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Feel free to share your thoughts about the Global Shipping Program here.
A few questions to get the ball rolling:
- What has worked well for you with the Global Shipping Program?
- Any ideas to help improve the experience for Canadian buyers?
- What has deterred you from buying items offered using the Global Shipping Program?
- How have you managed to search for items outside the program?
Please try & keep the comments constructive 🙂
If you have any questions about the program, please post them here.
"Where does it say it can be taxed ?"
That official link from the Canadian government has been offered several times before but here it is:
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/postal-postale/duty-droits-eng.html
This has nothing to do with GSP.
"The issue there is that PBI (with eBay as proxy) is collecting tax/duty on items under $20"
???
I have not read one single report of taxes or duty collected by PB for shipment valued at less than $20, not a single one.
However, PB does charge Canadian buyers - and that is a real problem - a handling fee of $4/$5 per small shipment, regardless of value, even when no tax is payable. That "import fee" for small transactions is just that: a fee to PB, nothing to do with taxes or duty.
As stated several times by many posters and eBay, American sellers should not use GSP for those small transactions.
eBay has done a poor job educating American sellers on the use of GSP. It was never intended for small transactions. Instead eBay was too busy enrolling American sellers in the program, offering incentives to join (such as discount on FVF) instead of properly informing them how the program would affect buyers in small transactions.
"his program is not going to survive, it has been 3,4 months since its inception"
Facts are available.
GSP has been offered by US sellers for over one year.
Posted August 22nd 2012 on eBay.com announcement board (updated November 1st 2012 and January 2013):
Great news! A new Global Shipping Program, now being tested, will help you expand your sales to millions of eager international buyers. By enrolling for FREE in this program, you’ll be able sell to buyers in multiple countries, but ship your packages to a shipping center located in the US—this means you’re only responsible for the domestic leg of shipping!
Once your item arrives at the designated US shipping center, the Global Shipping Program then takes care of ALL facets of international parcel processing, including:
- Completion of customs forms
- Remitting applicable import charges pre-paid by your buyer
- Shipping the package on to the buyer—with full end-to-end international tracking!
Your shipping-related Detailed Seller Ratings will be protected, and you are not responsible for loss or damage during international transit. This program is great for buyers, too, as they’ll see the complete and total price of the purchase up-front—during checkout—so they won’t be surprised by additional taxes or duties when the item arrives.
- See more at: http://announcements.ebay.com/2012/11/attention-sellers-upcoming-program-will-make-selling-internati...
Although I do not like it and may not use it, yes GSP will survive because it is successful in increasing transactions for sellers - and FVF for eBay - despite many buyers complaints although I expect many improvements to the program including better education for the many American sellers who should not be offering the program due to the nature of the products they offer or their value.
You may want to spend a minute or two and take a look at the message from the head of eBay.ca today on the "Weekly Hour" thread
A word from senior management at eBay.ca
Earlier today, during the "weekly hour" with eBay's staff, I posted the following :
In the last few months, I would guess that half the posts on eBay.ca discussion boards relate to GSP with most Canadian buyers left unsatisfied with their experience.
What is eBay.ca doing to improve the situation? Is it something Canadians will have to live with or can we expect changes or improvements to minimize some of the problems?
What is eBay.com doing to better educate American sellers on the value of GSP - when to use it and how it affects buyers?
The question of clarity has often been raised. What are eBay, Pitney-Bowes and PayPal doing to improve the issue where buyers would know exactly how much is charged for transportation, how much is charged for duty, how much is charged for HST/GST/PST, how much is charged as a "handling fee"?
The post was answered by the country manager of eBay.ca :
"Great questions. The idea of the Global Shipping Program is a great one but the execution on that program is not as good as what we would like just yet.
My team in Canada has been working closely with our US-based counterparts to find ways to make it more attractive to both buyers and sellers. We have been sharing both quantitative data around listing conversion and buyer performance, but much more importantly, also the qualitative responses and reactions of our buyers. Whether it comes from the boards here, emails and calls we have received, surveys, etc., we have been sharing the findings with the US teams.
We are working on plans to make product improvements along the lines of what buyers have been asking for, and to drive both cost and ship time out of the solution. We're paying attention. 🙂
I'm not as close to what is happenening with seller eduction, but I believe that is an active area as well. From the way the program was introduced to sellers, the majority of sellers who you see adopting the program are sellers who were previously not exporters, so we're growing the inventory and selection available to Canadians. Now just need to make it work better. A buyer opt-out, for example, is something we are hoping to be able to do (still not firm on those plans though)."
in a later post about clarity:
"What we've heard from different buyers in difference scenarios is that they would like to see a split between shipping, taxes, duties (where applicable) and handling/brokerage fees. eBay's Global Shipping team is working with our vendor to see how easy or difficult it would be to pull those values apart for our buyers. They are also looking at the complexity for our own systems, to see what would be involved. "
Link to the thread:
Why do you not ask him directly?
Every Wednesday "Weekly Hour" at 1:00pm (Eastern)
