eBay

komics4sale · ‎10-29-2015

I have read hundreds & hundreds of comments about the Global Shipping Program.

All comments were from Canadian shoppers & approx 95% of them were negative.

From the 5%, 4% were neutral & 1% was positive.

Of the 1% of the positive comments, they came mostly from the same few posters.

I have just thought up a brilliant plan for Canadians who just detest this GLOBAL SHIPPING PROGRAM:

I plan to have a CANAM Global Shipping Program instituted myself.

My neighbor across the street has agreed to be my Shipper.

His name is Mr. Pit Bull.

All items purchased from the USA from me will provide the following advantages to the USA buyer:

(1) No duty or taxes will need to be paid upon reception of parcel as I will assess the approx duty & remit the amount it to a worthwhile Charity.

(2) An approximate shipping cost will be stated in my ebay description.

Depending of the final sale price, I will revise the shipping cost. If it is sunny outside, I will only add a little to my original shipping cost. If raining, the extra shipping cost may be a bit more than expected.

ie For sending 1 Comic Book which sold at $2 to the USA, the shipping cost will be $50.

*Reason it is $50 is that I must first send it to my neighbor.

*a bit of the $50 must go to my neighbor as they won't do this for free for me

*When they receive the package, they will open it & repackage it as they see fit.

*No matter that my neighbour doesn't care much about Comic Books & they may even read it first before repacking it & may even unknowingly damage the collector comic.

*Then they will send it as soon as they can to the buyer, hopefully a week after I first mailed it.

*They may even remove some of the cardboard protection that I originally placed in the parcel I mailed. This of course is to minimize the weight & up their profit margin

(3) Any potential problems with the comic will be directed at my neighbor. No matter that they know zilch about comics.

(4) Tracking can be provided if the buyer wishes, but it will be another $12 on top of the original $50. No matter if the original price of the comic is only $2.

PROBABLE RESULT IS THAT I MAY NOT SELL TOO MANY THINGS TO THE USA UNDER THIS PROGRAM.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, MY NEIGHBOR MAY BE GIVING ME MUCH BETTER XMAS GIFTS NOW THAN IN THE PAST.

mikeandterri1987 · ‎10-29-2015

You must be a USA vendor.

Anyway, my biggest beef with the GSP is that it charges us duty on items valued at less than $50 that, if shipped via normal methods, means we wouldn't normally pay the duty. Over the course of a number of purchases that amount gets a bit costly and could have easily been avoided.

pierrelebel · ‎10-29-2015

"it charges us duty on items valued at less than $50"

Actually there is a general misunderstanding about "duty"/

In most instances, the Global Shipping Program does not charge "duty".

Buyers pay a "shipping charge" and "import charge" (made of consumption taxes - GST/HST/PST - and a brokerage fee of about $4/$5).

"Duty" (when applicable) is charged on very few items as goods manufactured in the USA are generally exempt of duty if identified as such by the seller.

mikeandterri1987 · ‎10-29-2015

Getting a bit pedantic are we Pierre? Call it what you want; duty / import charges / shipping charges or even beer money for GSP employees. It's still something we dont need to pay when the item is shipped by post and valued at $50 or less.

komics4sale · ‎10-30-2015

No...I'm 1 of many thousands of Canadian ebayers who watches with disbelief how this Global Shipping Program has been operating.

I posted my thoughts half in frustration & half in jest trying to make fun of some of the problems with this ill conceived program.

I do know there are instances where this program is beneficial to the seller, buyer, ebay & Pitney Bowes. (all at the same time)

But for the life of me, I don't know why ebay doesn't fix some of the small irritating problems with sales from the USA to Canada for items valued less than $50.

00nevermind00 · ‎10-30-2015

@komics4sale wrote:
But for the life of me, I don't know why ebay doesn't fix some of the small irritating problems with sales from the USA to Canada for items valued less than $50.

Because they don't care. This program is all about sellers. Buyers' complaints, no matter how justified, fall on deaf ears. The only thing to do is to treat the program with the same contempt with which it treats international buyers and simply refuse to purchase anything that has GSP shipping tacked on. Letting sellers know why you won't be buying can be useful.

Actually, the cutoff is a measly $20 (Canadian!), not $50, before taxes start kicking in. It has been at that level for decades. No wonder taxes aren't being assessed on most packages sent by mail. The backlog would be horrendous!

marnotom! · ‎10-30-2015

@komics4sale wrote:

But for the life of me, I don't know why ebay doesn't fix some of the small irritating problems with sales from the USA to Canada for items valued less than $50.

