious ways, I might add) indiscriminately. And there are a lot of sellers who leap without looking first. I was looking at a seller's ad for hairbands yesterday. The very type of hairbands that you'll find in abundance at any drugstore. Starting price of 99 cents, which is pretty good for two packs of those things. But the GSP shipping to Canada was over $15 and to Australia, it was a whooping $25+. If those charges aren't a deal killer, then I don't know the meaning of the word.

In most cases, seeing the GSP means that you keep looking until you find the same item from another seller. But in the case of one-of-a-kind collectibles, it can be a real heartbreaker.

pimpbike_undertails · ‎08-06-2013

Since this GSP started I have not purchased from any US seller that has enroled in GSP. USPS shipping prices are too high now also. I buy only from china now.

scyllaca · ‎08-08-2013

I can't believe what a rip-off this new Global Shipping Program is. The price of every auction I might be interested in has risen at least 25%. EBay is ruined for me.

From now on it's Canadian sellers for me or US sellers who've opted out of the GSP program, although that's going to really limit why I'll be buying. The China thing isn't a bad idea either and shipping is nearly as fast (likely faster than with a GSP order in fact).

I think eBay has made a big mistake with this.

xenotime · ‎08-09-2013

@exoteeth wrote:
I just bout a pair of new AKG $200 headphones and paid $23.09 for the import tax. I think that's a pretty decent deal for this particular transaction. It's POSSIBLE they might not have dinged me but very doubtful for that amount. (Someone would have had to be in a good mood to let that slide)

Yup, I knew it. Too good to be true. I emailed the seller of the headphones and asked where he is sending them too. He told me he was about to ship them via Fedex Ground to my actual address. He knows NOTHING of a forwarding address. So in other words, I WILL INDEED be paying customs twice.

reallynicestamps · ‎08-09-2013

Never needed GSP before, now we have to pay up front.

Instead of getting a shock on your doorstep, you are told how much Canadian taxes and duty will be, before you pay.

How about let the shipping companies dealing with the packages decide, or the Canadian government, not some strange company I never heard of.

You've never heard of Pitney Bowes.? They've been major players in the shipping and labelling business since 1957. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitney_Bowes

And, as mentioned above, they are collecting and remitting taxes and duty for the Canadian federal and provincial governments.

Someone to tell us we have to pay extra fees when in reality, those charges would not exist.

Canadians are required to pay applicable sales taxes (including on used products) if the value is over $20. Canada Post will add to that a $10 service charge. However, what fools many who only occasionally import items, is that CP is very lax about charging those required payments. Other couriers will certainly charge them, which is why you can probably find archived on this site a thread complaining about UPS charges (which start around $25) for customs brokerage.

The advantages of having your seller ship by USPS /Canada Post is that CP might not bother to charge you. But you can't count on it.

The disadvantages for the buyer seem to be appearing with unsatisfactory products. EBay did not work through the entire system to cope with Disputes. The US seller is protected by cheap confirmed delivery shipping to the PB shipping centre. If he succeeds in showing that the item arrived there, there does not appear to be a clear method of dealing with items that are not received by the foreign buyer.

marnotom! · ‎08-09-2013

@xenotime wrote:

@exoteeth wrote:
I just bout a pair of new AKG $200 headphones and paid $23.09 for the import tax. I think that's a pretty decent deal for this particular transaction. It's POSSIBLE they might not have dinged me but very doubtful for that amount. (Someone would have had to be in a good mood to let that slide)

Yup, I knew it. Too good to be true. I emailed the seller of the headphones and asked where he is sending them too. He told me he was about to ship them via Fedex Ground to my actual address. He knows NOTHING of a forwarding address. So in other words, I WILL INDEED be paying customs twice.

This is a case of a seller not knowing what the Hades they're doing, obviously, not necessarily a problem with the GSP in and of itself. My understanding from the U.S. boards is that GSP participants get instructions at auction's end about where to send the item, so something's gone amiss there.

If you can't set the seller straight at this point, you may have to wait until you receive the package. Double-check the information on it and if it doesn't look as though it came from Kentucky (rather than California), I would suggest you refuse it if you have the stomach to go through the rigamarole of a non-delivery claim.

marnotom! · ‎08-09-2013

@reallynicestamps wrote:

Canadians are required to pay applicable sales taxes (including on used products) if the value is over $20. Canada Post will add to that a $10 service charge. However, what fools many who only occasionally import items, is that CP is very lax about charging those required payments. Other couriers will certainly charge them, which is why you can probably find archived on this site a thread complaining about UPS charges (which start around $25) for customs brokerage.

The advantages of having your seller ship by USPS /Canada Post is that CP might not bother to charge you. But you can't count on it.