How about the problem of sales from the UK to Canada with postage costs of over C$70 for items that weigh 25 grams or so?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/171898519288

And this seller isn't even using the GSP!

dmil8030 · ‎10-31-2015

<<. . . . For sending 1 Comic Book which sold at $2 to the USA, the shipping cost will be $50.

*Reason it is $50 is that I must first send it to my neighbor. . . . . >>

*laffs* ... I say, that was wonderful! I do enjoy humour.

<< . . . comments were from Canadian shoppers & approx 95% of them were negative.

Of the 1% of the positive comments, they came mostly from the same few posters. >>

Hmmm, not very precise, but on the whole it sounds about right. But then, this is the Canadian user board and

the GSP does not affect those who chiefly sell. It will necessarily be infuriating to shoppers looking for something to buy.

I find that the main proponents of the system in Canada are invariably those least likely to use it.

The GSP does not have many friends in other parts of the world either. But in Canada what appears to be a slanted

perspective derives from there being no facility for the program for Canadian sellers. It would still be a lousy program

for all the reasons you point out, at least from the viewpoint of shopping, but there would be different and alternate

voices if Canadian sellers were offered the choice to simply mail all their international orders to, say, Winnipeg,

and then wash their hands of it the way American sellers do after posting their items to Kentucky.

So whether there will ever be a Canadian GSP warehouse, or whether the Canadian ebay will simply fold up entirely

forcing all those on this side of the border to use the dot com, whereby GSP items will be even harder to spot and

avoid, well, ...

<< But for the life of me, I don't know why ebay doesn't fix some of the small irritating problems with sales from the USA to Canada for items valued less than $50 >>

I like what 'nevermind' said, -- they don't care. And as others have mentioned, all these years later and nothing has

been done to improve the dreadful mess that is the GSP. They clearly don't care about the average Canadian buyer.

On the bright side, though, the more sellers who use the GSP, the more unacceptably overpriced their items will

appear to be, -- so the more reasonably priced Canadian sellers' items will seem.

Whether or not this gleeful state of existence will be allowed to continue unchallenged, ... hmmm....

dmil8030 · ‎10-31-2015

<<How about ... UK to Canada with postage costs of over C$70 for items that weigh 25 grams or so?>>

That's a 2-inch piece of wire, right?

Could that be a mistake? Maybe it should be £3.59? Like some dishes I saw but the US shipping fee was $1,895.00.

I sent a note to the seller and sweetly explained that nice as the items are, nearly two thousand bucks US in postage

was simply out of my range.

She quickly corrected it and then checked all her listings.

sylviebee · ‎10-31-2015

Thanks for the laugh. You've got it right.

I would disagree with your limit of $50 though. It's exceedingly rare for Canada to charge taxes on items regardless of value.

It seems that they've simply decided it's more trouble than it's worth in all but a very very few cases. In fact, there is only a very loose relationship between the decision to collect and value of item.

I would never have predicted that the GSP would catch on like it has.

komics4sale · ‎10-31-2015

After reading all the comments from my original post, my intended goal was achieved.

Most replies I read had dashes of satiric humour, which have been rare when discussing GPS issues.

It is about time for all us Canadian ebay Buyers & Sellers to enjoy a small chuckle even when we are posting about the GSP.

At least this might prevent our hair from turning prematurely white.

marnotom! · ‎10-31-2015

@sylviebee wrote:

I would never have predicted that the GSP would catch on like it has.

I don't think it's a matter of it "catching on" so much as the conditions that see sellers using it--often unknowingly--have seen considerable changes since the program's introduction.

Changes to the way the search engine works for "best match" may also explain why GSP listings show up with considerable frequency for us non-US buyers.

sylviebee · ‎11-06-2015

@marnotom! wrote:
@sylviebee wrote:

I would never have predicted that the GSP would catch on like it has.

I don't think it's a matter of it "catching on" so much as the conditions that see sellers using it--often unknowingly--have seen considerable changes since the program's introduction.

Changes to the way the search engine works for "best match" may also explain why GSP listings show up with considerable frequency for us non-US buyers.

It's true that sellers were using the GSP without their knowledge in the beginning, but that is much less common now.

Most using it now are fully aware of it and they have opted to use it and stand by it.