Really nice post, Stamps. 🙂 I would just make one small correction: Canada Post doesn't charge the tax portion of the charge: Canada Border Services does. Canada Post merely collects the taxes due, and of course, and then adds its ten buck fee for doing that and remitting the taxes, blah loblaw...

exoteeth · ‎08-12-2013

@xenotime wrote:

@exoteeth wrote:
I just bout a pair of new AKG $200 headphones and paid $23.09 for the import tax. I think that's a pretty decent deal for this particular transaction. It's POSSIBLE they might not have dinged me but very doubtful for that amount. (Someone would have had to be in a good mood to let that slide)

Yup, I knew it. Too good to be true. I emailed the seller of the headphones and asked where he is sending them too. He told me he was about to ship them via Fedex Ground to my actual address. He knows NOTHING of a forwarding address. So in other words, I WILL INDEED be paying customs twice.

Ok, so it turns out the shipper waited a bit to figure out what was going on and he did end up shipping it to Kentucky...This is the first international shipment he has made since he switched to GSP.

Anyway, I have two questions.

1) The seller told me if he had shipped it directly to Canada, it would have cost him a lot more. So I'm wondering...Are Canadians paying less for shipping or just the US sellers? (If it's the later, is the shipping fee being divided up or something?)

2) When the label is printed out to Pitney Bowes, in Kentucky, how do they know where to forwarded it? Is my address somewhere on the label or is it stored electronically?

marnotom! · ‎08-13-2013

@exoteeth wrote:

Anyway, I have two questions.

1) The seller told me if he had shipped it directly to Canada, it would have cost him a lot more. So I'm wondering...Are Canadians paying less for shipping or just the US sellers? (If it's the later, is the shipping fee being divided up or something?)

2) When the label is printed out to Pitney Bowes, in Kentucky, how do they know where to forwarded it? Is my address somewhere on the label or is it stored electronically?

1. The seller gets paid the item's price plus whatever they would charge for shipping the item to Erlanger, Kentucky. The buyer pays for that amount, the import charges and whatever it costs to get the item from KY to its destination.

You should see two separate payments in your PayPal account for the sale: One for the seller and one for the GSP. The two payments should add up to the total that you paid in Checkout.

2. That's a good question. I haven't heard anything about this from the seller on the .com site International Trading discussion board who's done some experiements with the GSP on how this is done. Perhaps the item number has to be put on the package as a reference or the GSC provides its own reference numbers for the seller to use.

xenotime · ‎08-13-2013

@marnotom! wrote:
1. The seller gets paid the item's price plus whatever they would charge for shipping the item to Erlanger, Kentucky. The buyer pays for that amount, the import charges and whatever it costs to get the item from KY to its destination.

You should see two separate payments in your PayPal account for the sale: One for the seller and one for the GSP. The two payments should add up to the total that you paid in Checkout.

Ok, thanks. I don't know why shipping was so cheap on my end. The seller must have paid extra out his pocket. He shipped it via Fedex and I only paid US $23.45. Doesn't seem to be Ground either, things are moving too fast.

marnotom! · ‎08-13-2013

@xenotime wrote:

Ok, thanks. I don't know why shipping was so cheap on my end. The seller must have paid extra out his pocket. He shipped it via Fedex and I only paid US $23.45. Doesn't seem to be Ground either, things are moving too fast.

The seller charges US$10 to ship the headphones to Kentucky, where the Global Shipping Center is located. I'm guessing that the reference to FedEx that you're quoting is how the headphones got to Kentucky.

The rest of the shipping charge--US$13.45--you paid to the Global Shipping Program, not the seller, so nothing should have come out of the seller's pocket for shipping the headphones from Kentucky to your location in Canada.

Your headphones are likely part of a larger shipment that will get broken up somewhere down the line.

exoteeth · ‎08-13-2013

I was just checking out the tracking, and I thought this was interesting. It says delivered (in KY) but it's almost as if the shipping and/or tracking process is over and done with. How long should I expect the package to sit there?

- 8/13/2013 - Tuesday
9:47 am	Delivered	KY
7:35 am	On FedEx vehicle for delivery	HEBRON, KY
7:34 am	At local FedEx facility	HEBRON, KY
4:23 am	Departed FedEx location	INDIANAPOLIS, IN
1:47 am	Arrived at FedEx location	INDIANAPOLIS, IN
- 8/12/2013 - Monday
7:19 pm	Departed FedEx location	OAKLAND, CA
6:07 pm	Left FedEx origin facility	EMERYVILLE, CA
5:03 pm	Picked up	OAKLAND, CA

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2013

It can take a few days. Some people even said they received the package before anything new appeared on that tracking page. Hopefully, that will be your case 😉

marnotom! · ‎08-13-2013

What the Lady said. 😉

Since the item is going to be handed off to another carrier at this point, you're not going to see any further FedEx tracking information on it.

exoteeth · ‎08-14-2013

Thanks Guys...And Gals. But your great responces always leed to more questions. 🙂

So how does both buyer and seller protection work, if the tracking ends in the USA? It seems to me that US sellers aren't as well protected.

marnotom! · ‎08-14-2013

This page will get you started on your next set of answers (and questions?):

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/shipping/globalshippingprogram/faq.html#protection

By the way, the tracking shouldn't "end in the U.S." I just said that you won't see any further FedEx tracking on the item. You should be able to see tracking from another carrier (or two) after that, but as Lady Stark suggests, it may be nothing like real-time tracking.