The GSP has caught on with US sellers beyond anything I would have predicted.

Clearly, for them, Canadian buyers are throw-away.

marnotom! · ‎11-06-2015

@sylviebee wrote:

It's true that sellers were using the GSP without their knowledge in the beginning, but that is much less common now.

Most using it now are fully aware of it and they have opted to use it and stand by it.

I didn't mention anything about how common it was for sellers to be using the GSP unknowingly, but your comment intrigues me. On what are you using to base your statement about most sellers being aware that they're using it?

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-07-2015

@marnotom! wrote:
@sylviebee wrote:
It's true that sellers were using the GSP without their knowledge in the beginning, but that is much less common now.

Most using it now are fully aware of it and they have opted to use it and stand by it.

I didn't mention anything about how common it was for sellers to be using the GSP unknowingly, but your comment intrigues me. On what are you using to base your statement about most sellers being aware that they're using it?

I have no idea if it is common or not but I have noticed quite a few listings that state they ship to the U.S. only but the shipping tab shows they use the GSP.

I've also heard about gsp sellers cancelling a sale because they don't ship outside of the U.S. I think that it is a fairly safe bet that those sellers don't realize that they are in the GSP.

You do know that ebay will often opt in a seller if they don't already sell internationally and if they don't have international blocks set up? I've never heard of ebay ever notifying a seller when they opt them in so I can understand how they wouldn't know right away.

sylviebee · ‎11-07-2015

It's still true that sellers are enrolled in the program without their knowledge.

However, it's also true that many more sellers are using the GSP intentionally now.

There are both types, but perhaps the latter type is starting to outnumber the former.

The program has indeed caught on with American sellers.

pocomocomputing · ‎11-07-2015

I remember a couple of years ago in the eBay announcements or a Seller Update, the GSP was going to be offered on any item ebay wanted whether or not the seller enrolled in the GSP. They would simple show any listing as a GSP item. I can't find that announcement nor do I know it was ever implemented, even on a short term basis.

When I read this, a couple of eBayers commented on this and the nothing. I am fairly sure I read the announcement correctly but alas I can't find where I read this when I search for it.

So it may have been the case that eBay members were not enrolled in the GSP, their items were just put in the GSP without any choice or awareness of the seller or any indication in their listing that it would be listed as a GSP item.

sylviebee · ‎11-07-2015

@pocomocomputing wrote:

So it may have been the case that eBay members were not enrolled in the GSP, their items were just put in the GSP without any choice or awareness of the seller or any indication in their listing that it would be listed as a GSP item.

This is true.

Now that time has passed and sellers have become acquainted with the GSP many have opted out of the GSP.

However, there is also a growing number of sellers who opt into the program voluntarily and stand by it no matter what.

In my category that number continues to increase.

I've also noticed that UK sellers are better educated about the GSP and many are opting into the program voluntarily as well.

reallynicestamps · ‎11-07-2015

Another point is that Canada is a very small customer base.

It is quite possible that many of those US sellers who are shocked by a Canadian customer have just had their first non-US sale in ... ever.

Canadian sales are no more than 10% of my overall sales with perhaps 5% for non-North American sales. And I actively state that I welcome overseas customers.

For US seller it is not hard to imagine that a year or more could go by without a non-US customer. Some are still upset by Hawai'ian or Puerto Rican customers.

marnotom! · ‎11-07-2015

@sylviebee wrote:

However, there is also a growing number of sellers who opt into the program voluntarily and stand by it no matter what.

In my category that number continues to increase.

Still don't know what you're basing your findings on, but that's neither here nor there.

I would note that those that are either opting in voluntarily or being opted in by eBay and using the program inappropriately (i.e. for small, lightweight, modestly-valued items) are probably ones who wouldn't sell internationally otherwise. If they're "standing by [the program] no matter what," it's likely because they haven't given international shipping much--if any--thought in their business plan. They may even be the ones who are unknowingly opted into the program. If they don't want to ship internationally, who cares what complaints a prospective Canadian buyer may have about the GSP? They'd be the ones who would say "no" in the old days if approached by a Canadian buyer about shipping to Canada.

While the number of listings with the GSP attached to them may be increasing (for whatever reason), we shouldn't confuse this with this being a sign that US (or UK) sellers are giving up in droves on shipping out of the country by conventional means. I don't know about you, but I still usually see a decent portion of non-GSP listings in most of my keyword searches.